Harold Gray - Little Joe Sunday Page - 1940

After Ed Leffingwell's untimely death in 1936, Harold Gray pretty much took over the reins on Little Joe, even though it was supposedly drawn by his cousin Bob Leffingwell, Ed's younger brother. Leffingwell did finally take the reins of the strip in the 1950s, and you can really see a difference between his and Gray's work. This Sunday page is from March 17, 1940, and feels like a western version of Little Orphan Annie. The characters and figure movement is all Gray, and that lovely dense cross-hatching looks are pure Harold Gray. Wonderful work by one of the true masters.

Just as with Little Orphan Annie, the vast majority of Little Joe originals reside in the collection at Boston University.