Ray Gotto's Ozark Ike was a 1940s era phenomenon of a strip about a lovably rural baseball star, Ike McBatt. After his 1945 King Features Syndicate newspaper debut, Ike immediately endeared himself to readers. Here's a bit on little known information on the character and the strip:

1. Though Ozark Ike is in good company with its comparisons to Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka and Al Capps' Li'l Abner, it didn't experience the mainstream success of its contemporaries. At its height, Ozark Ike only circulated to 250 papers nationwide.

2. Real-life American League baseball player Gus Edward Zernial's nickname, "Ozark Ike," was derived from the strip and used throughout the course of his 1949-1959 career.

3. Gotto created the strip during his U.S. Navy stint "down-time" in World War II. After his tour, he sold the strip to a promoter who sold it to King Features, where it finally achieved mainstream publication.

4. Dell Comics reprinted Ozark Ike comic strips in Four Color Comics #180 in 1948. The same year, Standard Comics made Ike the star of his own title, which ran until 1952.

5. Between baseball seasons, Ike experienced nominal success as a pugilist. He also worked on his star-crossed relationship with the girl next door, Dinah Fatfield (an unfortunate member of the neighboring family the McBatts reviled).

6. No licensed merchandise or multimedia spinoffs were created featuring Ozark Ike. Gotto ended his work on the feature in 1954 and it flailed under new management for another five years before finally fading away in 1959.


For more on Ray Gotto, who passed away early this year, visit this Scoop archives article: http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=4263&si=121.

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