'Mr. Oswald' (February 1961).
Russ Johnson was an American comic artist, best-known as the creator of 'Mister Oswald' (1927-1989), a comic strip running for six decades in the nationally syndicated trade magazine Hardware Retailing. Set in a little hardware store, it featured the daily problems of an unlucky store owner, his employees, the salespeople and their customers. A gentle, old-fashioned comic strip, much of its charm comes from its recognizability. Johnson drew every background and object with intricate detail. Running for more than half a century, 'Mr. Oswald' became a time capsule of how stores evolved over years. Modern-day readers can also delight in the charming observational comedy which, even today, remains recognizable to anyone with experiences in hardware shops. Together with the Australian cartoonist Jim Russell, Russ Johnson is the longest-known comic artist working continuously on the same strip, both with a record-breaking 62 years. However, since he worked for a niche magazine, both his fame and record are often overlooked by comic fans and historians.
Early life and career
Russell P. Johnson was born in 1893 on a farm, not far from Gibson City, Illinois. As a child, he loved Rudolph Dirks' The Katzenjammer Kids' in the newspapers. Johnson studied at Dixon College and Norman School. After graduation in 1915, he moved to Chicago, where he worked at Montgomery's Ward. His earliest cartoons appeared in the store's newsletter, Store News. In 1917, the United States got involved with World War I and Johnson subsequently joined the Navy. Since he often hunted animals on his farm, Johnson was skilled with guns, so his superiors decided to make him a military shooting instructor for ground troops. During his military service, Johnson drew cartoons for Afloat and Ashore, a Naval paper published in Charleston, South Carolina.
Back in civilian life in 1918, Johnson took evening lessons at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Billy DeBeck and Carl Ed. By 1921, he had returned to his birth town, Gibson City, where he worked in his father's hardware store. Each Tuesday, he prepared advertising cartoons for the store's window displays. Through his aunt, some of these cartoons were published in local newspapers. In 1925, the editor of Hardware Retailing asked Johnson to draw some cartoons for his monthly magazine.
'Mister Oswald' (1932).
Mister Oswald
After contributing some one-shot gags to the magazine, Russ Johnson introduced the readers of Hardware Retailing to a recurring character. In October 1927, the first episode of 'Mister Oswald' (1927-1989) appeared in the magazine, and remained a recurring feature for six decades. The comic strip was also published in European hardware retailing magazines, running in the UK's Ironmonger (1955-1982) and in Finland's Nupi (1957-1982). In 1968, a compilation book was published, 'Forty Years with Mr. Oswald' (National Hardware Retailing Association, 1968), in which Johnson also recounted his own history in the retail business, both in the introductions for each chapter and in a comic strip created specially for the book.
Oscar A. Oswald is the grumpy owner of a retail store, who usually lacks the foresight to prevent things from going wrong. Johnson modelled him after his own father, but picked the name Oswald, because he felt it was a fitting name for "a dumb person". Two of Oswald's colleagues are Mr. Hotair (recognizable by his derby hat), and Herman, a short-sized employee. Mr. Hotair is always bossing everybody around, while not doing anything useful himself. Herman has a tendency to say the wrong things at the wrong time, and is usually blamed for whatever goes wrong in the store, even if it was clearly not his fault. Each gag is two pages long.
Much like a modern-day sitcom, the comedy in 'Mister Oswald' is very homebound. All the action is predominantly set in the store. Even if the setting may look somewhat archaic today, the situations themselves remain recognizably realistic, timeless and witty. Oswald has to deal with annoying and demanding customers, while the staff quarrels among themselves. It makes 'Mr. Oswald' an enjoyable study of the human condition: a group of small-minded people getting worked up over banal events.
'Mister Oswald' (May 1959).
Beyond the comedy, 'Mister Oswald' is almost like a reality show about the nuts and bolts of running a store. Since Johnson had first-hand professional experience and printed his comic in a magazine for store employees, he could be very specific about bureaucratic elements without fear of losing readers. Johnson spent a lot of time drawing every object on each shelf or corner to the tiniest details. The backgrounds evoke the cozy, old-fashioned atmosphere of a little, overcrowded shop. Each panel is fun and interesting to look at. Johnson unwillingly created a chronological document of how a typical retail store developed between the 1920s and 1980s. The modern-day reader instantly notices how business was conducted, how people were dressed, and how certain objects looked. In an era when the competition of supermarkets and big malls forces old-time stores to close down, Mr. Oswald' remains interesting to historians and nostalgic readers.
'Mister Oswald'.
Other comics
During the early 1930s, Johnson also created two comic strips for the Armstrong Cork Company: 'Bunker Bunk and the Boys', about a wholesale business, and 'Sellem and Son', about two retailers. The Sporting Goods Dealer ran his comic strip 'Adam and Steve' and the Remington Arms Company featured a full-page comic strip by Russ Johnson on a monthly basis. However, Johnson eventually dropped all of these series in favor of 'Mr. Oswald'.
'Adam and Steve'.
Retirement and longevity record
Russ Johnson's 'Mr. Oswald' ran for over half a century, even after Johnson retirement from the retailing business in 1953. Only in the final eight years of his cartooning career, he received assistance from Larry Day, because his eyesight was deteriorating. Russ Johnson only retired completely in 1989, at the age of 95, having created the comic for a record-breaking 62 years, mostly without assistance or interruptions.
One other comic artist matches his record: the Australian cartoonist Jim Russellcontinued his daily comic strip 'The Potts' (1939-2001) for the exact same amount of time and also without assistance. Second place is taken by U.S. comic artist Fred Lasswell, who drew the daily 'Barney Google' strip for 59 years (1942-2001), although with the aid of assistants. The third spot goes to Ed Payne's 'Billy the Boy Artist' (1899-1955), which lasted for 56 years. At the fourth place, there is Russell Myers's 'Broom-Hilda' (as of 2025, 55 years on end, solo). Fifth place is for Englishman Frank Dickens, who drew his daily gag comic 'Bristow' completely on his own for 51 years (1961-2012). Then comes Charles M. Schulz, who drew the daily 'Peanuts' comic strip between 1950 and 2000 for 49 years without assistance, though he did use assistants for the separate comic book publications. At seventh spot is the Belgian cartoonist Marc Sleen, who drew the daily newspaper comic 'Nero' without assistance for 45 years continuously (1947-1992), and had ten other comic series running in between for 18 years.
From: 'Forty Years of Mr. Oswald'.
Final years and death
'Mr. Oswald' was continued until 2008 by Russ Johnson's assistant Larry Day, who, unlike Johnson, had no experience in the retail sector. Meanwhile, Johnson still tried to launch another comic strip. Once again he took inspiration from his own life and wanted to make a comic strip about people in retirement. Unfortunately, no syndicate was interested. The tireless comics veteran lived to become a centenarian and eventually passed away in 1995 at age 101. Two years before his death, he was interviewed by Rob Stolzer for issue #10 of Hogan's Alley magazine.
Russell Johnson.