Jack O'Brien

• Born 1922-08-20 · Died 1984-12-08

Jack O'Brien grew up in Los Angeles, California and graduated from George Washington High School in 1939. He enlisted in the Army in 1940, and served in the Army Air Corps. He was a self-taught cartoonist, working as a clerk in public relations at post headquarters at Moffett Field, California, where he held the job of putting out the post newspaper. When he had extra space in the paper to fill, he says he just started drawing cartoons. In 1942 he won a cartoon contest sponsored by the Elks Club. After his second tour of active duty, Jack joined the Army Reserves, spending six years on active duty during the 1950s. While there, he worked as a staff cartoonist for the Armed Forces Press Service, providing cartoons for around 1,700 camp newspapers worldwide. While still in the Army, Jack did cartooning on a freelance basis, selling cartoons to various magazines including Esquire, Life, Liberty, Time, Post, and some large newspapers. In the 1950s, he sold a comic strip, “The Bumbles,” to various newspapers. Jack retired from the Army in 1965. He then began writing and illustrating “Sad Sack” comic books for Harvey Comics, ghosting for George Baker. Jack created the beatnik character named “Cool Cat,” and wrote and drew “G.I. Juniors,” about kids in a military school. He began a LGBTQ adult publishing business in the late 1960s and continued that until his death.