Frank Thomas (1914–1968) was an American

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

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 ...

who worked primarily for

Centaur Publications Centaur Publications (also known as Centaur Comics) was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing-Man. History Comics Magazine Co ...

. For Centaur he created The Eye, Chuck Hardy, Dr. Hypno, and Solarman (no relation to the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

of the same name). Later in his career, he worked for

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

on The Owl, Billy and Bonnie Bee, Buddies and other characters. He wrote scripts for ''

Andy Panda Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title ...

'', ''

Little Lulu ''Little Lulu'' is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marge (cartoonist), Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower ...

'', ''

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lan ...

'' and ''Little Scouts''.

Comic strips

Also in the 1940s, he did the ''Dinky Doyle''

daily strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily c ...

. In the following decade, he did the ''Going West'' strip (1951–54), as well as ''Hossface Hank'' ( Al Smith Service, 1955–1964). Between 1955 and 1965 he was ghost artist on

Henning Dahl Mikkelsen Henning Dahl Mikkelsen (1915 – June 4, 1982) was a Danish cartoonist, best known for creation of the long running newspaper comic strip '' Ferd'nand'', which he signed as Mik. He was born in Skive, Denmark, and began the pantomime humor stri ...

's ''

Ferd'nand ''Ferd'nand'' was a Danish pantomime comic notable for its lack of word balloons and captions and its longevity (over seven decades). It was first published in 1937 and is still published regularly in several countries around the globe. Backgrou ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

. His Aunty and Arabella comic panels for ''Cats'' magazine continued in print for over two decades after his death.

Legacy

Despite his relatively brief career and obscure status as a creator, Thomas's characters saw numerous revivals in the years and decades that followed his retirement from the field. In the 1960s,

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

revived The Owl and Owl Girl, inspired by the success of the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' television series. The two issues of Gold Key's ''The Owl''—in which the duo was shown in campy, self-parodying stories—came out in April 1967 and April 1968.Toonopedia
/ref> In the 1970s, The Owl appeared in issue #22 of Gold Key's ''The Occult Files of

Doctor Spektor Doctor Spektor is a fictional comic book "occult detective" that appeared in Western Publishing's Gold Key Comics.Plowright, Frank ''The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide''. Great Britain : Slings & Arrows, 2003 (p.189) Created by writer Donald F. G ...

''. In 1999, The Owl appeared in issue #17 of the

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

title ''Men of Mystery Comics''. The Owl is one of many

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

characters to appear in

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptation ...

’s 2008 miniseries ''

Project Superpowers ''Project Superpowers'' is a comic book limited series published by Dynamite Entertainment beginning January 2008. It was co-plotted by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with scripts by Jim Krueger, covers by Alex Ross, and interior art by Doug Klaub ...

''. His Eye character also saw a brief revival in the early 1990s as a supporting character in

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included '' ...

' Protectors series.

References

External links

Lambiek: Frank Thomas
1914 births 1968 deaths American cartoonists American comics artists {{US-cartoonist-stub