| Joe Palooka | |
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 | |
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First Appearance |
Joe Palooka (April 21, 1930) |
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Original Publisher |
McNaught Syndicate |
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Created by |
Ham Fisher |
Origin[]
Joe Palooka is a kind-hearted but slow-witted heavyweight boxing champion whose strength, innocence, and decency define the strip. Despite his fame in the ring, Joe remains humble, gentle, and often naïve, relying on others to navigate the world outside boxing.
Across decades of stories, Joe’s adventures extend beyond the prize ring into domestic life, comedy, and light drama, portraying him as a fundamentally good man whose simple nature contrasts with the schemers and hustlers around him.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Joe Palooka from before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Joe Palooka Comics #1-87
- Famous Funnies #2-37
- Big Shot Comics #1-72
- Feature Comics 21-31
- Feature Funnies #1-20
- Black Cat Comics #16
- Dixie Dugan #1
- Little Max Comics #1-9, 13-19, 21-25, 28, 31-34, 37-38, 40-43, 46, 48-51, 53-55, 57-61, 63-68, 70, 72-73
- All New Comics #11, 13-15
- Humphrey Comics #1-22
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Palooka (1934) - Joe Palooka is a naive young man whose father Pete was a champion boxer.
Notes[]
- In his home town of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Fisher devised the character in 1921 after he met a boxer, Pete Latzo, outside a poolroom. As Fisher explained in an article in Collier's:
Here, made to order, was the comic strip character I had been looking for—a big, good-natured prize fighter who didn't like to fight; a defender of little guys; a gentle knight. I ran back to the office, drew a set of strips and rushed to the newspaper syndicates.
- Many rejections followed before Fisher's strip was finally syndicated by the McNaught Syndicate after Fisher, while employed as a McNaught salesman, sold it to over 20 newspapers. It debuted April 21, 1930, and by 1948, it was ranked as one of the five most popular newspaper comic strips.
- After Fisher committed suicide in 1955, his assistant Moe Leff drew the strip for four years. Leff had been ghosting on the strip's art since the late 1930s; his first credited strip was September 17, 1956. Lank Leonard recommended Tony DiPreta, who stepped in starting September 7, 1959, to illustrate scripts by Morris Weiss (early 1960s to early 1970s) and Ed Moore (mid 1970s on). DiPreta stayed with the strip for 25 years until it ended its run November 24, 1984, when it had dropped to only 182 newspapers. DiPreta then moved on to draw Rex Morgan, M.D.
- Mo Leff also worked on another boxing strip, Joe Jinks Featuring Dynamite Dunn, created by Vic Forsythe.
- Of uncertain origin, the word palooka was found in print as early as 1923 and widely used to mean a lout or an inept fighter.
- In 1938, Joe joined the French Foreign Legion, and in 1940, he enlisted in the U. S. Army.
- In 1940, Joe Palooka appeared on Dixie Dugan, also distributed by the McNaught Syndicate.
- Over decades, Joe Palooka appeared in comic books from several comic book publishers. Early comic books offered strip reprints, but eventually the character was seen in original comic book stories. Secondary characters Little Max and Humphrey Pennyworth each had their own Harvey Comics series.
- Joe Antonacci owns the trademark to and has recreated Joe Palooka. A brand new comic book version of the character created by Antonacci and his creative team was published by IDW Publishing in 2012. Palooka is reborn as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. Antonacci's team has also created a sister series of MMA-themed comic books entitled Legion of Combat.
- On the covers of Big Shot Comics, Joe Palooka was shown interacting with other the characters who appeared in the comic including Skyman, Sparky Watts, Marvelo, and the Face. Of course these crossovers only occurred on the covers and not in the interior stories.