Pete Hoffman (February 22, 1919 – September 7, 2013) was an American cartoonist. He is known for his work on the adventure strips ''Steve Roper'' (later '' Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'') and ''Jeff Cobb''.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, the youngest of four children of Rose and Abraham Hoffman, Hoffman showed artistic talent early, publishing an

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

-themed drawing in the ''

Toledo Times Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Oru ...

'' when just a kindergartner at Warren School. He attended the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

, where he earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in advertising and marketing while cartooning for the student newspaper and serving as art editor of the yearbook. After working for six months as an advertising artist for a local department store, Hoffman served in the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

in England during

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 ...

, achieving the rank of captain and receiving the

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...

Early career

Afterwards, he returned to Toledo and stopped by to see ''Steve Roper'' authors

Allen Saunders Allen Saunders (April 24, 1899 – January 28, 1986) was an American writer, journalist and cartoonist who wrote the comic strips ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'', ''Mary Worth'' and ''Kerry Drake''. He is credited with being the originator of the ...

and

Elmer Woggon Elmer Woggon (November 4, 1898 – April 1978), who signed his art Wog, was the creator of an early newspaper comic strip that eventually developed into the long-running '' Steve Roper and Mike Nomad''. Biography Born and raised in Toledo, ...

; he had met them as a student cartoonist and had been sending them additional sketches during the war. Liking his work, Saunders hired him as a new ghost for Woggon because

Publishers Syndicate Publishers Newspaper Syndicate (later Publishers Syndicate) was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated from 1925 to 1967, when it merged with the Hall Syndicate. Publishers syndicated such long-lived comic strips as '' Big Chief Wa ...

had complained that the artwork still looked too cartoonish for an adventure strip. The strip continued to appear as "''Steve Roper'' by Saunders and Woggon." Hoffman's name was seen only in the sequence of June 9–14, 1947, when Roper's friend Sonny Brawnski wrestled "Poison Pete Hoffman" after threatening to throw him into Toledo's

Maumee River The Maumee River (pronounced ) (; ) is a river running in the Midwestern United States from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph River (Maumee River), St. Joseph and St. Mar ...

. Hoffman gave the postwar ''Steve Roper'' the more serious look it needed as it settled into a modern urban setting. Hoffman said of his work, "The strip was in a transition stage and a more illustrative style of drawing was desired. My style fit their needs. I enjoyed ghost-drawing the characters for nearly nine years." The ghost was no secret, however: a 1953 article on ''Steve Roper'' in the ''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issu ...

'' described Hoffman's role in the strip and pictured him working with Saunders and Woggon in their studio.

''Jeff Cobb'' and ''Why We Say''

Hoffman launched his own strip on June 28, 1954, leaving ''Steve Roper'' to produce General Features' ''Jeff Cobb'', about an investigative reporter for the ''Daily Guardian''.''Jeff Cobb''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on October 8, 2016. The parting was amicable, and Saunders and Woggon sponsored him when he joined the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

in 1955. Hoffman said in said, "Hopefully, some of Allen Saunders' expertise rubbed off on me when I worked on ''Steve Roper''." Similarly to Steve Roper, Cobb was an attractive, clean-cut, two-fisted reporter who defended his standards, fought crime, and endured near-fatal threats to his life. On the other hand, Hoffman's ''Jeff Cobb'' developed a greater range of expression and a more mature level of fine-line photorealism than his Roper. Like Saunders, he also emphasized characterization in plot development, and said he never ran out of ideas; stories were inspired by newspaper articles he read, and characters were often based on real people. During this same period, Hoffman illustrated the single-panel feature ''Why We Say'' (also for General Features; 1950–78), which was written by Robert Morgan and explained word and phrase origins in laypersons' terms..

Later career

When ''Jeff Cobb'' ended in 1978, "a victim of the phase-out" of newspaper continuity strips in general, Hoffman turned to freelance work and

alumni projects.

Honors

Hoffman continued to live in his native Toledo, and in 2004, on the 50th anniversary of ''Jeff Cobb'', he was honored there by fans and by a collection of fellow cartoonists' caricatures, each sporting a ''Jeff Cobb'' eye-patch.

Personal life

Hoffman never married, regarding himself as "married to the drawing board". He died of a heart attack, aged 94.

References

Notes

Sources

* Rothman, Seymour. "Evolution of a Comic Strip," ''Toledo Blade'', Pictorial, August 9, 1953, p. 5-6; reprinted in ''Steve Roper and Wahoo'', Blackthorne Publishing (Book 2).

External links

National Cartoonists Society: Pete Hoffman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Pete 1919 births American comic strip cartoonists University of Toledo alumni 2013 deaths United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Artists from Toledo, Ohio