Scarbo, George

George Scarbo (1898 -1966) is most well-known for the wonderful animals he drew in his Sunday topper strip, The Comic Zoo. The strip was created by Joe King in 1932 and was used as a topper for King's rather pedestrian strip Clownies. Scarbo took over the NEA feature for a one year stint in 1933. The strip started up again on June 28, 1936, as a topper to J.R. Williams' Out Our Way. Scarbo previously worked as one of Williams' assistants and he stayed with The Comic Zoo until May 30, 1965, a year before he passed away. While never a Dickens-type wordsmith, Scarbo had the ability to walk between illustrative and cartooning approaches with ease, and was simply a terrific ink-slinger. The the Comic Zoo's main character was Blackie Bear, though it featured a number of beautifully drawn animal characters.

Scarbo also drew a panel feature, Zoo's Who, which ran on "The Girls and Girls Page" or "Young Folks" pages in newspapers. It was a sort of nature-based version of Ripley's Believe it or Not aimed at kids. But without the over-the-top approach. Scarbo drew Zoo's Who from June 5, 1948 until May 13, 1963.