Alfred Gerald Caplin ( September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979 ), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li ' l Abner.

Besides Dick Tracy, Capp parodied many other comic strips in Li ' l Abner — including Steve Canyon, Superman ( at least twice ; first as " Jack Jawbreaker " in 1947, and again in 1966 as " Chickensouperman "), Mary Worth, Peanuts, Rex Morgan, M. D., Little Annie Rooney and Little Orphan Annie ( in which Punjab became " Punjbag ," an oleaginous slob ).

In 1946 Capp created a special full-color comic book, Al Capp by Li ' l Abner, to be distributed by the Red Cross to encourage the thousands of amputee veterans returning from the war.

( Siegel and Shuster had earlier poked fun at Capp in a Superman story in Action Comics # 55, December 1942, in which a cartoonist named " Al Hatt " invents a comic strip featuring the hillbilly " Tiny Rufe.

Capp briefly resigned his membership in 1949 to protest their refusal of admission to Hilda Terry, creator of the comic strip Teena.

" In 1950, Capp introduced a cartoonist character named " Happy Vermin "— a caricature of Fisher — who hired Abner to draw his comic strip in a dimly lit closet, ( after sacking his previous " temporary " assistant of 20 years, who had been cut off from all his friends in the process ).

" The article recounted Capp's days working for an unnamed " benefactor " with a miserly, swinish personality, who Capp claimed was a never-ending source of inspiration when it came time to create a new unregenerate villain for his comic strip.

Fisher retaliated clumsily, doctoring photostats of Li ' l Abner and falsely accusing Capp of sneaking obscenities into his comic strip.

Another " feud " seemed to be looming when, in one run of Sunday strips in 1957, Capp lampooned the comic strip Mary Worth as " Mary Worm.

As is usual with collaborative efforts in comic strips, his name was the only one credited — although, sensitive to his own experience working on Joe Palooka, Capp frequently drew attention to his assistants in interviews and publicity pieces.

Cartoonist Mell Lazarus, creator of Miss Peach and Momma, wrote a comic novel in 1963 titled The Boss Is Crazy, Too which was partly inspired by his apprenticeship days working with Capp and his brother Elliot at Toby.

Besides his use of the comic strip to voice his opinions and display his humor, Capp was a popular guest speaker at universities, and on radio and television.

" Comics ,” wrote Capp in 1970, “ can be a combination of the highest quality of art and text, and many of them are .” Capp would produce many giveaway educational comic books and public services pamphlets, spanning several decades, for the Red Cross, the Department of Civil Defense, the Department of the Navy, the U. S. Army, the Anti-Defamation League, the Department of Labor, Community Chest ( a forerunner of United Way ), and the Job Corps.

The resulting publicity led to hundreds of papers dropping his comic strip, and Capp, already in failing health, withdrew from public speaking.

Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing.

From a recommendation, writer Jerry Caplin, a. k. a. Jerry Capp, brother of Li ' l Abner creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposed Ben Casey comic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series.

Adams later said that writer Elliot Caplin, brother of Al Capp and Jerry Capp, offered Adams the job of drawing a comic strip based on author Robin Moore's The Green Berets, but that Adams, who opposed the war, suggested longtime DC Comics war-comics artist Joe Kubert, who landed that assignment.

Andy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe ( 1917 – 1998 ), seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957.

When the children's comic Buster was launched in 1960, its masthead character was entitled Buster: Son of Andy Capp.

In the Alan Moore graphic novel " 1969 " a man, dressed as Andy Capp, is seen moving through a London crowd seemingly accompanied by a boy wearing a similar cap, perhaps an allusion to the Buster comic.

Also during this period, Capp was working at night on samples for the strip that would eventually become Li ' l Abner.

Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who called Capp " possibly the best writer in the world today " in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature — to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp " the only robust satirical force in American life.

1956 saw the debut of the Bald Iggle, considered by some Abner enthusiasts to be the creative high point of the strip, as well as Mammy's revelatory encounter with the " Square Eyes " Family — Capp ’ s thinly-veiled appeal for racial tolerance.

