“Ziggy” creator Tom Wilson Sr. has died at age 80, says his publisher, Andrews McMeel Universal.
“It speaks volumes about Tom that Ziggy, a character he held very hear to his heart, has been a mainstay on the comics page for more than 40 years and continues to make new fans worldwide to this day,” Hugh Andrews, president of Andrews McMeel Publishing, said in a statement.
Universal Uclick (now Universal Uclick) launched “Ziggy” in 1971 as one of its very first comic features. According to the syndicate, the minimalist strip featuring the rounded, sweet-eyed title character is carried in more than 500 papers.
“Ziggy” was first published in a 1969 collection titled “When You’re Not Around.” The cartoonist handed the reins of his comic to his son (and assistant), Tom Wilson Jr., in 1987.
“In 1971, a year after Universal’s founding, ‘Ziggy' was launched into 15 newspapers,” Lee Salem, Universal Uclick president and editor, tells Comic Riffs on Monday. “It did not take long for the character to take off in newspapers, greeting cards and calendars. This company would be a very different one without the substantial revenues generated from Tom’s creative work over the early and later years.
“More significantly,” Salem continues, “those who met Tom could not help but befriend such a warm, outgoing, talented man.”
Wilson Sr., who served for decades as a creative director at American Greetings, also worked on the teams that helped develop Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears.
Wilson, born Aug. 1, 1931, died Friday after a long illness, his publisher said.
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