By the way, if you were wondering why Flook was discontinued in the US in the mid-50s, I think these strips pretty much tell the story, however much they are strangely bowdlerised. The anti-anti-communism must have been very on-the-nose for the few on the right who understood it.
I would say that Flook was causing trouble for North American newspapers at this point not just for the usual reasons eg. the Englishisms that someone had to fix up constantly for US consumption but with storylines like this, the implicit criticism of the anticommunist fervour overtaking the US at that time. So, I'd say Flook's North American tenure's days were pretty much numbered.
I am not sure if this is a related fact, but it is a fact, that the dates on all of the strips in this post predate when they were actually printed by six days - eg. the last strip above was from the Vancouver Province 6 August 1954, not 31 July as per the date on the strip itself. As I say this may not mean anything (sometime in late July there is a notice in the Province that another strip - Mark Trail for what it's worth - wasn't appearing that day because of a mail delay, for instance). But it might also mean general dissatisfaction/disapproval/dismay about the strip and where its politics were heading.
One more thing which I don't know enough about Canada in the 50s to know whether it's ironic or not, is that of the 27 daily strips published in the Province in 1954, I'm pretty sure that not only was Flook the only British strip (yes, yes, drawn by a Canadian) it was also the only one that didn't come from the US (I could be wrong about that as there are a couple of obscurities, not gag strips but serials, with which I am not familiar).
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The televised hearings on US TV had only taken place the month before, with the "Have you no decency?" business turning the tide against McCarthy - perhaps they didn't so much want show anti-anti-communist sentiments, but were wanting to wash their hands of any McCarthy association.
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