*Alas, the strip from Thursday, August 7, 1952 is missing. However, the good news is that I found a better source for many of the daily comic strips, which are much clearer than the set reprinted here. I hope to update them within the next week. Stay tuned, because they really are quite stylish and fun.
*Update, Mar. 23: Still looking for the strip from Aug. 7, 1952. It's the one where the cartoon Stacy Harris killer goes berserk. I think we'll get lucky.
I also missed a very big (and glaringly obvious) inside joke the first time around: the killer of Helen Corday is named Stanley Meyer in the comic strip. The real Stanley Meyer produced the b&w Dragnet tv series as well as the 1954 film.
I found out some more information about the comic strip, along with some cleaner copies of the first few strips here. Right as rain, the artist made the effort to depict Barney Phillips as Ed Jacobs, at least initially.
I also found a week's worth of preview comic strips, which I posted on my other blog, here. We're treated to seeing Joe Friday at home with his mother and a very clear depiction of Barton Yarborough as his partner.