Giving Up The Ghost
Hoffman gave the postwar Steve Roper the more serious, consistent look it needed as it settled into a modern urban setting. He portrayed the main characters engagingly, and realistically showed them maturing in their lives and careers. (His villains, on the other hand, were grotesque or deformed, as in Dick Tracy.) In a later interview, he modestly understated his contribution: "The strip was in a transition stage and a more illustrative style of drawing was desired. My style fit their needs. I enjoyed ghost-drawing the characters for nearly nine years." The ghost was no secret, however: a 1953 article on Steve Roper in the Toledo Blade described Hoffman's role in the strip and pictured him working with Saunders and Woggon in their studio. At that time, ghosting was regarded as a new artist's apprenticeship until he could start his own strip. And following the two previous Steve Roper ghosts — Elmer Woggon's younger brother Bill Woggon (Katy Keene) and Don Dean (Cranberry Boggs)—Hoffman did just that in mid-1954, leaving Steve Roper to produce his own strip, Jeff Cobb. The parting was amicable, and Saunders and Woggon sponsored him when he joined the National Cartoonists Society in 1955. Starting with the July 12, 1954 strip, his replacement on Steve Roper was William Overgard, who put an end to the ghosting and boldly signed his artwork.
Read more about this topic: Pete Hoffman
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“I was not at all shocked with this execution at the time. John died seemingly without much pain. He was effectually hanged, the rope having fixed upon his neck very firmly, and he was allowed to hang near three quarters of an hour; so that any attempt to recover him would have been in vain. I comforted myself in thinking that by giving up the scheme I had avoided much anxiety and uneasiness.”
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“A process in the weather of the world
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—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)