William Woggon (January 1, 1911 – March 2, 2003) was an American cartoonist who created the comic book ''

Katy Keene Katy Keene is a character created by Bill Woggon that has appeared in several comic book series published by Archie Comics since 1945. She is a model/actress/singer marketed by the publisher as "America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions". In the bo ...

''. Woggon was born the fourth of six children in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, and he grew up there. Fascinated by an art

correspondence course Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

that his older brother Elmer Woggon was taking, he became interested in drawing. At 16, he took a job in a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

as a

commercial artist Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of prom ...

, and then did the same kind of work at the ''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue ...

'', where Elmer worked.

Comic strips

By 1938, he was assisting Elmer in lettering and then drawing the latter's newspaper comic strip ''Big Chief Wahoo'', which later metamorphosed into '' Steve Roper and Mike Nomad''. According to the strip's writer,

Allen Saunders Allen Saunders (April 24, 1899 – January 28, 1986) was an American writer, journalist and cartoonist who wrote the comic strips ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'', ''Mary Worth'' and ''Kerry Drake''. He is credited with being the originator of the ...

, they were unable to keep him as a full-time ''Big Chief Wahoo'' staffer.

Comic books

Bill Woggon kept working on his own ideas for a comic book. Inspired by wartime

pinup girl A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

s,Foley, Maureen
"Katy Keene and Bill Woggon, Straight Up,"
Cherry Meltdown. in 1945, he created ''Katy Keene'', beginning in Wilbur Comics and taking advantage of its teen market. It became a success during the next ten years, spawning fan clubs and

pen pal Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of let ...

s. ''Katy Keene'' featured fashionable young beauty Katy (a model with "traditional values"), who had a pestering little sister, a stream of suitors and dreams of becoming an actress. The stories were not overly inspired and mainly served to put Katy through as many successive wardrobe changes as possible in order to show off reader-submitted fashions that Woggon drew and credited to them (a feature adopted by ''

Dixie Dugan ''Dixie Dugan'' is best known as a long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip published from October 21, 1929 to October 8, 1966. The title character was originally modeled after 1920s film actress Louise Brooks and early stories followed Dix ...

'' as well).

Paper doll Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper or thin card, with separate clothes, also made of paper, that are usually held onto the dolls by paper folding tabs. They may be a figure of a person, animal or inanimate object. Paper dolls have been ine ...

s with other outfits for Katy also increased the comic's appeal. It continued through the 1950s in various outlets (''Katy Keene Pinup Parade'', '' Laugh Comics,'' and

Pep Comics ''Pep Comics'' is the name of an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. (commonly known as MLJ Comics) during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. The titl ...

, and Archie Comics). When it ended in 1961, Woggon turned to other work, such as the Dell comic ''Millie the Lovable Monster'', ghosting the newspaper strip '' Priscilla's Pop'' and creating the Archie feature ''The Twiddles''. With the success of ''Katy Keene'', Woggon and his wife Jane moved their family in 1948 to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where they bought a spread near Santa Barbara. At the same time, Katy also moved from New York City to California. Woggon was visited by his admirers, including

Floyd Norman Floyd E. Norman (born June 22, 1935) is an American animator, writer, and comic book artist. Over the course of his career, Norman has worked for various animation companies, among them Walt Disney Animation Studios, Hanna-Barbera Productions, ...

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

and John S. Lucas. With Woggon's blessing, Lucas was asked by Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater to do the art on the Archie Comics revival of ''Katy Keene''. Katy Keene inspired a generation of serious fashion designers, including

Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson (born 1942) is an American fashion designer best known for her feminine and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished. She also is known for doing a cartwheel ending in a split at the ...

.Spurgeon, Tom
"Obituary: Bill Woggon 1911-2003,"
''The Comics Journal'' #252 (May 2003). In his later years, Woggon illustrated

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. Scripture While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally considered literature. Ho ...

for children (e.g., coloring books such as ''Let's Read and Color'', 1988).

Awards

In 1981, his work was recognized with an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual conv ...

. He received accolades not only from his fans but also from his family who cited him as "a great dad".

Notes

References

Bill Woggon profile at Lambiek.net's Comiclopedia

National Cartoonists Society obituary
* Evanier, Mark

POV Online (March 7, 2003). * Saunders, Allen. 1984. Autobiography "Playwright for Paper Actors," ch. 9, in ''

Nemo, the Classic Comics Library ''Nemo, the Classic Comics Library'' was a magazine devoted to the history and creators of vintage comic strips. Created by comics historian Rick Marschall, it was published between 1983 and 1990 by Fantagraphics. ''Nemo'' ran for 31 issues (th ...

'', no. 9 (October 1984) {{DEFAULTSORT:Woggon, Bill American cartoonists 2003 deaths 1911 births