Carole and Jack Bender, the longtime cartoonists for Alley Oop, are retiring from the comic strip. The last Alley Oop original from the Benders will be published on Sept. 1. The strip will go into reruns through the end of 2018, as Andrews McMeel Syndication decides on next steps for Alley Oop.
Jack Bender began illustrating Alley Oop in 1991, with Dave Graue handling the writing duties. When Graue retired in 2001, Bender's wife, Carole, took over as the strip's writer. Alley Oop was originally created in 1932 by V.T. Hamlin.
You can find the Benders' work, as well as Alley Oop strips dating back to 1996, here on GoComics.com.
Darryl Heine about 1 month ago
After the 4 month rerun break, if Alley Oop gets rebooted with new artist/writer starting January 2019. Who could be Jack/Carole’s replacements? I tweeted these three: Ian Flynn, Tracey Yardley, and Ken Penders (All have done comic book work past and present, mostly Sonic the Hedgehog comic books).