Ving Fuller was an American newspaper cartoonist, best remembered for his humorous comic about the mad scientist ‘Doc Syke’ (1944-1960). But he also drew various other humorous newspaper comics and was active as an animator too.
Born as Irving Fuller in 1903, he sold his first gag cartoons to the Daily Graphic in the early 1920s. He then spent a year at the animation studios of John R. Bray before coming up with the newspaper feature 'Laffs In Today's News Dispatches' (also known as 'Laff-O-Graphics') from 1927 until at least 1929. He worked for the New York Daily Mirror in the 1930s, where he served as the editor of artists like Sheldon Mayer. He also worked on the original 'Betty Boop' comic (1934), based on Max Fleischer's animated cartoon star. The comic strip was drawn by Bud Counihan, whom Fuller assisted alongside Hal Seeger.
In 1939-1940, he made the daily 'Elza Poppin' for the King Features Syndicate. He furthermore did magazine cartoons (Collier's) and a feature called 'J. Rufus Lion' for the comic books by National Periodicals (DC). His best-known creation is however the screwball comic 'Doc Syke', created for the New York Evening Sun. It ran from 1944 to 1960, and was distributed by the McClure Syndicate, Bell Syndicate and Ving Features Syndicate. Fuller was also a writer of gags for radio and movies. He passed away in 1965.
