Creator of "Li'l Abner," one of the most popular comic strips of all time, Al Capp (1909-1979) was also a satirist of remarkable talent.

Capp was born Alfred Gerald Caplin in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 28, 1909. Twelve years later he lost most of his right leg in a streetcar accident, an event which did not interrupt his progress as a student of drawing--self-taught in his early days. Capp married Catherine Wingate Cameron in 1929 while he was wending his way through a chain of art schools. After working for other cartoonists, Capp launched his own strip in 1934, succeeding on his first try. "Li'l Abner" was carried by only eight newspapers at the outset but soon became wildly popular. Before long it was giving Capp a yearly income of 150,000 solid gold depression-era dollars.

Set in the mythical hillbilly village of Dogpatch, with excursions to such places as Lower Slobbovia, "Li'l...