Fontaine Fox

Fontaine Talbot Fox Jr. was an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for writing and illustrating the Toonerville Folks comic panel, which ran from 1913 to 1955 in 250 to 300 newspapers across North America. Born near Louisville, Kentucky, he began as a reporter and part-time cartoonist for the Louisville Herald and spent two years in higher education at Indiana University, Bloomington, before giving up his studies to draw comics full time. From 1908 he produced a series of daily cartoons about kids for the Chicago Evening Post, and the Wheeler Syndicate noticed the panel and began distributing it nationwide, which led to Toonerville Folks. His style was considered innovative: vehicles, telephone poles and even the horizon are tilted, and a slight aerial perspective lets the reader look down on the town. The panel carried the largest cast ever seen in a comic strip, 53 characters in all, and it spawned merchandise such as cartoon books, cracker boxes, paper masks and gum wrappers.