Rudy in Hollywood

In his career William Overgard was a Golden Age comic book artist, assistant to Milton Caniff, the writer/artist of the comic strip "Steve Roper and Mike Nomad," an author of several novels, and the creator of the comic strip, "Rudy." Rudy was a talking chimpanzee who, when I saw the strip in my local newspaper on its initial run, I "heard" in George Burns' voice. The strip was short-lived, but luckily it's still available if you can find the book, RUDY IN HOLLYWOOD. I've scanned up to page 21 and would like to show you more at a later date. The strip appeared as a continuity strip surrounded by minimalist daily gag strips, which probably led to its doom. The shrinking size of newspaper comics is evident in Overgard's approach to the drawing, but he did a lot with the space he had available to him.

Overgard, who was born in 1926, died in 1990.

RUDY IN HOLLYWOOD By William Overgard. An Owl Book, Holt, Rinehart and Winston. First edition, 1984.

Rudy comic strips Copyright © 1983, 1984 United Feature Syndicate