He created “Mamma’s Angel Child” in 1908 and had a hand in the creation, with friend Richard Outcault, of Buster Brown. “Penny” Ross lived in Oak Park during his cartooning days in the early 20th century. Items such as Buck Rogers toys, original art, books and Raggedy Ann and Andy can be seen. The artifacts on display come from Ware’s own collection as well as Samuelson’s and other those from other collectors, such as Peter Maresca, the publisher of Sunday Press Books. The first superhero, Hugo Hercules, which ran in 1903, is also addressed. And the art and comics of Frank King are featured as the “Gasoline Alley” characters aged and their stories played out over time, it became a kind of first graphic novel. The first woman cartoonists and editors are revealed, along with what is believed to be the first same-sex relationship in comics, published in 1905. There is the start of the genre in papers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Defender, whose art was created by Black cartoonists. “Where Comics Came to Life” covers a lot of ground.

Ware said he was supported in curating the Cultural Center show by researchers and collectors in addition to Samuelson “since doing an exhibit is as much about finding things out as it is about showing them.” “His original idea was to cover everything from the very beginnings, but after I gave him a list of artists going back as far as I could trace, it became clear that the MCA could appropriately cover the ‘contemporary’ end of things and a companion show could be mounted at the Cultural Center about everything that came before.”ĭarling said Ware and Ivan Brunetti, Chicago cartoonist and comics scholar, helped find guest curator and comics historian Dan Nadel who steered the MCA show. “But when Michael Darling, the now-former chief curator at the MCA contacted me to come in and discuss the possibility of a show devoted to the history of Chicago’s role in the development of comics, it seemed the ideal circumstance to consider it again,” Ware said. Ware had previously been approached by the Chicago Cultural Center to create an exhibit on Frank King, “Gasoline Alley” cartoonist, though the timing never seemed right, he said.

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