Comic Art

Alley Oop comic with cave men

The “comics” or “funnies” can offer us a daily bit of humor and entertainment in the face of our otherwise regulated and monotonous existence. A comic artist’s success at creating laughter is a feat in itself. An artist who also inspires a resonating message should be celebrated as rarity.

The variety of comic strip themes and genres respond to different and individual interests. They offer opportunities for jokes, extended soap opera series, self-contained messages, political humor, different realities, and educational tidbits of history and historical fact. Most also offer some form of implicit or explicit commentary on real life. All comics help us understand the thinking of at least one person in a particular era, and help us piece together underlying personal and national, political and societal perceptions and leanings.

American cartoonists, whose works were originally seen primarily in the newspapers beginning at the turn of the 20th century, emulated and expanded upon a mostly European comic art tradition, including the art of the caricature. By the 1920s two American innovations had greatly expanded the readership of the newspaper comic: the use of the paper mache printing matrix, made from photomechanical reproductions of the artists’ original art (this enabled the quick and inexpensive national and international transport of text and imagery for a newspaper page), and the syndication of comic art, that is, the business of selling and internationally distributing an artists’ work.

A mid-20th century look at a golden age of comics offers a broad spectrum of the points of view of that era which included dramatic change. The artists whose works played a distinctive part in this time have left us their representations of it which we hope, now after fifty years, will allow us a deeper understanding of their message.

Additionally, the use of comic imagery in different media, in the comic book, in television, and in film has offered a look at variations of the same comic themes, and has offered other lenses through which can decipher the same subject and message.

The Museum’s Graphic Arts Collection houses some nine hundred original and reproductive comic art drawings representing over 375 artists and some four hundred titles including Buck Rogers, Dick Tracy, Peanuts, Wonder Woman, and many others. The collection contains works from as early as the 1910s and as recently as 2000. The comic formats include “gag-a-days,” soap operas, and science fiction and adventure tales.

The following collection group features examples of original drawings prepared by a variety of artists. The camera-ready pen and ink strips and panels were prepared by original artists for daily and Sunday American, and in some cases, internationally published newspapers.

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Joe Palooka

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Joe Palooka comic strip shows Joe fighting an Arab monarch in a boxing match.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Joe Palooka comic strip shows Joe fighting an Arab monarch in a boxing match. The drawing includes the date "12-9" and is presumed to date from about 1966.
Hammond Edward "Ham" Fisher (around 1900-1955) worked for Pennsylvania and New York newspapers in the 1920s when he also began trying to sell his first Joe Palooka comic drawings. Fisher is remembered for having been expelled from the National Cartoonists Society in 1954 after a long-running disagreement with Li'l Abner artist Al Capp.
Joe Palooka (1930-1984) was a big, tough, simpleminded boxer with a good heart. His manager was an Irishman named Knobby Walsh. Ann Howe first appeared as Joe’s fiancée and later married him in 1949. Other characters included Max, the mute 8-year-old, and his peculiar friend Humphrey Pennyworth. In 1934 the comic strip was recreated as a popular film starring Stuart Erwin. The film spawned a number of sequels well into the 1950s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1966
graphic artist
Fisher, Ham
author
Dipreta, Tony
publisher
McNaught Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22471.02
catalog number
22471.02
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Emmy Lou

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Emmy Lou newspaper strip shows Emmy Lou thinking that her mother is setting her up on a date with a neighbor’s son, when it turns out that the boy is much younger and a cub scout.Martha B.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Emmy Lou newspaper strip shows Emmy Lou thinking that her mother is setting her up on a date with a neighbor’s son, when it turns out that the boy is much younger and a cub scout.
Martha B. "Marty" Links's (1917-2008) early career included work in 1940 at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she contributed to a recurring feature called Women’s World. Links started the comic strip Bobby Sox in 1944, and later changed the title to Emmy Lou. She used a man’s name to sell her drawings to newspapers and advertising agencies. After Links ended the strip, she designed greeting cards for Hallmark until her retirement in 1999.
Emmy Lou (1944-1979), originally Bobby Sox, told the story of a young girl’s dealings with adolescence. "Bobby soxers," a name given to teenage girls of the 1940s, usually denoted fans of swing music and followers of certain fashion trends, most notably the poodle skirt and rolled ankle socks. Links eventually decided that her concept of teenage girls was no longer relevant, especially because her own daughters, the inspirations for the Emmy Lou character, were becoming adults. She discontinued the strip in 1979.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-14
graphic artist
Links, Marty
publisher
United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22473
catalog number
22473
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Kevin the Bold

