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5 unusual facts about Pete Hoffman


Allen Saunders

Saunders also served as chair of the Newspaper Comics Council, was a longtime member of the National Cartoonists Society who helped younger cartoonists get started (e.g., Fran Matera, Pete Hoffman, Nicholas P. Dallis, Alex Kotzky), and was a civic-minded leader in Toledo community affairs.

His scripts were interpreted and fleshed out by talented realist artists (Ernst in Mary Worth, Pete Hoffman and then William Overgard in Steve Roper, Andriola and his ghosts in Kerry Drake) who made the characters and settings both attractive and believable.

Pete Hoffman

Afterwards, he returned to Toledo and stopped by to see Steve Roper authors Allen Saunders and Elmer Woggon; he had met them as a student cartoonist and had been sending them additional sketches during the war.

And following the two previous Steve Roper ghosts — Elmer Woggon's younger brother Bill Woggon (Katy Keene) and Don Dean (Cranberry Boggs)—Hoffman did just that in mid-1954, leaving Steve Roper to produce his own strip, Jeff Cobb.

Starting with the July 12, 1954 strip, his replacement on Steve Roper was William Overgard, who put an end to the ghosting and boldly signed his artwork.



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