William Hess Ward (March 6, 1919 – November 17, 1998), was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

notable as a

good girl art Good Girl Art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

ist and creator of the risqué comics

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

Torchy.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Ward grew up in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 fro ...

. Additiona
WebCitation archive
February 8, 2011. At age 17, Ward, already an art hobbyist, began his professional career by illustrating "beer jackets", a type of white denim jacket with text or design printed or drawn on the back; Ward charged one dollar a jacket, and by his own count drew hundreds during that summer. He went on to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, where one classmate was future naturist painter Bob Kuhn. Ward graduated in 1941, and through the university's placement bureau obtained a Manhattan art-agency job at $18 a week, sweeping floors, running errands and serving as an art assistant. He was fired after accidentally cutting in half a finished Ford automobile illustration with a matte knife. Still rooming at his college

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

house, he received a call from Pratt regarding another job, assisting

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist

Jack Binder Jack Binder is an American film producer (''The Upside of Anger'', ''First Reformed'', ''Reign Over Me'') and television producer (''The Mind of the Married Man'', HBO) and second unit director active since 1985. With older brother Mike Binder, ...

. He joined Binder's small art studio, a "packager" that supplied outsourced comics pages to fledgling comic book publishers, where Pete Riss was his assistant. The studio was relocating from

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

to, coincidentally, Ward's hometown of Ridgewood, New Jersey, to the upstairs loft of a barn. There, Binder drew layouts for

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel, the alter ego of radio reporter Billy Bats ...

stories, for which Riss

penciled A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

and inked figures and Ward drew the backgrounds. Features included ''

Mister Scarlet and Pinky Mr. Scarlet and Pinky the Whiz Kid are two duo fictional comic book superheroes connected to each other, and first introduced in '' Wow Comics''. The superheroes were originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. The original Mis ...

'', ''

Bulletman Bulletman and Bulletgirl are fictional superheros originally published by Fawcett Comics. Publication history Created by Bill Parker and Jon Smalle, Bulletman first appeared in ''Nickel Comics'' #1 (May 1940). This comic was distinct from othe ...

'', ''

Ibis the Invincible Ibis the Invincible is a fictional character originally published by Fawcett Comics in the 1940s and then by DC Comics beginning in the 1970s. Like many magician superheroes introduced in the Golden Age of Comics, Ibis owes much to the popular com ...

'', '' Captain Battle'', the ''

Black Owl The Black Owl is the name of two fictional superhero characters. Both appeared in the Prize Publications title ''Prize Comics'' in the 1940s. Publication history In 1940, Prize Publications, which was already established as a producer of pulp ...

'', and the adapted

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

features ''

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...

'' and ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

''. The studio grew to about 30 artists, with

Ken Bald Kenneth Bruce Bald (August 1, 1920 – March 17, 2019) was an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for the '' Dr. Kildare'' and ''Dark Shadows'' newspaper comic strips. Due to contractual obligations, he is credited as "K. Bruce" ...

as the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

. Ward's first credited works are writing and drawing an episode each of the two-page

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

features ''Private Ward'' in Fawcett's ''

Spy Smasher Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by Fawcett and DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics. The second is a female anti-terrorism government agent, ...

'' #2 (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

d Winter 1941) and ''Bulletman'' #3 (January 14, 1942), published closely with each other.Bill Ward
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

Shortly thereafter,

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

editor

George Brenner George E. Brenner (1913–1952) was an American cartoonist in the mid 20th-century. He created comics such as '' The Clock'', ''Bozo the Iron Man'', and ''711''. Brenner was first employed by the Comics Magazine Company before moving to Everett ...

hired Ward to write and pencil the hit

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

feature ''

Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...

'' of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Ward artwork for ''Military Comics'' #30-31 (July–August 1944), with the next several issues generally but unconfirmably credited to Al Bryant. Ward stated that he succeeded

Reed Crandall Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall
at ...

, the preeminent ''

'' artist, when Crandall was drafted into the U.S. Army, but Crandall first drew the feature in ''Military Comics'' #12-22, and he was succeeded primarily by the team of penciler John Cassone and inker

Alex Kotzky Alex Kotzky (September 11, 1923 – September 26, 1996) was a cartoonist best known for his three decades of work on the comic strip ''Apartment 3-G'', originally distributed by Publishers Syndicate. Biography Early life and education Born ...

before Ward took over.

Torchy

Torchy made her comic-book debut as star of a backup feature in

' ''

Doll Man Doll Man is a superhero first appearing in American comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner a ...