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Kevin the Bold comic strip shows Kevin and the "Viking Indians" engaging in battle with Captain Spur’s army.Kreigh Collins (1908-1974) began his career as an illustrator for magazines in the 1930s. In 1950, along with writer R. R.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Kevin the Bold comic strip shows Kevin and the "Viking Indians" engaging in battle with Captain Spur’s army.
Kreigh Collins (1908-1974) began his career as an illustrator for magazines in the 1930s. In 1950, along with writer R. R. Winterbotham, Collins debuted his most popular work, the newspaper strip Kevin the Bold.
Kevin the Bold (1950-1968) was a comic strip whose star originally appeared as a supporting character in a strip called Mitzi McCoy, first published in 1948. The original strip focused on the escapades of a 20th-century socialite and heiress. When she met her 15th-century ancestor, Kevin, he became the new star and the strip was renamed for him. Kevin, originally presented as an Irish shepard, eventually becomes something of an errand boy for King Henry VIII. In 1968 Kevin was killed in a sailing accident and the strip’s name and focus changed again, this time to the name Up Anchor, set in contemporary times.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-05-29
graphic artist
Collins, Kreigh
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22482
catalog number
22482
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Aggie

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Aggie comic strip shows the character Wayout coming over to Aggie’s house to find her staring at a coconut.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Aggie comic strip shows the character Wayout coming over to Aggie’s house to find her staring at a coconut. After Wayout determines that the coconut might be a “hairy cantaloupe,” Aggie says she wants to get the milk out of the coconut, and Wayout’s follow-up quip results in his being thrown out of the house.
Roy L. Fox (1924- ) debuted his first work in The Philadelphia Bulletin in 1939. He began drawing Aggie Mack (later Aggie) after the death, in 1962, of creator Hal Rasmussen.
Aggie Mack, and later Aggie, (1946-1972) was a comic strip about a girl in her early teens. Aggie was raised by her father’s second wife, who favored her own daughter, Mona. Aggie's homelife interactions became less central to the strip over the years, and Aggie began to be shown in contemporary teenager, community-based situations. The strip was also popular overseas, particularly in France, where it appeared under the name Fillettes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-17
graphic artist
Fox, Roy
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22504
catalog number
22504
accession number
277502

Camera-read comic art drawing for Priscilla's Pop

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Priscilla’s Pop comic strip shows Priscilla receiving money from a relative.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Priscilla’s Pop comic strip shows Priscilla receiving money from a relative. Her parents think she’ll save the money, but she uses it for mechanical pony rides instead.
Albert Hermann "Al" Vermeer (1911-1980) began his career in newspapers as a sports writer, then as a sports illustrator. In 1946 his comic strip Priscilla’s Pop, inspired by his own family, was published. He worked on the strip until 1976.
Priscilla’s Pop (1946-1983) was a comic strip representing an average American family. Pop was a man named Waldo Nutchell. His family included his wife, Hazel; their son, Carlyle; their daughter, Priscilla; and their dog Oliver. Running themes in the strip were the family’s money problems and Priscilla's interest in spending more money.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-14
graphic artist
Vermeer, Al
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22526
catalog number
22526
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Bugs Bunny

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Bugs Bunny comic strip shows Sylvester, Bugs, and a goat named Cynthia going to the beach to play some music.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Bugs Bunny comic strip shows Sylvester, Bugs, and a goat named Cynthia going to the beach to play some music. In order to dissuade a heckler, who put sand in Bugs’s tuba, Cynthia simply butts him with her head.
Ralph Heimdahl (1909-1981) spent the earlier part of his career animating for Walt Disney Studios. His work included early animation for Snow White (1937), Fantasia (1940), and Dumbo (1941). In addition to his work for Disney, Heimdahl also illustrated the Bugs Bunny daily comic strip starting in 1948. He later took over the Sunday strip, which he animated until the 1970s.
Bugs Bunny (1942-1970s), the newspaper strip, started as a spin-off of animated media including the title character. Bugs Bunny first appeared as the villain in the 1938 theatrical short Porky’s Hare Hunt. He was named after its director, Ben “Bugs” Hardaway. The newspaper strip itself, as well as the comic book version, never reached the popularity of the theatrical animations or cartoons and was canceled in the 1970s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-06-26
graphic artist
Heimdahl, Ralph
publisher
Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.
Bell-McClure Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22527
catalog number
22527
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic strip, entitled Apartment 3-G

