1909-1979
Comic-Strip Creator

Famous Comic-Strip Artist.

At age twenty-five Al Capp created the comic strip Li'l Abner, which he wrote and drew until he ended it forty-four years later. During his career Capp was one of the best-known comic-strip creators in the United States, and he courted the media attention that came his way. John Steinbeck hailed him as "the best satirist since Laurence Sterne," adding, "He has taken our customs, our dreams, our habits of thought, our social structure, our economics, examined them gently like amusing bugs. Then he has pulled a nose a little longer, made outstanding ears a little more outstanding, described it in dreadful folk poetry and returned it to us in a hilarious picture of our ridiculous selves."

Early Life and Career.

Born Alfred Gerald Caplin in New Haven, Connecticut, he grew up experiencing hunger and want, which he made humorous...