But the character was eventually rediscovered. One of the collections was reprinted in 1983, sparking a minor flurry of new interest in Ev. He’d long since fallen into the public domain, so others were free to use him — and comic book writer Tony Isabella (creator of Black Lightning, The Champions and It, the Living Colossus), collaborating with several artists, did.
I hypothesize this is one of the post-public domain examples. The signature there is hard to read, but it’s not Condo (the creator) or Meek (who sometimes did them, according to https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/condo_ad.htm) To make a better determination, we’d have to look at the cross-hatching and drawing styles, and track down more examples of the newer comics.
Edit: turns out this cartoon came out in 1911; for example, it was printed on October 10, 1911 in The Tacoma Times and in The Seattle Star and October 17 in The Detroit Times. I think the signature is indeed “Meek”; the first three vertical lines in the signature are an “M”.
https://www.toonopedia.com/true.htm
I hypothesize this is one of the post-public domain examples. The signature there is hard to read, but it’s not Condo (the creator) or Meek (who sometimes did them, according to https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/condo_ad.htm) To make a better determination, we’d have to look at the cross-hatching and drawing styles, and track down more examples of the newer comics.Edit: turns out this cartoon came out in 1911; for example, it was printed on October 10, 1911 in The Tacoma Times and in The Seattle Star and October 17 in The Detroit Times. I think the signature is indeed “Meek”; the first three vertical lines in the signature are an “M”.