Woody Gelman

Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978), better known as Woody Gelman, was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks. As an editor and art director for two-and-a-half decades at Topps Chewing Gum, he introduced many innovations in trading cards and humor products.

Gelman was the co-creator of Popsicle Pete and the co-creator of Bazooka Joe for Topps. He was also a co-creator of Mars Attacks, adapted into the 1996 movie by Tim Burton.

Born in Brooklyn, Gelman attended City College of New York, Cooper Union and Pratt Institute before signing on as an assistant animator, in-betweener and scripter with Max Fleischer's studio in 1939, continuing to write for Famous Studios in 1946.

He is the uncle of the psychologist Susan Gelman and the statistician Andrew Gelman.

Comic books and advertising

Gelman was the creator and writer of The Dodo and the Frog series for DC Comics. His comic book work from 1944 to 1954 included Nutsy Squirrel and other funny animal comic books of the 1940s, notably Funny Stuff and Comic Cavalcade. He also wrote and drew the crime story, "The Kid from Brooklyn!", for Heroic Comics #32 (September 1945).