An Altar Boy Named Speck Explained

Author:	W. R. "Tut" LeBlanc Margaret Ahern
Syndicate:	National Catholic News Service
First:	March 1, 1951
Last:	1979
Status:	Concluded gag cartoon
Genre:	Humor, Religion
Altnames:	Speck the Altar Boy

An Altar Boy Named Speck, also known as Speck the Altar Boy, is an American gag cartoon comic strip series created by Tut LeBlanc.^[1] The strip first appeared March 1, 1951 in Catholic Action of the South, which was the official paper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.^[2] Margaret Ahern continued the Speck comic upon LeBlanc's 1953 death, drawing it until 1979.

The comic is about a mischievous but lovable altar boy who keeps getting into various kinds of trouble.

Tut LeBlanc

Wilmer Ralph "Tut" LeBlanc^[3] (born in Perry, Louisiana, 1915; died February 23, 1953^[4]) was a self-taught artist. In 1943, he married Mildred Marie Simon.^[5] He drew the Speckmaterial while living in Abbeville, Louisiana, where he had spent most of his life. He died in 1953 from heart problems that he had had since childhood.^[6]

Collections

The Speck cartoons have been collected in various reprint volumes.

• LeBlanc cartoons
  • An Altar Boy Named “Speck” (Lafayette, LA: Tribune Printing Plant, 1952)^[7] - reprinted by Our Sunday Visitor and About Comics.^[8]
  • Speck: More Cartoons (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1952)^[9]
• Ahern cartoons
  • Speck the Altar Boy (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1958)
  • Presenting Speck the Altar Boy (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1960)
  • Speck: The Altar Boy (New York: All Saints Press, 1963) - reprints all of the first and part of the second Hanover House volumes.
  • A Speck of Trouble: New Escapades of the Inimitable and Irresistible Speck, the Altar Boy (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964)
  • Speck the Altar Boy: The Collection Compilation (Camarillo, CA: About Comics, 2021) - reprints both Hanover House books as a single volume.^[10]

References

Sources

• Web site: ComicStripFan.Com. ComicStripFan.Com. 2007-08-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20070813235744/http://comicstripfan.com/newspaper/s/speckaltarboy.htm. 13 August 2007 . live.

Notes and References

1. http://www.comicstripfan.com/newspaper/s/speckaltarboy.htm "Speck the Altar Boy, by Margaret Ahern,"
2. News: Catholic Paper Cartoon Breaking Into Book World . February 5, 2021 . The Prospector . April 11, 1952 . 2.
3. Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries . 1952 . Library of Congress . 139 . 1952 . December 12, 2020.
4. News: Tut LeBlanc obituary. The Daily Advertiser. 24 February 1953. 1.
5. News: Obituaries . February 5, 2021 . The Examiner . February 26, 2014.
6. News: Dalhouse . Neil . Speck The Altar Boy . December 13, 2020 . The Good & True . 50 . St. George's College Old Boys Association . December 2007.
7. Bates . John C. . Portraits of Catholics with Western Pennsylvania Connections: The Famous, the Forgotten, and the Unknown . Gathered Fragments . Fall 2018 . 82 .
8. Web site: An Altar Boy Named 'Speck'. live. 2021-06-28. About Comics. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614040433/http://www.aboutcomics.com/wp/an-altar-boy-named-speck/ . 2021-06-14 .
9. https://www.amazon.com/Speck-Cartoons-M-R-Tut-LeBlanc/dp/B001A3Y2VO/ Amazon listing
10. Web site: Speck the Altar Boy: The Collection Compilation. live. 2021-06-28. About Comics. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614040433/http://www.aboutcomics.com/wp/speck-the-altar-boy-the-collection-compilation/ . 2021-06-14 .