Otto Eppers 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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and illustrator active from the 1920s to 1950s. He is also known for a 1910 stunt in which he jumped off the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

Biography

In 1910, at the age of 17, Otto Eppers jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and emerged from the East River unscathed. He had coordinated with the tug ''Florence'' to retrieve him from the river. Upon making shore, he was arrested by a New York City policeman on the charge of attempted suicide. He was arraigned before a Magistrate Appelton, who dismissed the charges after commenting to the NYPD's Captain Burke, "Well, he seems very much alive, doesn't he?" The Bradford Era July 4, 1910 24 days after jumping off the bridge, Otto submitted his picture and diagram to newspapers. His story was nationwide from New Hampshire to Oregon to California to Alabama and in between. Eppers contributed characters to

QSL cards QSL may refer to: *Q code acknowledgement of receipt of radio message **QSL card, acknowledging receipt *Qatar Stars League, the premier association football league in Qatar *Quebec Sign Language * Queensland State League, a defunct soccer league i ...

for

ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communi ...

operators. He was a resident of Clearfield,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, where he was active in the ham radio community with the callsigns W8EA and W2EA. He later worked for the

Harry "A" Chesler Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ)Harry Chesler
at ...

studio. and for

Timely Comics Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...

. His contributions as

penciler A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step ...

and-or

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. After the penciller creates a drawing with pencil, the inker interprets this drawing by outlining and embellishing ...

or include stories for these features or in these series: *"Scottie" (penciler-inker), 1942, Timely Comics *"Happy Landings' (penciler-inker), 1945, Chesler Publications *"IMA Slooth" (penciler-inker), 1945, Chesler Publications *"Punch and Cutey" (penciler-inker), 1945 (pen/ink), Chesler Publications *''Gay Comics'' (inker), 1946, Timely Comics *"Inspector Fumble" (inker), 1963, reprint, I.W. Publications *''Gunsmoke Western'' (inker), 1963,

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Eppers died December 22, 1955, at the age of 62."Area Deaths", ''The Progress'', Clearfield, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1956, p. 9

References

American comic strip cartoonists 20th century in New York City Artists from New York City 1890s births 1955 deaths

External links

Otto Joseph William “Epp” Eppers at Find-A-Grave
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