His Father

**A poignant history of the cartoonists and illustrators from the Connecticut School**

For a period of about fifty years, right in the middle of the American Century, many of the the nation's top comic-strip cartoonists, gag cartoonists, and magazine illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut--a bit of bohemia in the middle of those men in their gray flannel suits.

Cullen Murphy's father, John Cullen Murphy, drew the wildly popular comic strips *Prince Valiant* and *Big Ben Bolt* , and was at the heart of this artistic milieu. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group-- *Superman* , *Beetle Bailey* , *Snuffy Smith* , *Rip Kirby* , *Hagar the Horrible* , *Hi and Lois* , *Nancy* , *Sam & Silo*, *Amy* , *The Wizard of Id* , *The Heart of Juliet Jones* , *Family Circus* , *Joe Palooka* , and *The Lockhorns* , among others. Cartoonists and their art were a pop-cultural force in a way that few today remember. Anarchic and deeply creative, the cartoonists were independent spirits whose artistic talents had mainly been forged during service in World War II.

Illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, cartoons, and drawings, *Cartoon County* brings the postwar American era alive, told through the relationship of a son to his father, an extraordinarily talented and generous man who had been trained by Norman Rockwell. *Cartoon County* gives us a glimpse into a very special community--and of an America that used to be.