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Apartment 3-G comic strip shows the characters discussing how much they miss Peter. A new neighbor, named Newton Figg, is just arriving to move into 3-B, across the hall.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Apartment 3-G comic strip shows the characters discussing how much they miss Peter. A new neighbor, named Newton Figg, is just arriving to move into 3-B, across the hall. Figg raises some eyebrows because he’s arriving with two oversized, stuffed animals named Wilbur and Wendell.
Alex Kotzky(1923-1996), while an art student in New York in 1940, became an assistant at DC Comics. In the 1950s he worked for publishers Quality Comics and Ziff-Davis. During this time he also ghost-drew for comic strips such as Steve Canyon and Big Ben Bolt. In 1961 he and writer-psychiatrist Nick Dallis began producing Apartment 3-G.
Apartment 3-G (1961- ) portrayed the lives of three young women who live together: art teacher Lu Ann Powers, nurse Tommie Thompson, and Margo Magee (who over time held different jobs). The soap opera-style comic includes the interactions of the three young women and their friendly, fatherly neighbor Professor Aristotle Papagoras.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-07
graphic artist
Kotzky, Alex
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22528
catalog number
22528
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dotty

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.
Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927. One of his first assignments was to revive an old family comic strip called Doings of the Duffs. After a brief hiatus Tune returned to comic strip production in 1931. He created Dotty Dripple in 1944.
Dotty Dripple (1944-1974) was a domestic humor-themed comic strip like the popular Blondie strip. Dottie was described as a typical housewife responsible for her children, Taffy and Wilbert; her dog, Pepper; and her husband, Horace. Part of the running humor of the strip was that Horace was often seen behaving like a child himself. Between 1946 and 1955 the strip was also sold in comic book form by Harvey Comics.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-12
graphic artist
Tune, Buford
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22530
catalog number
22530
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Beetle Bailey

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Beetle Bailey comic strip shows Beetle asking what the Chaplain thinks about sneaking naps after being told “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”Addison Morton "Mort" Walker (1923- ) was first published at age eleven, and soon afterward was
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Beetle Bailey comic strip shows Beetle asking what the Chaplain thinks about sneaking naps after being told “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Addison Morton "Mort" Walker (1923- ) was first published at age eleven, and soon afterward was drawing a weekly cartoon for the Kansas City Journal. After U.S. Army service in World War II, Walker began drawing a cartoon named Spider for the Saturday Evening Post. King Features Syndicate later contracted with him for the related comic strip devoted to the character Beetle Bailey. Walker also wrote for Hi and Lois, considered to be a spin-off of Beetle Bailey. More recently Walker has drawn the strip with the help of his sons.
Beetle Bailey (1950- ), a private in the U.S. Army, is regularly looking for a way to avoid doing work. He is memorable because his eyes are always covered by a hat or helmet. The strip location originally took place on a college campus but after a year Walker reimagined the location of the strip as a U.S. Army base called "Camp Swampy," where the characters seem to be stationed in never-ending basic training.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-24
graphic artist
Walker, Mort
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22533
catalog number
22533
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Lolly

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Lolly comic strip shows the title character, who has taken a job as a secretary, making an initial spelling mistake in a letter she has prepared for her boss.Per Ruse "Pete" Hansen (1920-1994) was born in Denmark and moved to the United S
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Lolly comic strip shows the title character, who has taken a job as a secretary, making an initial spelling mistake in a letter she has prepared for her boss.
Per Ruse "Pete" Hansen (1920-1994) was born in Denmark and moved to the United States as a child. He began his comic art career as an artist at Disney Animation Studios in 1938. In the early 1950s, after leaving Disney, he began working on Flapdoodles and later, between 1955 and 1983, Lolly, Hansen’s best known strip. In the 1980s, after returning to Disney, Hansen wrote for their foreign publication strips.
Lolly (1955-1983) was a newspaper comic strip about a young, single woman who supported herself, her grandmother, and her younger brother, Pepper. The strip stood out in the 1950s because it featured a young girl as the family’s breadwinner. The strip appeared as a comic book series in the 1950s and 1960s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-11
graphic artist
Hansen, Pete
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22538
catalog number
22538
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Gasoline Alley

