Joseph Musial (January 15, 1905 – June 6, 1977) was an American
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who drew ''
The Katzenjammer Kids'' from 1956 to his death in 1977.
Family
Musial was born and raised in
Yonkers, New York. His parents were Polish immigrants.
Career
Having studied at the
Sorbonne University of
Paris in 1929, Musial started out his cartooning career as assistant to
Billy DeBeck
William Morgan DeBeck (April 15, 1890 – November 11, 1942), better known as Billy DeBeck, was an American cartoonist. He is most famous as the creator of the comic strip ''Barney Google'', later retitled ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'' ...
, creator of
Barney Google, in the early 1930s. He subsequently worked as ghost artist on a number of comic strips from
King Features, apparently stepping in to assist various creators whenever necessary.
He eventually became art director of the comic book division by the syndicate.
In 1956, following the death of cartoonist
Doc Winner, King Features sought a replacement writer and artist on ''The Katzenjammer Kids''. Musial took the job, and spent his remaining 21 years drawing the popular weekly strip. He was the fourth artist to work on the strip, following
Rudolph Dirks
Rudolph Dirks (February 26, 1877 – April 20, 1968) was one of the earliest and most noted comic strip artists, well known for ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' (later known as ''The Captain and the Kids'').
Dirks was born in Heide, Germany, to Joh ...
,
Harold Knerr
Harold Hering Knerr (September 4, 1882 – July 8, 1949) was an American comic strip creator, who signed his work H. H. Knerr. He was the writer-artist of the comic strip '' The Katzenjammer Kids'' for 35 years.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, ...
and Winner.
Death
Musial died at the North Shore Hospital in
Manhasset, New York, at the age of 72.
[ Following his death, cartoonist Mike Senich took over ''The Katzenjammer Kids''.
]
References
1905 births
1977 deaths
American comic strip cartoonists
Paris-Sorbonne University alumni
People from Yonkers, New York
Artists from New York (state)
American people of Polish descent
{{US-comics-artist-stub