| Willie Wormwood | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real name |
Willie Wormwood |
|
First appearance |
Syndicated comic strip The Thimble Theatre (19 December 1919) |
|
Original publisher |
King Features Syndicate |
|
Created by |
E. C. Segar |
Origin[]
During the early days of the comic strip, the main focus of Thimble Theatre was on the cast of characters portraying characters in various comical stage-plays. Willie Wormwood's character was an old-fashioned villain, suave, well-dressed and mustachioed, having been Segar's own take of the iconic and archetypical stock "Villain" character that has existed since the 18th century in Victorian stage melodrama who was used as the embodiment of villainy and the evil nature of man in many of said stage shows, as well as in Vaudeville acts and classic silent film shorts, such as the 1913 short film Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life. However, he was eventually dropped from the series as more popular characters were being introduced (like Castor Oyl).
Public Domain Comic Strip Appearances[]
- Thimble Theater comic strip (December 19, 1919– March 9, 1920)
Notes[]
- Willie Wormwood was created by E. C. Segar for Thimble Theatre in December 1919, then primarily a satire of the archetypical characters and narrative devices populating the theatrical dramas and silent cinema of the era. Resultantly, Wormwood was depicted as an actor typically cast as the conniving villain to Harold Hamgravy as the hero and Olive Oyl as the damsel.