Fans of newspaper comics will instantly notice something missing in many of the strips this Friday—pants. More than 25 cartoonists behind strips from "Blondie" to "Zippy the Pinhead" are celebrating the quirky holiday No Pants Day in a way that helps charities get clothing to those in need, reports the AP. Participating artists are drawing their characters without trousers and urging readers to donate clothing to thrift and secondhand stores hit hard by COVID-19. No Pants Day, held on the first Friday in May, is believed to have been started by a group of students at the University of Texas who thought leaving the pants at home on the first Friday in May would be a fun way to end the semester.
Comics creators have noticed that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted people's ability to get clothing, and charities haven't received as many donations as they typically do. In a gracious move among comic strip distributors, King Features reached out to fellow syndicators Tribune Content Agency, Andrews McMeel Universal, and Washington Post Writers Group to pull off Friday's event. Cartoonists were contacted in February about the project, and the finished comics started to come in by March. Organizers left it up to the individual cartoonists—some other participating strips include "Shoe, "Hi and Lois," "Rhymes With Orange," and "Mallard Fillmore"—how to incorporate the message. The strips range from medieval knights to modern office workers, all sporting underwear.
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