aalookaHe floats thru the air with the greatest of ease. It's paratrooper P.F.C. Joe Palooka bailing out. - Joe Palooka was a popular American comic strip about a kind-hearted heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fishers in 1921. Joe himself was depicted as the "Champion of Democracy"—a brave, clean-living, and unpretentious hero who stood up for the "little guy". The strip first appeared on April 19, 1930, and reached its height of popularity in 1948 when it was carried by 900 newspapers.
In 1940, Joe became the first major comic strip character to enlist in the U.S. Army, a year before Pearl Harbor, setting a trend for other fictional heroes during World War II. —the strip ended on November 24, 1984, with Joe retiring undefeated.
- Films: A series of 12 feature-length films, mostly by Monogram Pictures between 1946 and 1951.
- Television: A 1954 syndicated series titled The Joe Palooka Story.
- Modern Revival: In 2012, Joe Palooka was rebranded as a mixed martial arts fighter in a new comic series.
A 10-foot, 20,000-pound limestone statue of the character was dedicated in 1948 and can still be seen today in Oolitic, Indiana.