After Capp quit his ghosting job on Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka in 1934 to launch his own strip, Fisher badmouthed him to colleagues and editors, claiming that Capp had " stolen " his idea.

Allen Saunders, the creator of the Mary Worth strip, returned Capp's fire with the introduction of the character " Hal Rapp ," a foul-tempered, ill-mannered, and ( ironically ) inebriated cartoonist, ( Capp was a teetotaler ).

In point of fact, Capp maintained creative control over every stage of production for virtually the entire run of the strip.

Fascinated by Frazetta's abilities, Capp initially gave him a free hand in an extended daily sequence ( about a biker named " Frankie ," a caricature of Frazetta ) to experiment with the basic look of the strip by adding a bit more realism and detail ( particularly to the inking ).

As Li ' l Abner reached its peak years, and following the success of the Shmoos and other high moments in his work, Al Capp achieved a public profile that is still unparalleled in his profession, and arguably exceeded the fame of his strip.

" ( Capp also spoofed Carson in his strip, in a 1970 episode called " The Tommy Wholesome Show.

On November 13, 1977, Capp retired with an apology to his fans for the recently declining quality of the strip, which he said had been the best he could manage due to declining health.

" Yokum " was a combination of yokel and hokum, although Capp established a deeper meaning for the name during a series of visits around 1965 – 1970 with comics historians George E. Turner and Michael H. Price.

“ It ’ s phonetic Hebrew — that ’ s what it is, all right — and that ’ s what I was getting at with the name Yokum, more so than any attempt to sound hickish ," said Capp.

In response to the question “ Which side does Abner part his hair on ?," Capp would answer, “ Both .” Capp said he finally found the right " look " for Li ' l Abner with Henry Fonda's character Dave Tolliver, in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine ( 1936 ).

In addition to creating Li ' l Abner, Capp also co-created two other newspaper strips: Abbie an ' Slats with magazine illustrator Raeburn van Buren in 1937, and Long Sam with cartoonist Bob Lubbers in 1954, as well as the Sunday " topper " strips Washable Jones, Small Fry ( aka Small Change ), and Advice fo ' Chillun.

Capp was also involved with the Sister Kenny Foundation, which pioneered new treatments for polio in the 1940s.

Serving in his capacity as honorary chairman, Capp made public appearances on its behalf for years, contributed free artwork for its annual fund-raising appeals, and entertained crippled and paraplegic children in children's hospitals with inspirational pep talks, humorous stories and sketches.

In 1948, Capp reached a creative peak with the introduction of the Shmoos, lovable and innocent fantasy creatures who reproduced at amazing speed and brought so many benefits that, ironically, the world economy was endangered.

Following his close friend Milton Caniff's lead ( with Steve Canyon ), Capp had recently fought a successful battle with the syndicate to gain complete ownership of his feature when the Shmoos debuted.

Capp followed this success with other allegorical fantasy critters, including the aboriginal and masochistic " Kigmies ," who craved abuse ( a story that began as a veiled comment on racial and religious oppression ), the dreaded " Nogoodniks " ( or bad shmoos ), and the irresistible " Bald Iggle ," a guileless creature whose sad-eyed countenance compelled involuntary truthfulness — with predictably disastrous results.

" This character, along with the Shmoos, helped cement Capp's favor with the Left, and would increase their outrage a decade later when Capp, a former Franklin D. Roosevelt liberal, switched targets.

) According to a November 1950 Time article, " Capp parted from Fisher with a definite impression, ( to put it mildly ) that he had been underpaid and unappreciated.

Fisher, a man of Roman self esteem, considered Capp an ingrate and a whippersnapper, and watched his rise to fame with unfeigned horror.

Capp is often associated with two other giants of the medium: Milton Caniff ( Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon ) and Walt Kelly ( Pogo ).

" Lazarus went on to cite Capp as one of the " four essentials " in the field of newspaper cartoonists, along with Walt Kelly, Charles Schulz and Milton Caniff.