Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Mr. Abernathy (original) (raw)
| … not having anywhere near as much fun. He was just one of those guys sitting behind an extremely large desk, immaculate because no real work was ever done on it — his only job was to own the company. The strip was created by writer Ralston "Bud" Jones (who also worked as a gag man at Mort Walker's studio, where he contributed to Hi & Lois, Boner's Ark and others, and had previously worked at Johnstone & Cushing, the advertising agency that specialized in comics), and artist Frank Ridgeway (who spent most of his comics career on this one strip). King Features Syndicate began distributing Mr. Abernathy on October 14, 1957. This look at the lighter side of the upper crust wasn't among King's most widely-distributed strips, nor was it spun off into a multi-media extravaganza. But Abernathy and his matter-of-fact attitude toward his money and position did continue for quite some time. His household servants and office staff never actually rebelled, or expressed strong views over the way he took them for granted, but sometimes made it clear to readers that they weren't entirely convinced he was behaving reasonably. Jones left the strip in 1980, after which Ridgeway handled the whole job. Ridgeway died in 1994, and the strip continued for a time with no byline at all. It folded soon after.— DDMBACK to Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home PageToday in Toons: Every day's an anniversary! | Purchase Comic Strip Reprints Online |
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