5000 comic strips donated to National Library

Five thousand Footrot Flats comic strips have been donated to the National Library by the family of the late cartoonist Murray Ball. Yesterday, 50 carefully wrapped packages containing 100 comics, all in date order from 1976 through to the 2000s, were officially handed over to the Cartoon and Comics Archive. ‘‘I am just absolutely thrilled that they are in a safe place,’’ Ball’s wife, Pam, said. The collection of comics, read and enjoyed across the world for decades, began after the first strip appeared in The Evening Post in 1976. Over nearly 20 years, they appeared in more than 2000 newspapers across New Zealand, Australia and the world. The popularity of the comics led to more than 40 books, merchandise, a stage musical, an amusement park, statues and New Zealand’s first animated feature film Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tail, which made Ball a household name.