USPS 2010 Stamps

Bill Mauldin, Calvin & Hobbes, Mother Theresa and more -- all honored with 2010 USPS Postage Stamps next year.

66 years ago this very day -- December 31st, 1943 -- Life magazine photographer John Phillips snapped the above photo of Bill Mauldin in Italy. In March 2010, the above commemorative stamp will be for sale.


From the USPS press release:

"The Sunday Funnies stamp pane honors Archie, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. The stamps will go on sale in July."

There are paragraph-long descriptions of each of the comic strips in the press release, but why oh why are there not the names of the creators? These newspaper comic strip did not spring out of nothing! They should be acknowledged:

• Archie Bob Montana
• Beetle Bailey Mort Walker
• Dennis the Menace Hank Ketcham
• Garfield Jim Davis
• Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson

There are also stamps commemorating Winslow Homer, abstract expressionist painters, cowboys of the silver screen, Kate Smith, and the Negro Leagues, among others.

More hi res images at the Washington Post's Postal Service releases 2010 stamps article. Beware: you will be held hostage to a 30 second Bank of America ad.

USPS announcement is here.

My thanks to the ever vigilant Sean Kelly for the heads up. Thanks, Sean!

Off-topic, but she's one of my fave actresses: the USPS honors Katharine Hepburn with this art based on a still from WOMAN OF THE YEAR. Stamp for sale May 12, 2010.