Howard Post

American cartoonist

Howard "Howie" Post (November 2, 1926 – May 21, 2010) was an American animator, cartoonist, and comic strip and comic book writer artist. Post is known for his syndicated newspaper comic strip The Dropouts which had a 13 year run and for creating DC Comics' Anthro.

Born in New York City, Post grew up in the Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay neighborhoods of Brooklyn and then in The Bronx. In a 1999 interview, he recalled his start in drawing and his father's influence:

blockquote|I may have started rather early; just to entertain myself drawing these things. I could have been four or five. I used to draw on a piece of paper while lying on the floor, and my father would come home from work and he'd squat down next to me and say, "The lion's jaw is broader than that, y'know?" After his passage I found a book of his full of dress designs he had made himself. He was in the fashion business, mostly in furs; he was a cutter. What he had drawn were his own designs for coats and dresses, and they were just exquisite. He never ever let on that he could draw like that; we never knew he had that in him. He was busy making a living, as hard and fast as he could. We're talking about bringing up a family in Depression days. he soon began drawing for the company that would become DC Comics, including the features "Jimminy and the Magic Book" in More Fun Comics, "Rodeo Rick" in Western Comics, "Presto Pete" in Animal Antics, "Chick 'n Gumbo" in Funny Folks, and "J. Rufus Lion" in Comic Cavalcade, among other work. During the 1950s, he drew many humorous stories for the satirical comics Crazy, Wild, and Riot, from Marvel Comics' 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics, as well as occasional stories in that publishers horror comics, including Journey into Mystery, Uncanny Tales, and Mystery Tales. As Howie Post, he drew the three issue run of Atlas' The Monkey and the Bear (Sept. 1953 Jan. 1954). In June 1966, Shamus Culhane, the last head of Famous Studios, took over the series, and the character was given a new design and voice in the last 4 cartoons. The final cartoon, Brother Bat, was the last cartoon with Post's involvement as a writer. The series would continue until August of 1967, 4 months before the studio shut down.

In the late 1960s, as Howie Post, he created, wrote and drew the prehistoric teen comic book Anthro for DC Comics, which ran six issues (Aug. 1968 Aug. 1969) after debuting in Showcase, with the last issue in the series inked by Wally Wood and Ralph Reese.

In the mid to late 1980s, Post drew for the Star imprint of Marvel Comics, on titles such as Heathcliff and Care Bears. He was also an editor on Looney Tunes Magazine and Tiny Toons Magazine for DC Comics. In later years, Post taught art and illustration privately and at New York's School of Visual Arts. A long time resident of Leonia, New Jersey, he was survived by his companion of 24 years, Pamela Rutt, and two daughters, Andee Post and Glynnis Doda. His wife Bobbee predeceased him in 1980.