Bob Murphy

This small space is dedicated to my friend and fellow Caniffite Bob Murphy. Bob lived in rural Georgia and collected Terry and Pirates art but also other comic strip and comic book art. He was the kindest and gentlest of men with an unmatched passion for the medium. I did not meet Bob until he was in his 80's after a very kind introduction by our mutual friend Benno. We hit it off. He was still actively collecting well into his 90's. We continued to correspond by mail and the occasional emails. Bob was involved in comic art and art in general his whole life. He was an avid painter and his working years were spent at a Newspaper in the arts department. In addition to overseeing many pages of layouts and design, he would also create art. I have a few of those pieces. In addition to his work, I think Bob had dreams of becoming a syndicated artist at one point. Most of his contact with comic artists was in the capacity of a fan and through mail. His favorites were Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs and Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates. At its peak, Bob told me he had 550 Terry dailies and 4 dozen sundays. You might have seen the large amount of Terrys Heritage Auctions has been selling off, they come from his estate. Yes, We got the sad new that Bob had passed away in 90's at home with the art he loved. I had the good fortune to have visited with him on two occasions and the even better fortune to call him a friend. Below is art created by Bob. Some of it was acquired through auction but other pieces were gifts from the estate vie Benno. I wish I had had more time with Bob but grateful for the time I did. In addition to art by Bob, I have many pieces of art from his collection which I hold in high regards. They came with a collection like the world will likely never see again and from a collector with a lifelong love of the medium. In some ways it is a shame the collection was broken up as Bob had mentioned donating it to a museum but on the other hand it is now in hundreds of other collections with a new generation to love the art.