'Movie Monsters' (Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #1).
Orlando Busino was an American magazine cartoonist, mostly known as simply "Busino". His gag cartoons appeared in McCalls, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping and Saturday Evening Post. During the 1960s, he also drew for Archie Comics. His cartoon series 'Gus' (1970-....), about the humorous antics of a white dog, ran in Boys' Life.
Cartoon for the Saturday Evening Post, 27 July 1957.
Early life and career
Orlando Busino was born in 1926 in Binghamton, New York, where he developed an early interest in cartooning. At age 14 he already sold his first cartoon to the New York Daily Mirror. He won many contests held by Open Road for Boys magazine and made cartoons for his high school newspaper. Among his graphic influences were Will Eisner and Bob Kane. During his military service at the Albrook Air Force Station in 1945-1947 he drew cartoons for his army unit newspaper. Back in civilian life, he continued his education at the State University of Iowa, while submitting cartoons to The Daily Iowan. In 1952 he settled in New York City, where the took an evening course at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. He had a daytime job in the ad department of the Macmillan Publishing Company.
Sequential cartoon for Boys' Life (March, 1967).
Magazine cartoonist
Busino began his enduring collaboration with the Saturday Evening Post. While remaining a contributor to this magazine throughout his career, he also published his gag cartoons in McCalls, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping and Boys' Life.
Gus
In January 1970, Busino created his best-known character for the boys scouts magazine Boys' Life: Gus. Gus is a white, shaggy dog whose humorous cartoons delighted readers for about 40 years. 'Gus' and other cartoons by Busino traditionally appeared as illustrations in the 'Think & Grin' section, which featured jokes sent in by readers. Episodes have been compiled in the books 'Good Boy! and Other Animal Cartoons' (Aperture, 1980) and 'Oh, Gus!' (Aperture, 1981). In the early 1980s the feature also ran in Dutch translation as 'Gabber' in the Dutch children's magazine Taptoe. Interestingly enough, Busino didn't own a dog himself, only - as he described it in the December 1981 issue of Boys' Life - "four lazy cats".
'Gus' in Boys' Life, March 2009.
Moose Miller
On occasions, Busino also assisted his good friend Bob Weber Sr. on his 'Moose Miller' newspaper strip.
Archie Comics
During the early 1960s, Busino was also active for Archie Comics. His comics notably appeared in 'Archie's Mad House' (1960-1962) and 'Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats' (1961-1962), two humor titles trying to cash in on the success of Mad Magazine. Archie's regular teenage cast of characters were still the mascots, but the features were more absurd and nonsensical than the regular Archie books. Busino often collaborated with writer George Gladir. Much of this work was reprinted in the 1970s and then again in 'World of Archie Double Digest' (2012-2015).
'Teen-agers of the Past - the Middle Ages' (Archie's Mad House #12).
Recognition
In 1965, 1967 and 1968 Orlando Busino was named "Magazine Gag Cartoonist of the Year" by the National Cartoonists Society.
Death
After his retirement, Busino resided in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where he passed away in 2022, at age 95.
Gus and his creator.