| Big Ben Bolt | |
|---|---|
 John Cullen Murphy'sBig Ben Bolt (July 26, 1978). | |
| Author | Elliot Caplin |
| Illustrator(s) | John Cullen Murphy (1950–1975) Carlos Garzon (1975–1977) Joe Kubert (1977) Gray Morrow (1977–1978) Neal Adams (1978) |
| Current status/schedule | Concluded; Daily & Sunday |
| Launch date | February 20, 1950 |
| End date | April 15, 1978 |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
| Genre(s) | Sports, adventure |
Big Ben Bolt is a comic strip that was syndicated from February 20, 1950 to April 15, 1978.[1] It was drawn byJohn Cullen Murphy, written byElliot Caplin, and distributed byKing Features Syndicate. The strip followed the adventures of boxer and journalist Ben Bolt.[2][3]
In 1950, writer Elliot Caplin (brother ofLi'l Abner cartoonistAl Capp) suggested that Murphy illustrate a boxing comic strip he had in mind. Comics historianDon Markstein wrote:
King Features Syndicate launched Ben's daily strip on February 20, 1950, and the Sunday version on May 25, 1952. The character's name was probably taken fromThomas Dunn English's poem, "Ben Bolt", which has remained popular since it first appeared in 1843.[4]
Murphy was the artist ofBig Ben Bolt from 1950 to 1977.[5] He occasionally used assistants, includingAl Williamson (Flash Gordon),Alex Kotzky (Apartment 3-G),Neal Adams (Deadman),John Celardo (Tarzan) andStan Drake (The Heart of Juliet Jones). In 1971, Murphy took overPrince Valiant, andCarlos Garzon became a regular inker. Eventually Murphy left the strip, and Garzon began signing the strip in 1975. After Garzon left in 1977,Joe Kubert stepped in to drawBig Ben Bolt, followed byGray Morrow who eventually signed the strip starting August 1, 1977. He was followed byNeal Adams. Big Ben Bolt ended on April 15, 1978.[1]
King Features' email service,DailyINK, began carryingBig Ben Bolt in June 2010.[6]
As Markstein writes,
Ben himself ran against stereotype. Instead of a big, dumb hitting machine, he was an articulate college graduate who had chosen a boxing career because he enjoyed and was good at it (winning the world heavyweight championship early on), not because other fields weren't open to him. In fact, when, in 1955, an injury took him out of the ring, he went into journalism. For decades, his adventures revolved around writing about, rather than practicing, his chosen sport.[4]
Murphy received theNational Cartoonists Society's Award for Story Comic Strip for 1971 for his work onBig Ben Bolt andPrince Valiant.[7]
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