Sam Leff took over the 'Joe Jinks' newspaper strip from Vic Forsythe in 1944. Sam did the writing and the inking, while his brother Mo did the pencils. They changed the title of the comic to 'Curly Kayoe' in 1945, after the blond boxer that Joe was coaching. The Joe character left the daily comic completely in 1947. Sam eventually took on the pencils himself, and continued the strip on his own from 1946. The comic ran for over a decade, when a secondary character named Davy Jones got the leading role. The title of the strip was changed once again in 1961. Around this time, it was drawn by Al McWilliams, but still written by Leff.