Condo, A D
Entry updated 29 May 2023. Tagged: Artist, Author, Comics.
Working name of US newspaper cartoonist Armundo Dreisbach Condo (1872-1956), best known for his regular strip The Outbursts of Everett True (1905-1927), created with J W Raper. He is of sf interest for the Comic strip Mr Skygack, From Mars, which he created in 1907 for the Chicago Day Book and which was nationally syndicated to many US newspapers until 1917. Roughly four hundred strips and single-panel cartoons appeared. Skygack, a big-brained Alien "Special Correspondent" from Mars with an elongated head and goggle eyes, has a mission to study humanity and in his single-panel appearances makes earnest mock-Anthropological notes on our ways; the Humour and Satire emerge from his consistent misunderstanding of everyday Earthly situations (see also Martian).
Possibly the first sf comic, the strip is almost certainly the first continuing depiction of an extraterrestrial being in comics form. Many examples have been published online in recent years by Barnacle Press [see links below]. The Skygack character also made guest appearances in Condo's ethnic-humour strip Osgar und Adolf (1911-1915). [GSt/DRL]
Armundo Dreisbach Condo
born Freeport, Illinois: 19 September 1872
died Albany, California: 24 August 1956
links
- "Was Mr. Skygack the First Alien Character in Comics?"
- Cartoon examples at Barnacle Press
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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