Mortimer, Win - Obadiah - undated daily - complete

James Winslow "Win" Mortimer was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1919. Win received his early graphics training from his father who supervised the poster department of a lithography firm in Hamilton. Win worked at the firm during summer breaks from high school. After high school, Win attended the Art Students League of New York, studying anatomy under the renowned George Bridgeman. In that same class of artists was Stan Drake. At the outbreak of World War II, Mortimer joined the Canadian army. He was discharged from the service in 1943, and began designing posters for the Canadian Ministry of Information. At the end of the war, many soldiers returned home, and Win found jobs difficult to come by. He decided to move to New York in mid-1945. After meeting with Jack Schiff, an editor at DC comics, he was hired and immediately assigned a number of stories for the Superman family of comics. Win Mortimer left DC Comics in 1956, taking a job to draw David Crane, a daily newspaper strip published by the Prentice-Hall Syndicate. He worked on this strip until 1960, then taking on Larry Bannon, published by the Toronto Star Syndicate, from 1961-68. From 1968, Mortimer worked in and out of the comic book field. Out of the field, Mortimer produced a great deal of commercial art. I have 8 examples of the OBADIAH Strip, presumably done for the Putnam County Courier dated from 1974 to 1977. In 1983, Win Mortimer joined Neal Adams' Continuity Associates, and began working on advertising and commercial projects. Following heart bypass surgery in 1987, Mortimer returned to Continuity and worked there producing a weekly editorial cartoon for the Putnam County Courier, a five-page religion-oriented comic book called "Faith and Stuff" as well as varied illustrations and commission work. On Sunday, January 11, 1998, Win Mortimer passed following a six-month battle with cancer. Still, Win worked at his craft every day right up until his death. He is survived by his wife, Eileen, three children, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. After hearing of Win's death, Neal Adams said, "Win fit his work into his life. He had a family, a home and made contributions to his community. He was an ideal for other artists to pay attention to." (This biographical information is adapted from materials written by art historian, Wally Harrington) This particular strip (marked "2" in the margin) is of a larger size than the majority of originals I have for this strip and may well be the second strip, although it is possible that it is merely the second daily in a continuity. I think this daily is the best, and most biting piece of humour I have seen from Mr. Mortimer.

Obadiah Fry ran in the Putnam County Courier from Aug 11, 1971 to late 1975.