MEET THE TEAM BEHIND THE COMICS
Harvey Comics was founded in 1941 in New York City by Alfred Harvey, after he bought out comic book publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers, Robert B. Harvey and Leon Harvey joined him soon after. The brothers quickly assembled a team of creatives that would go on to create some of the most iconic children's characters of the 20th century.
Warren Kremer
Warren Kremer was born in The Bronx on June 26, 1921. Kremer’s early comic influences included Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond and Prince Valiant by Hal Foster. After attending the High School of Music and Art in New York City, he studied art at the School of Industrial Art, which was located next to the New York Times’ printing offices.
Kremer first began working in the comics industry by doing illustrations for pulp and aviation magazines after he was approached by his art teacher and asked to work with him. After working as an illustrator for ten years and working on his portfolio, he went to work for Ace Publications, where he started drawing material for Hap Hazard. There, he met his soon-to-be wife, Grace, who was working as the letterer for Hap Hazard.
In 1948, Kremer started working for Harvey Comics. The editors at Harvey immediately put him to work on “Humphrey” in Joe Palooka, though he didn’t much like those comics. He worked for Harvey Comics for thirty-five years as both an artist and an editor, producing well known characters such as Casper, Hot Stuff, Joe Palooka, Little Audrey, Little Max, Richie Rich and Stumbo the Giant.
He died on July 24, 2003 at the age of 82.
Ernie Colon
Though brought up in the United States, Ernie Colon was born in Puerto Rico on July 13, 1931. Colon is an American comic book artist with many notable works in a wide range of genres.
Unable to obtain work in many of the existing publishing companies at the time, Colon began working in factories as a messenger. Later, after seeing an ad in the New York Times, he was hired by Harvey Comics to be a letterer.
Upon recognizing his artistic talent, Harvey soon employed him as one of their artists. Colon did not know much about Harvey Comics before working for them, however, during his first year there, Colon worked on drawing many popular comics such as Casper, Richie Rich and Little Dot.
By the end of his first year, he had gained the confidence to do freelance work for other publishing companies, such as Marvel, DC and Gold Key Comics. He even worked as an editor for DC Comics between 1982 and 1985.
At Harvey Comics, Colon met and frequently collaborated with Sid Jacobson, who would become his editor and creative partner. He also had the opportunity to work with Warren Kremer, whose work he admired.
Howard "Howie" Post
Born on November 2, 1926 in New York City, Howard “Howie” Post was an American animator as well as a comic book writer and artist. He grew up in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and attended high school at the Hastings School of Animation. When he in his late teens, his father was hospitalized with tuberculosis. Needing to provide for his family, Post began writing and drawing comic books
Post was working as the chief storyboard artist, cartoonist and writer for King Features when he met the director and producer of Paramount Cartoon Studios, Seymour Kneitel. Following Kneitel’s death in 1964, Post took over his position at Paramount.
Post began working for Harvey Comics in the early 1950s, though he was only vaguely familiar with the company prior to his employment there. While still working at Paramount, Post would frequently write and draw for both King Features and Harvey Comics. At Harvey, he worked for and alongside Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon.
Post is best known for a comic strip called The Dropouts, which he produced. It ran for 15 years from 1968 to 1981. He also created, wrote and illustrated a comic book titled Anthro, which was published by DC comics.
Sid Jacobson
Sid Jacobson, born on October 20, 1929 in Brooklyn, is an American comic book writer, mostly known for his work at Harvey Comics. His family lived in a predominantly Jewish and Italian neighborhood. The early comic strips and comic books had a heavy influence on Jacobson, especially Superman and Batman, though he never imagined he would eventually work in the comics industry.
After high school, Jacobson studied journalism at the New York University and wrote The Compass and The Morning Telegraph right out of college. Though he initially aspired to be a journalist, a friend of his sister suggested he consider working for Harvey Comics, and he began working for Harvey Comics in 1953.
The first books he wrote for at Harvey were primarily war and horror comics, not the humor and children’s books they are best known for today. He also wrote for Joe Palooka, which Warren Kremer would illustrate.
While at Harvey, Jacobson also wrote songs for pop artists, though he could not read music. After working at Harvey, Jacobson became an executive editor for Marvel Comics, where he helped create an imprint called Star Comics. He frequently collaborate with Ernie Colon on many projects and edited his work both at Harvey and Star Comics.