Horses post! #1

The History of Comic Art - one artist, one horse, at a time! 

Let’s start with Jack Kirby, né Jacob Kurtzberg (1917 -1994). In 1936, Kirby began writing and drawing for H. T. Elmo and his syndicate, Lincoln Newspaper Features. While there Kirby drew political cartoons and worked on features which were already established under Elmo’s name or under generic names like “Brady” to create the illusion of consistency as grossly underpaid artists came and went.  The earliest possible Kirby horse drawing I could find is from an Elmo credited strip,  “Facts You Never Knew!!!” (August, 1936). This is credited to Kirby by the blog Tenth Letter of the Alphabet.  

Other Kirby horses from “Facts You Never Knew!!!” were  published in the spring and summer of 1939, this time with the signature, Jack Curtis, which was commonly used by Kirby in those early days. 

While working for Elmo, Kirby also did a tenure on the weekly panel, “Our Puzzle Corner,” including this one from 1937. Credit for this identification and image goes to Greg Theakson’s  Comic Strip Kirby CD. 

Next Stop: Lightnin, the Lone Rider, and Wilton of the West.