This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home. She waves goodbye, but Wallet sees little hope in her attentions.
Richard Arnold "Dick" Moores (1909-1986) worked as an assistant to Chester Gould on the Dick Tracy comic strip early in his career. Moores continued to work on other strips and branched out into animation and comic book illustration, working on titles such as Mickey Mouse, Scamp, Donald Duck, and Alice in Wonderland. In 1956 Frank King asked Moores to assist on the daily strip Gasoline Alley, which Moores took over completely after King’s retirement in 1959. When the Sunday artist for Gasoline Alley retired in 1975, Moores took over that work as well, and continued drawing the strip until his death in 1986.
Gasoline Alley (1918- ) originated on a black-and-white Sunday page for The Chicago Tribune called The Rectangle, a collaborative page with contributions by different artists. One corner of "The Rectangle," drawn by Frank King, was devoted to the discussions between four men about their cars, an impetus for the name of the strip Gasoline Alley. Within a year the strip began appearing in the daily newspapers. Gasoline Alley, whose original characters included Walt, Doc, Avery, Bill, and Skeezix, is noted for its use of characters who have continued to age naturally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-13
graphic artist
Moores, Dick
King, Frank
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22550
catalog number
22550
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for The Katzenjammer Kids

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip shows “der Captain” calling “der Inspector” a “cheapskate” after being accused of being lazy. During the verbal altercation, Hans and Fritz offer “der Inspector” a bag that he thinks is full of cash.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip shows “der Captain” calling “der Inspector” a “cheapskate” after being accused of being lazy. During the verbal altercation, Hans and Fritz offer “der Inspector” a bag that he thinks is full of cash. To prove he isn’t stingy, “der Inspector” offers half to “der Captain,” then they discover that the bag contains a wild cat planted by the two boys as a prank.
Joseph "Joe" Musial (1905-1977) was a comic artist who began working in 1929 as an assistant to Billy DeBeck’s comic strip Barney Google. In 1932 Musial was hired by King Features Syndicate to serve as a substitute artist on strips such as Blondie, Bringing Up Father, and Thimble Theatre. In 1956 Musial was asked to draw The Katzenjammer Kids. He continued drawing the strip until 1976.
The Katzenjammer Kids (1897- ) premiered in American Humorist, a Sunday supplement to the New York Journal. The creator of the strip, German immigrant Rudolph Dirks (1877-1968), was inspired by a German children’s story from the 1860s called “Max and Moritz.” The storyline included mischievous twins, similar to the later comic strip protagonists Hans and Fritz. Both sets of twins have an aversion to authority. The strip often sees Hans and Fritz playing pranks on various adults, such as their mother, “der Captain” (who acts as a father figure), “der Inspector” (a school official), and their tutor, Miss Twiddle.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-05-22
graphic artist
Musial, Joe
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22552
catalog number
22552
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Ponytail

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Ponytail comic strip shows the title character asking Stickshift, her mechanically inclined friend, to help start the new lawn mower, after being brushed off by her boyfriend, Donald.Lee Holley (1933- ) sold his first cartoon at age fifte
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Ponytail comic strip shows the title character asking Stickshift, her mechanically inclined friend, to help start the new lawn mower, after being brushed off by her boyfriend, Donald.
Lee Holley (1933- ) sold his first cartoon at age fifteen, and just a few years later went to work for Warner Bros. Animation Studios as an artist. In 1957 he began ghostwriting the Dennis the Menace Sunday strip. In 1960 he launch his own strip Ponytail, which ran until 1989. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Holley also contributed artwork to Warner Bros. comic books.
Ponytail (1960-1989), like earlier strips Emmy Lou and Penny, was a strip about the adventures and social mishaps of a teenage girl. Though Ponytail premiered after other comics with similar themes, it was an instant hit. It was also briefly adapted as a comic book.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-31
graphic artist
Holley, Lee
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22554
catalog number
22554
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dr. Kildare

