Jimmy Thompson

George "Jimmy" Orlando Thompson (October 3, 1907 – September 16, 1949) was a Canadian comic book artist during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He worked for many companies throughout his career including DC Comics, Timely Comics, Marvel Comics, Fawcett Comics, David McKay Publications, and King Features Syndicate.

Early life Thompson was born on October 3, 1907, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents were George Thompson and Mabel Thompson (née Martin), and he had one younger sister, Dorothy Thompson (born 1912). As a young man, Jimmy worked in his father's photography shop.

In 1923, Jimmy went to work in the photography lab of a Toronto newspaper. In 1925, Jimmy began his art career, drawing single-panel cartoons for Canadian newspapers, generally about sports. In 1928, a feature in the Niagara Falls Gazette describes Thompson as a "well known Canadian artist", and describes him as having insured his drawing arm for $25,000.

Professional career Thompson's first work in the US was in 1930, a sports strip for the Buffalo Courier-Express. At this time he was apparently famous enough as an artist in Canada to be featured in product advertisements, notably for Buckingham Cigarettes. In 1937, he immigrated to the United States.

His first published comic book stories appeared in King Features Syndicate's King Comics, as well as in contemporaneous book Magic Comics. These books were largely reprints of existing material, though Thompson drew new strips for them. These were primarily western comics, though (unusually for the time), generally oriented toward the perspective of the Native American characters. Other critics have described Thompson's western stories as "sympathetic and respectful".

His 76-page story "Red Eagle" in David McKay Publications' Feature Book #16 (1938), can be considered among the earliest works in the graphic novel format. It is sometimes claimed to be "the first" (though this title is contentious).

Thompson's obscurity is generally attributed to none of Thompson's inventions, like Captain Compass, having ever taken off as hit characters. Also, he died fairly young in the 1940s, which limited the reach of his career.