Ham Fisher

In 1919, Ham Fisher (Hammond Edward Fisher) got his first job as an editorial and sports cartoonist. In 1920, he drew his first 'Joe Palooka' episodes and tried selling them, without success. In 1927, Fisher moved to New York, where he began looking again for a syndicate willing to buy his comic. In 1928, 'Joe Palooka' finally began its run. Fisher immediately started looking for young talent to work on the strip for him, and found Al Capp, among others, who later complained about Fisher's meager wages.

Out of spite, Fisher took Capp to court on the accusation of obscenity in Capp's Strip, 'Li'l Abner'. To prove his point, he used faked examples of the strip, which he made himself. When this fact came out, Capp won the case, and Fisher was expelled from the National Cartoonists Society. In 1955, he ended his life.