February 10th - Marvelous Land of Oz

A Year in Comics - February 10th

Jack Pumpkinhead, the Tin Woodsman, the Scarecrow and Mr. H. M. Wogglebug, T. E. - L. Frank Baum's "Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz"

Walter Hugh 'Walt' McDougall was born on February 10th 1858 in Newark, New Jersey.  Through his father, who was a painter, Walt got his interest for art, and in the 1870s he started as an illustrator at the New York Graphic, the first American illustrated daily newspaper.

As an artist, Walt McDougall was a pioneer at many fronts: in 1893, on May 21st, he had the first coloured comic strip in a US newspaper; in 1898, he drew what will probably remain the largest ever comic published in a newspaper, which was a single-panel comic spread over the entirety of two pages (in broadsheet!)  He also became the first syndicated cartoon artist, when he illustrated Bill Nye's weekly column for the American Press Association.

His most known comic is Queer Visitors from the Marvelous World of Oz, which was written by L. Frank Baum, writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Drawn to promote the Wizard of Oz's sequel, The Marvellous Land of Oz, it was the first comic based on a current work of fiction, and probably also the first promotional comic ever published, running from 1904 to 1905 as a Sunday comic.

McDougal also published a number of other daily and Sunday comics such as “Absent Minded Abner,” “Fatty Felix,” “Hank The Hermit,” “Teddy In Africa” and the Rambillaux series.  He also had a spell as a political journalist, being a close friend of, and covering the term in office of US president Theodore Roosevelt.  His run as a comic artist appears to have ended around 1920.

On March 6th 1938, almost a month after his 80th birthday, McDougall, having suffered years of financial hardship and loneliness, committed suicide.

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49th entry out of ?

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