Mort Drucker's Chicago Connection

Mort Drucker leaves behind a large body of excellent artwork that all his fans can remember him by. Articles mainly laud the gentleman's considerable efforts for Mad Magazine where for decades he expertly drew the film and television parodies that served as the lead story in Mad, but my main focus is much earlier in Mr. Drucker's career. Think about it: in what series did Mort Drucker first start drawing caricatures?

Bob Hope! In 1961 Mr. Drucker began a 21-issue run of drawing The Adventures of Bob Hope for DC Comics, and he even drew the cover of 1962's The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #72. Great artwork!

But there is some great Mort Drucker artwork that most of you will never have seen. Circa 1990, Mr. Drucker was hired by The Chicago Sun-Times to draw likenesses of the newspaper's columnists. These images were plastered on billboards all over Chicago and on the side of just about every subway train and city bus.

Mort Drucker's facility with likenesses and caricatures was remarkable!