Veteran comic book artist Joe Edwards died on Thursday, February 8. In a career spanning over 65 years, Edwards wrote and drew comic book stories for various companies, most prominently Archie Comics. After studying art at Rome Academy and Hastings Animation School, Edwards landed a job drawing for Demby Studios, one of several outfits generating comic book stories for various publishers in the fledging days of the industry. After drawing comics for Dell and Timely, he joined Archie, which was then known as MLJ Comics. Edwards' animation training made him perfect for "funny animal" features including Squoimy the Woim, Cubby the Bear and Bumbie the Bee-tective, all of which have the distinction of gracing the pages of a milestone comic from MLJ: Archie Comics #1 from 1942. When the Archie comic series took off, Edwards drew many stories featuring the flagship characters as well. Over the years, he continued to contribute to the company with stories and art on features including Super Duck, Captain Sprocket and the series he is most associated with, Li'l Jinx. The mischievous little girl was so named because, like Edwards' son, she was born on Halloween. The feature appeared for years not only as its own series but also as a backup in such titles as Little Archie and the Archie Giant Series. Joe Edwards was 85 years old. Funeral arrangements have been made for Sunday, February 11. We at Archie Comics send our deepest condolences to his family.

Oh, no...I am such a big fan of Joe's work.  But, at 85 years old, he has had a rich and wonderful career and life.

Joe's work will always live on through reprints, just like Dan DeCarlo's has been since his death in 2001.  In that sense, they'll always be with us, and their legacy will always be cemented.

My condolences to his family.

 

Joe's art is very distinctive, especially on Li'l Jinx. I've been adding his credits to all the Li'l jinx stories at www.comics.org for the past few weeks. I'll find some of his Li'l Jinx material and post it tonight or tomorrow.

I've always enjoyed Li'l Jinx and Joe's work in general. He wa a fine artist and writer who will live on through Li'l Jinx and his other work.

I had just read and enjoyed a Lil Jinx story just before hearing the sad news about Joe. Farewell Mr Edwards, you were an artistic pioneer who put a smile on our faces..