In its free-market capitalist propaganda. Warbucks "died" when FDR was re-elected because the New Deal proved to be detrimental for self-made men (in the opinion of Harold Gray, who wasn't exactly subtle with his views on government regulation, unions, child labour laws, etc.), but inexplicably resurrected after FDR died as the USA was now worth living in again.note This, despite the fact that his successor continued the New Deal program and even wanted to expand it under his Fair Deal which included things like repeal of Taft hartley and Universal healthcare
The scene in the movie where a stereotyped Bolshevik tries to kill "Daddy" with a bomb because Mr Warbucks is "living proof that the American System works and the Bolsheviks don't want anyone to know about that." is subtle by comparison!
Arc Fatigue: Gray would let storylines go on for quite a while in order to make the resolution more satisfying. This usually didn't result in this trope, since he'd include some subplot for the readers to follow or at least have the story develop, though it did so slowly, but the arc from 1933 in which Annie and her new friend, blind violin-player "Uncle" Dan, make a living as professional musicians and get cheated of their profits by their manager Chizzler spends a couple of months with every strip just pointing out that they're getting cheated, showing them performing, or having Chizzler laugh in private at Annie and Dan. This is one arc that definitely could have been shortened without any loss in quality.
Archive Panic: IDW have been publishing collections for a couple of years. So far, eight collections have been published, each of them very long.
Wun Wey, the clever Chinese man who is a friend of Warbucks, wouldn't be acceptable in our time with his secret scheming and planning, but in the thirties he was a very progressive and unusually non-racist portrayal of a Chinese-American individual, mainly because he was a Chinese good guy who wasn't an Ethnic Scrappy. It's noticeable that the Chinese people in the strip aren't universally good or bad; it varies from person to person. There's Wun Wey and his friends, they're good people who help Annie out. There's the Tong men who at one point are after Annie, horrible criminals. Like all other people, the Chinese in the strip are individuals, some of them good, some of them bad. In other words, Gray actually suggested that a person's value wasn't determined by their race.
During World War II, Annie formed the Junior Commandos to lead the war effort on the home front. At one point, a black boy, George, joins the Junior Commandos in a strip which reads like an appeal for the military to be desegregated. Southern newspapers were outraged to see a white girl and a black boy consorting with each other. Ever the conservative, Gray insisted that he wasn't a "reformer" and that he just put the character in to appeal to black readers. That he did, and though some black readers criticized his portrayal based on the character's dialect and deferential nature [1], many wrote in to thank him for the character, who sadly only appeared in that single strip. One wonders what Gray would have thought of Annie herself being black in the 2014 film. Maybe he'd just be happy to see FDR out of the picture.
Franchise Original Sin: At some point, early on, the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane scenarios, such as Punjab's mystical abilities, became open displays of magic. After that, introducing ancient beings, demons and even God himself was a regular feature of the strip.
Informed Wrongness: Mrs. Warbucks donate large amounts of money to charity. However, she doesn't care a bit about the poor, she just wants to be praised and give a good impression. Fact remains that the poor probably wish more people were like her. Motivation aside, she does help the needy, and that's a good thing.
Iron Woobie: Annie goes through a lot of trouble, but she's tough enough to take it.
Older Than They Think: Most people would think about the 1982 film as the first time Annie made it in the big screen. It was actually the 1932 pre-Code comedy drama that marked the orphan's first live-action theatrical appearance.
, many wrote in to thank him for the character, who sadly only appeared in that single strip. One wonders what Gray would have thought of Annie herself being black in the 2014 film. Maybe he'd just be happy to see FDR out of the picture.