Joe Palooka

Joe Palooka
Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka (June 25, 1939) (Full size here)
Author(s)Ham Fisher (1930–1956)
Moe Leff (1956–1959)
Morris Weiss (1959–1984)
Illustrator(s)Ham Fisher (1930–1955)
Moe Leff (1955–1959)
Tony DiPreta (1959–1984)
Current status/scheduleConcluded daily & Sunday strip
Launch dateApril 19, 1930
End dateNovember 24, 1984[1]
Alternate name(s)Joe the Dumbbell
Syndicate(s)McNaught Syndicate
Publisher(s)Columbia Comics
Harvey Comics
IDW Publishing
Genre(s)Sports

Joe Palooka is an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930[1] and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984.

The strip was adapted to a 15-minute CBS radio series, 12 feature-length films (chiefly from Monogram Pictures), nine Vitaphone film shorts, a 1954 syndicated television series (The Joe Palooka Story), comic books and merchandise, including a 1940s board game, a 1947 New Haven Clock & Watch Company wristwatch, a 1948 metal lunchbox featuring depictions of Joe, Humphrey and Little Max, and a 1946 Wheaties cereal box cut-out mask. In 1980, a mountain in Pennsylvania was named for the character.

  1. ^ a b Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11756-7.