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dr.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dr. Kildare comic strip shows Blanco visiting the hospital operating room where his curiosity about a surgery in process prompts the title character to ask if Blanco would ever consider becoming a doctor.
Kenneth Bruce Bald (1920- ) started his career as an artist at Jack Binder’s New York studios drawing features for Fawcett comic books. After his service in World War II, Bald continued working on comic books and eventually transitioned to comic strips, beginning with Judd Saxon in 1957 and Dr. Kildare in 1962, which he drew until his retirement in 1984. In addition, throughout the early 1970s, Bald drew a comic strip version of the popular television show Dark Shadows, for which he used his pseudonym “K. Bruce.”
Dr. Kildare (1962-1983) was a comic strip based on the popular film, radio, television, and comic book character James Kildare. The title character first appeared in the 1937 film Internes Can’t Take Money, starring Joel McCrea. Early storylines featured Dr. Kildare as a medical intern being mentored by an older physician named Dr. Leonard Gillespie. In 1961 the film was adapted into a television series, which was in turn adapted into a newspaper strip.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-10-09
graphic artist
Bald, Ken
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22565
catalog number
22565
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Short Ribs

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.
Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. In 1958 he debuted his Short Ribs comic strip and continued to draw the strip until 1973. His assistant, Frank Hill, then took over the strip and O’Neal spent the rest of his career creating advertising art.
Short Ribs (1958-1982) was a strip without a regular cast or a continuous setting. With some frequency, however, the strip took place in a castle in Medieval Europe. Other locations included Ancient Egypt or the American West. The storylines regularly made references to 20th-century events.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-04-17
graphic artist
O'Neal, Frank
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22568
catalog number
22568
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Judge Parker

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Judge Parker comic strip shows Charles holding Casandra Canabar and Randy Parker hostage, telling them to report to the police that the emergency call had been a false alarm.Harold Anthony LeDoux (1926-2015) moved to New York City after W
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Judge Parker comic strip shows Charles holding Casandra Canabar and Randy Parker hostage, telling them to report to the police that the emergency call had been a false alarm.
Harold Anthony LeDoux (1926-2015) moved to New York City after World War II and began drawing for the Famous Funnies comic books. In 1953 he began assisting Dan Heilman on the comic strip Judge Parker. LeDoux took over the strip after Heilman's death in 1965 and retired in 2006.
Judge Parker (1952- ) was created by psychiatrist and writer Nick Dallis. Dallis invited Dan Heilman, who had previously assisted on Buz Sawyer and Mary Worth,to be the artist for Judge Parker. The title character was a widower with two children, who later married a younger woman. Originally written as an attractive crime-fighting character, Parker had by the 1960s become more conservative and sedate while the younger attorney, Sam Driver, became more central to the cast, along with his client and girlfriend, Abby, and her two children.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-21
graphic artist
LeDoux, Harold
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22570
catalog number
22570
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dan Flagg

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Dan Flagg comic strip shows the title character and companions aboard a yacht in trouble during a storm. Flagg tries to calm the other passengers and announces the arrival of the U.S.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Dan Flagg comic strip shows the title character and companions aboard a yacht in trouble during a storm. Flagg tries to calm the other passengers and announces the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Don Sherwood (1930-2010) spent his youth preparing to be a comic artist and after serving as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War assisted on Terry and the Pirates. In 1963 he debuted his own strip, Dan Flagg, inspired by the U.S. Marine Corps. After Dan Flagg was canceled in 1967, Sherwood began drawing for Hanna-Barbera, Columbia Pictures, the comic book The Phantom, and The Flintstones comic strip.
Dan Flagg (1963-1967) was an adventure comic strip that premiered during the Vietnam War. As World War II had been a popular subject matter for comic strips in the 1940s, publishers thought that comic strips about the Vietnam War would be just as popular. However, though readers thought Dan Flagg was an entertaining character, increasing opposition to the Vietnam War prevented the strip from enjoying sufficient popularity. Dan Flagg was dropped by its syndicate in 1965 and canceled permanently in 1967.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-24
publisher
Bell-McClure Syndicate
graphic artist
Sherwood, Don
author
Thomas, Jerry
ID Number
GA.22575
catalog number
22575
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Brick Bradford

