Gilbert Theodore Fox (November 29, 1915 – May 15, 2004) was an American

political cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

ist,

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, and

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

Biography

Fox began his career in animation at

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...

's studio, but left due to labor unrest associated with a 1937 strike. He entered the comic book industry, working for a number of studios and companies, including

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. During this period he was an editor and a cover artist for

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...

, with his work gracing the covers of such titles as '' Torchy'' and ''

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero featured in American comic books first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole (artist), Jack Co ...

''. In 1941, he wrote several weeks of continuity for the '' Spirit'' daily

newspaper strip A comic strip is a sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, these ...

. A 1941 comic book written by Gill Fox, describing a German attack on Pearl Harbor, was published one month before the real-life Japanese attack on that U.S. naval base. He left his editorial position at Quality in 1943 to serve in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where he worked for '' Stars and Stripes''. Once discharged from military service, Fox freelanced for Quality Comics until the early 1950s. Fox later moved to

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

, working for the

Johnstone and Cushing Johnstone and Cushing was an American advertising agency that specialized in comic strip-style advertisements that used many prominent cartoonists and commercial artists of the time. Until its dissolution in 1962, the New York City-based company p ...

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

. There he met

Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Early life and education Dik Browne was born on August 11, 1917, in Manhat ...

, and assisted him on Browne's comic strip ''

Hi and Lois ''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose children currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate ...

''. He also assisted/ ghosted on several other strips as favors to friends. Fox later worked as a political cartoonist for the

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

newspapers ''

The Fairfield Citizen ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'' and the ''

Connecticut Post The ''Connecticut Post'' is a daily newspaper located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It serves Fairfield County and the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Municipalities in the Post's circulation area include Ansonia, Bridgeport, Darien, Derby, Easton ...

''; he was nominated for two

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

s. In the late 1980s, Fox created illustrations of the

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

that were used on many licensed products. He died in

Redding Ridge, Connecticut Redding is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. History Early settlement and establishment At the time colonials beg ...

, at age 88.

Personal life and family

Fox was the brother of the illustrator

Lorraine Fox Lorraine Fox (1922–1976) was an American illustrator and commercial artist who illustrated magazines, book covers, and advertisements. Among the magazines she illustrated for were ''Woman's Day'', ''Good Housekeeping'', ''Redbook'', ''McCall's' ...

.Fox in Circa 1940, Gill Fox married Helen Fittipaldi, who died in 1998. They had two children, daughters Donna Morency and Susan Fox.

References

External links

*
Sally Taft Duplaix Collection
at the

Mortimer Rare Book Collection The Mortimer Rare Book Collection (MRBC) is the rare books collection of Smith College. Along with the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives (Smith College), Smith College Archives, it makes up Smith College Special Collections. The colle ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Gill 1915 births 2004 deaths American comics artists American editorial cartoonists American animators Fleischer Studios people American comic book editors Golden Age comics creators Inkpot Award winners United States Army personnel of World War II