Jim Wilcox

JIM WILCOX was a pulp illustrator and Golden Age comic book artist for the Chesler and Funnnies Inc. studios. He was born James Milton Wilcox on 27 July 1895 in Columbus, Ohio. He served in the Army during the Great War, and returned to his hometown in 1919. Wilcox attended the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis and eventually became a commercial illustrator in advertising. His art appeared in several pulp magazines from Chicago and the East Coast, such as The Magic Carpet Magazine, Weird Tales, Thrilling Western, Ace Sports, Exciting Western, Western Aces, and Western Trails. Among his pulp work are the first illustrations of Robert E. Howard's 'Conan' in 1933.

By 1937 he began drawing comic features through the Chesler Studio, which he signed Jim Wilcox. He was the second artist of the 'Dick Cole' feature for Novelty's Blue Bolt Comics from 1943 to 1947; the original artist was Bob Davis. Wilcox also illustrated several stories with 'Young King Cole' and 'Dolly O'Dare', and contributed to companies like Dell ('Gene Autrey'), Gilberton ('The Gold Bug', 'Telltale Heart'), Centaur Comics ('The Lucifer Trail', 'Tex Maverick') and Fawcett ('Jim Dowlan'). Among Wilcox's final artwork are the illustrations for a sportsman's guide to surf fishing for the Stackpole Company in 1956. Wilcox died in Connecticut at the age of 62 on 20 February 1958.