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Brick Bradford comic strip shows Hoppy beginning to drown at the base of a waterfall because his power pack has failed. The title character saves him, and they quickly realize that the rescue airship is nearby but cannot see them.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Brick Bradford comic strip shows Hoppy beginning to drown at the base of a waterfall because his power pack has failed. The title character saves him, and they quickly realize that the rescue airship is nearby but cannot see them. Brick leaves to get its attention.
Paul Leroy Norris (1914-2007) began working as an illustrator and cartoonist in the late 1930s when he was hired by the Dayton Daily News. During the next decade Norris started developing comic books. In the 1940s he launched the short-lived undersea adventure comic Aquaman. After World War II Norris continued drawing for comic books and comic strips. He began working on the Brick Bradford dailies in 1952, and when creator Clarence Gray died in 1957 Norris took over the Sunday strip as well, and produced both until his retirement in 1987.
Brick Bradford (1933-1987) tells the fantastic tales of a space-age adventurer who encounters alien creatures from other worlds. Cocreator William Ritt heavily influenced the strip’s subjects with his interests in classical mythology and modern science.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-10
graphic artist
Norris, Paul
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22577
catalog number
22577
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Winthrop

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Winthrop comic strip shows the title character’s friend discussing and playing modern popular music when Winthrop asks for an old waltz record instead.Dick Cavalli (1923- ) began his cartooning career creating pen and ink drawings of muse
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Winthrop comic strip shows the title character’s friend discussing and playing modern popular music when Winthrop asks for an old waltz record instead.
Dick Cavalli (1923- ) began his cartooning career creating pen and ink drawings of museum fossils at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, shortly after the end of World War II. As a freelancer he created and launched the comic strip Morty Meekle in 1956. The name of the syndicated strip was changed to Winthrop in 1966. With the help of several assistants Cavalli continued to draw the strip until 1993. In 1982 Cavalli also drew the comic strip Norbert after creator George Fett's retirement.
Winthrop (1956-1993), introduced with the title Morty Meekle, was a strip about courtship. Morty, the title character, was involved in a long, drawn-out relationship with Jill Wortle, whose family couldn’t wait for the two to become engaged. The obstacles to an engagement included Morty Meekle’s low-paying job. Jill’s younger brother, Winthrop, eventually became the central character of the strip directed to more of a children’s audience. The strip featured an eclectic group of Winthrop’s friends.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-05-01
original artist
Cavalli, Dick
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22581
catalog number
22581
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Bringing Up Father

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Bringing up Father comic strip shows Mother mentioning that she worries about Father and his absentmindedness. When she and Nora are at the matinee, Father takes a message for Mother.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Bringing up Father comic strip shows Mother mentioning that she worries about Father and his absentmindedness. When she and Nora are at the matinee, Father takes a message for Mother. He doesn’t recall all the details about the message, and when Mother becomes angry about that he reveals that she was the one who had forgotten to meet someone for lunch earlier that day.
Frank Fletcher (1919- ) began his career in the advertising field. He also served as art director for the Pictorial Review and the Saturday Home Magazine, and provided artwork for popular comic books. Fletcher also became the artist for the Bringing Up Father comic strip after the death in 1954 of its creator, George McManus. Fletcher continued drawing the strip in the Sunday edition until 1984.
Bringing Up Father (1913-2000) featured an Irish immigrant named Jiggs; his wife, Maggie; and their two children Nora and Ethelbert (known as Sonny). The story usually revolved around Jiggs’s attempts to cope with his newfound wealth after receiving winnings from the Irish Sweepstakes. Much of the time Jiggs longed for his working-class friends, habits, and general lifestyle. Meanwhile Maggie, a social climber, had embraced her nouveau riche status and demanded that Jiggs do the same.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-25
author
Fletcher, Frank
graphic artist
Kavanaugh, Bill
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22587
catalog number
22587
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Moon Mullins and Kitty Higgins

