C. W. Kahles

Charles William Kahles (; January 12, 1878 – January 21, 1931) was a prolific German-born American cartoonist responsible for numerous comic strips, notably Hairbreadth Harry. He is credited as the pioneer of daily comic strip continuity with his Clarence the Cop, which he drew for the New York World in 1900–09, introducing to newspapers the innovation of continuing a comic strip story in a day-to-day serial format.

The cartoonist and comics historian Ernest McGee called Kahles the "hardest working cartoonist in history, having as many as eight Sunday comics running at one time (1905-06) with no assistants to help him." In 1900, Clarence the Cop was the first police strip, and his Sandy Highflyer, the Airship Man (1902–04), was the first aviation comic strip. Foolish Fred ran from September 25 to December 11, 1904.

In 1924, Kahles gave an interview to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in which he stated that he had seven weekly strips running simultaneously when he was 27 and 28. The strips he introduced in 1905 were Billy Brag, Billy Bounce, Pretending Percy, The Teasers, Mr. Buttin, Terrible Twins, Doubting Thomas and Fun in the Zoo. The following year, he added several new strips to the original group: Our Hero's Hairbreadth Escapes, The Funny Side Gang, The Merry Nobles Three—They Can Never Agree.

Influence Kahles was an influence on several cartoonists and strips, including Harry Hershfield’s Desperate Desmond and Dauntless Durham of the U. S. A. and Ed Wheelan’s Midget Movies.

In 1931, at the age of 53, he died of angina pectoris at his home in Great Neck, Long Island, where he had lived for 13 years. He was survived by his widow Helen and daughter Jessie.