Lulu As-Saghira (Little Lulu)
The Little Girl Who Never Grew Up In the mid 1960s, I enjoyed receiving my weekly dose of happiness from Illustrated Publications (Al-Matbouat Al- Mousawwara in Arabic). Every Wednesday or Thursday, I would start my day with Superman, whose Arabic magazine would come to our door courtesy of our regular newspaper vendor. At the time there were no other comic books appearing with regularity in Beirut. The lovely Bissat El-Reeh (Flying Carpet) had finally stopped after a long collapse and Dunia Al-Abtal (World of Heroes), which tried to emulate it, had folded after ten issues. We kids could still fall back on Dar Ar- Rihani's Al-Foursan (The knights) but its heroes and stories were tame compared to Superman and his super hero friends. Then came Lulu As-Saghira (Little Lulu), that blessed first of July 1966. My first impression on seeing Issue No. 1 was that this publication had no super heroes and so did not belong to my world. Nonetheless, I read it. I fell in love immediately with Lulu. Five decades later, I am still in love with her. Little Lulu never grew up but I have, and this book is an attempt to preserve the history of its Arabic edition. It is also a tribute to the visionary publisher Leila Shaheen da Cruz who introduced Lulu to her Arabic readership. This website (and accompanying e-book)is also the first step towards establishing my dream project: the Little Lulu World Museum. Little Lulu has appeared in many forms and many languages and locations. Such an emblematic symbol of childhood joy deserves a repository for its comics, illustrated books, cartoons, artworks, dolls, games and so much more. Little Lulu, her cohort and her many publications, belong to humanity’s common cultural heritage and they should be preserved, for future generations. Henry Matthews, Beirut, Lebanon |
Preface by
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Marjorie Henderson Buell (Marge)Marjorie Henderson Buell, an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name...
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The Lulu As-Saghira Success StoryAfter Superman and Al-Watwat (Batman), first published in early 1964 and late 1965...
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All characters, logos, and images are owned by their current copyright holders. They are used here for educational purposes within the "fair use" provision of US Code: Title 17, Sec. 107.
Copyright for the the text of this site and accompanying e-book is held by Henry Matthews, 2014 © Henry Matthews, Ninth Art Masterpieces