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits. Included in this story board is Ferd Johnson's "topper" strip Kitty Higgins, about the young and clever girl who later became a Moon Mullins character.
Ferdinand "Ferd" Johnson (1905-1996) took a job in 1923 assisting on Frank Willard's new comic strip Moon Mullins. In 1925 Johnson started drawing his own Sunday comic called Texas Slim, and a few years later he launched Lovey-Dovey. In 1958 Johnson took over Moon Mullins which he continued until its cancellation in 1991.
Moon Mullins (1923-1991) was about a hard-living, would-be prizefighter nicknamed Moon. The strip offered storylines and personality characteristics which were appealing to readers during the Prohibition era. Moon Mullins was reinterpreted as a radio show and was regularly included as an animated television presentation on the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon program Archie’s TV Funnies.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-10-22
graphic artist
Johnson, Ferd
publisher
News Syndicate Co., Inc.
ID Number
GA.22589
catalog number
22589
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dick Tracy

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dick Tracy comic strip shows Tracy coming back from a trip to the moon and getting notice that his help is needed to catch an escaped fugitive.Chester Gould (1900-1985) began his career in the early 1920s cartooning for The Daily Oklahoma
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dick Tracy comic strip shows Tracy coming back from a trip to the moon and getting notice that his help is needed to catch an escaped fugitive.
Chester Gould (1900-1985) began his career in the early 1920s cartooning for The Daily Oklahoman. Shortly afterwards he began drawing his strips Fillum Fables and The Radio Catts. Gould's Dick Tracy strip ran beginning in 1931. He drew and wrote Dick Tracy until he retired in 1977.
Dick Tracy (1931- ) is a police detective who is shown using science and technology to his advantage in order to solve his crimes. His "2-Way Wrist Radio" was an example of his futuristic interests. During the 1960s Gould began receiving criticism about the strip, especially for its politics and celebration of the police. This criticism prompted more science fiction-directed stories, such as Tracy’s visits to the moon. The Dick Tracy story has seen adaptations to radio, film, television, books, and comic books.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-05-21
original artist
Gould, Chester
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22594
catalog number
22594
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Louie

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Louie comic strip shows the title character frustrated with cooking.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Louie comic strip shows the title character frustrated with cooking. He misses his wife until she comes home and starts to scold him for leaving a messy kitchen, after which he starts to wish she was back on vacation.
Harry Hanan (1916-1982) was a British comic artist who started his illustrating career at the Liverpool Evening Express. After World War II he became a cartoonist for London's The People, in which his strip Louie was first published in 1947. The strip, without a script, was syndicated internationally.
Louie (1947-1976) was a domestic comedy strip about a short, ordinary, middle-aged man and his wife. The character Louie was often seen being frustrated while grinning and bearing everything silently, without a script, throughout the run.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-07-25
graphic artist
Hanan, Harry
publisher
News Syndicate Co., Inc.
ID Number
GA.22598
catalog number
22598
accession number
277502

Camera-ready comic strip, entitled Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

This pen-and-ink drawing for the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip shows Aunt Loweezy telling Snuffy to punish Jughaid for using her prize-winning quilt and petticoat to make a tent and a kite.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing for the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip shows Aunt Loweezy telling Snuffy to punish Jughaid for using her prize-winning quilt and petticoat to make a tent and a kite. Snuffy can’t seem to understand why that’s a problem until he finds out what Jughaid did with his whittling knife.
Fred Lasswell (1916-2001) started his career in the 1920s as a sports cartoonist for the Tampa Daily Times. During the course of his work there he began assisting Billy DeBeck with Barney Google. After DeBeck’s death in 1942, Lasswell took over the strip entirely. During his service in World War II Lasswell also created a strip called Sgt. Hashmark. Lasswell continued to draw Barney Google and Snuffy Smith until his death in 2001.
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith (1919- ) started out as a sports strip titled Take Barney Google, F'rinstance. The title character was portrayed as a very short man who was regularly seen at sporting events. The addition of a race horse named Spark Plug, in 1922, caught the nation's attention and prompted creator DeBeck to make the horse a regular cast member. Hillbilly Snuffy Smith, also very short in stature, joined the cast in 1934 and soon was added to the title of the strip. Since the 1950s, Snuffy Smith has been the central character of the strip.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-06-12
graphic artist
Lasswell, Fred
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22603
catalog number
22603
accession number
277502

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