Big Ben Bolt
Encyclopedia
Big Ben Bolt was a comic strip drawn by John Cullen Murphy
, written by Elliot Caplin
and distributed by King Features Syndicate
.
Illustrator Murphy entered the Army in 1940, joining the 7th Regiment. He spent several years in the Pacific, beginning in Australia and ending in Tokyo. During the war, Murphy continued to illustrate, sending work to the Chicago Tribune
and painting portraits of military figures. Returning to the United States in 1946, he resumed his art career, illustrating for magazines, including Columbia, Liberty and Sport.
cartoonist Al Capp
) suggested that Murphy illustrate a boxing comic strip he had in mind. The strip followed the adventures of boxer and journalist Ben Bolt. Murphy was the artist of Big Ben Bolt from 1950 to 1978. Comics historian Don Markstein
wrote:
Murphy occasionally used assistants, including Al Williamson
(Flash Gordon), Alex Kotzky
(Apartment 3-G), Neal Adams
(Deadman), John Celardo
(Tarzan) and Stan Drake
(The Heart of Juliet Jones). In 1971, Murphy took over Prince Valiant
, and Gray Morrow
stepped in to draw Big Ben Bolt, eventually signing the strip starting August 1, 1977.
King Features' email service, DailyINK, began carrying Big Ben Bolt in June 2010.
's Award for Story Comic Strip for 1971 for his work on Big Ben Bolt and Prince Valiant
.
John Cullen Murphy
John Cullen Murphy was an American illustrator best known for his three decades of work on the Prince Valiant comic strip....
, written by Elliot Caplin
Elliot Caplin
Elliott A. Caplin was a comic strip writer best known as the co-creator of The Heart of Juliet Jones. He was the younger brother of Al Capp, creator of Li'l Abner....
and distributed by King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
.
Illustrator Murphy entered the Army in 1940, joining the 7th Regiment. He spent several years in the Pacific, beginning in Australia and ending in Tokyo. During the war, Murphy continued to illustrate, sending work to the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
and painting portraits of military figures. Returning to the United States in 1946, he resumed his art career, illustrating for magazines, including Columbia, Liberty and Sport.
Characters and story
In 1950, writer Elliot Caplin (brother of Li'l AbnerLi'l Abner
Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp , the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through...
cartoonist Al Capp
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
) suggested that Murphy illustrate a boxing comic strip he had in mind. The strip followed the adventures of boxer and journalist Ben Bolt. Murphy was the artist of Big Ben Bolt from 1950 to 1978. Comics historian Don Markstein
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
wrote:
- King Features Syndicate launched Ben's daily strip on February 20, 1950 and the Sunday version on May 25, 1952. The character's name was probably taken from Thomas Dunn English's poem, "Ben Bolt", which has remained popular since it first appeared in 1843. This wasn't the first cartoon to appropriate that name—there was also a single-panel feature titled Ben Bolt, by cartoonist Fanny Young Cory (Other People's Children, Little Miss Muffet), which started in 1916 as a parody of English's "Ben Bolt". It didn't last long and was quite forgotten by the time Caplin and Murphy came along. Ben himself ran against stereotype. Instead of a big, dumb hitting machine, he was an articulate college graduate who had chosen a boxing career because he enjoyed and was good at it (winning the world heavyweight championship early on), not because other fields weren't open to him. In fact, when, in 1955, an injury took him out of the ring, he went into journalism. For decades, his adventures revolved around writing about, rather than practicing, his chosen sport.
Murphy occasionally used assistants, including Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
(Flash Gordon), Alex Kotzky
Alex Kotzky
Alex Kotzky was a cartoonist best known for his three decades of work on the comic strip Apartment 3-G, distributed by Publishers-Hall Syndicate....
(Apartment 3-G), Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
(Deadman), John Celardo
John Celardo
John Celardo is a comic strip artist.After studying at the Art Students League of New York and the New York School of Industrial Arts he began his professional contributing sports cartoons to Street & Smith.-Comic books:He then drifted into comic books, working among other places at the...
(Tarzan) and Stan Drake
Stan Drake
Stanley Albert Drake was an American cartoonist best known as the founding artist of the comic strip The Heart of Juliet Jones....
(The Heart of Juliet Jones). In 1971, Murphy took over Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
, and Gray Morrow
Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow was an American illustrator of paperback books and comics.-Biography:Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow is best known as art director of Spider-Man between 1967 and 1970 and as illustrator of the syndicated Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant comic...
stepped in to draw Big Ben Bolt, eventually signing the strip starting August 1, 1977.
King Features' email service, DailyINK, began carrying Big Ben Bolt in June 2010.
Awards
Murphy received the National Cartoonists SocietyNational Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society 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 troops...
's Award for Story Comic Strip for 1971 for his work on Big Ben Bolt and Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
.
Sources
- Strickler, DaveDave StricklerDave Strickler is a reference librarian noted for his compilation of Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index, regarded as a major reference work by researchers and historians of newspaper comic strips....
. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1