D.D.Degg on the Platinum Comic Yahoo list alerts us to the nice profile http://tinyurl.com/mxuks on Otto Messmer of Felix the Cat fame in the North Bergen, NJ newspaper. *SIGH* I ALMOST met Messmer. I called his home when I was visiting the East Coast back in the 80’s and asked if I could stop in. The woman who answered the phone, his wife as I recall, said Otto loved to meet with fans but he wasn’t feeling well that day. She encouraged me to call next time I was in the area. Messmer died a few days later.

I agree that Otto Messmer never got enough recognition for his brilliant art job on Felix in both the strip and animation. But like so much of this kind of thing, the pendulum swings too far. Pat Sullivan WAS a talented cartoonist and could very well have originated the character himself. But current Felix fans dis this and now give Messmer all the props.

Conversly, when I traveled in Australia folks loved pointing out to me that Sullivan, a homie, was Felix’s creator. And they insisted, too, that the Phantom was a home-grown Aussie creation. Not so on the later, but they were sure of it. Certainly The Ghost Who Walks is uber-popular there.

Similarly, Canadian comic fans now like to point out that Joe Shuster, the original Superman artist, natch, is a Canadian boy (though he left there at a very young age). There are even “The Shusters”, a Canadian comics award program. Check out the nifty poster for this year’s contest below.

(click for a closer look)