'' #8 (Spring 1946), and continued in all but three issues through #28 (May 1950), as well as in ''Modern Comics'' #53-89 (Sept. 1946 - Sept. 1949). A solo series, ''Torchy'', ran six issues (Nov. 1949 - Sept. 1950).Torchy
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on January 4, 2017. Several Torchy stories, including some Fort Hamilton strips, were reprinted in

Innovation Comics Innovation Publishing (also known as Innovation Books and the Innovative Corporation) was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising U ...

' 100-page, squarebound comic book ''Bill Ward's Torchy, The Blonde Bombshell'' #1 (Jan. 1992). Others have been reprinted in '' fy Pages'' #1 (1987);

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''Good Girl Art Quarterly'' #1 (Summer 1990), #10 (Fall 1992), #11 (Winter 1993), and #14 (Winter 1994), and in AC's ''America's Greatest Comics'' #5 (circa 2003). Comic Images released a set of Torchy

trading cards A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

in 1994. Ward drew an original cover featuring Torchy for Robert M. Overstreet's

annual Annual may refer to: * Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook ** Literary annual * Annual plant * Annual report * Annual giving * Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco * Annuals (b ...

book '' The Comic Book Price Guide'' (#8, 1978).

Later career

Ward's last confirmed comic-book work is at least one

story in ''Blackhawk'' #63 (

d April 1953; another story in that issue is unconfirmed but generally credited to Ward). His last unconfirmed but generally accepted comic-book works both appeared two months later: a Blackhawk story in ''Blackhawk'' #65 and a

Captain Marvel Jr. Captain Marvel Jr. (Frederick "Freddy" Freeman) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. A member of the Marvel/Shazam Family team of superheroes associated with Captain Marvel/Shazam, he was created by Ed H ...

tale in

' ''The Marvel Family'' #84 (both June 1953). Ward turned to magazine cartooning afterward, doing humorous spot illustrations, some featuring Torchy, for such publications as editor Abe Goodman's ''

Humorama Humorama, a division of Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman's publishing firm, was a line of digest-sized magazines featuring girlie cartoons by Bill Ward (cartoonist), Bill Ward, Bill Wenzel, Dan DeCarlo, Jack Cole (artist), Jack Cole and m ...

''. Some of Ward's gag comics were collected in the

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

''Honeymoon Guide'' (#T-95, 1956; reprinted as #T282, 1958). Ward was also a regular artist for the satirical-humor magazine ''

Cracked Cracked may refer to: Television * ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV * ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC * "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...

''. He did very occasional comic-book humor stories, such as the four-page "Play Pool" in Humor-Vision's

satiric Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

''Pow Magazine'' #1 (Aug. 1966), and, that same decade, episodes of " The Adventures of Pussycat", a risqué feature about a sexy

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

, which ran in various

men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...

magazines published by Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. Ward dabbled in

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

, drawing a

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of Human sexual activity, sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

"Stella Starlet" story in publisher John A. Mozzer's ''Weird Smut Comics'' #1 (1985) and a "Sugar Caine" story in issue #2 (1987); both were written by Dave Goode. Ward wrote and illustrated erotic stories for such

men's magazines This is a list of magazines primarily marketed to men. The list has been split into subcategories according to the target audience of the magazines. This list includes mostly mainstream magazines as well as adult ones. Not included here are autom ...

as ''

Juggs ''Juggs'' is a softcore pornography adult magazine published in the United States that specializes in photographs of women with large breasts. It has been described as "the magazine of choice for breast men" by Jerry Saltz, art critic for ''The ...

'' and ''

Leg Show ''Leg Show'' was an adult fetish magazine published in the United States which specialized in photographs of women in nylons, corsets, pantyhose, stockings and high heels. The magazine features pinup style photographs and articles geared towards ...

'' — an article a month for the former in his later years.Kroll
p. 3. Link retrieved 2007-12-06.
During this period he also did cover and interior illustrations for various paperback publishers of softcore and hardcore pornography, especially those owned by

William Hamling William Hamling (10 August 1912 – 20 March 1975) was a British Labour Party politician. Hamling was educated at Liverpool University and was a signals officer in the Royal Marines during World War II. Hamling contested Southport in 1945, ...

; and illustrations (primarily covers) for ''

Screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

''.Ward, Bill. "Cover" ''Screw'' March 7, 1994 (Issue 1305); New York: Milky Way Productions In a rare turn doing a mainstream comics character, Ward drew the four-page part one of a ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

'' story, "The Mega-City 5000," in the weekly British comic book '' 2000 AD'' #40 (November 26, 1977), reprinted in ''Judge Dredd: The Early Cases'' #3 by Eagle Comics (April 1986).

References

External links

Bill Ward
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...