William Overgard - A "syndicated Gig"

A "syndicated Gig"

In 1954, Steve Roper artist Pete Hoffman was leaving to do his own strip, Jeff Cobb. As recalled by Harvey (2004), Overgard "had been trying to get a syndicated gig, and when the Roper job opened up, he was invited to compete with other candidates for the assignment. 'Fortunately,' he wrote, 'I managed to scoot by and win, and that was the beginning of my career as a strip cartoonist.' " The first strip he drew for Steve Roper was for July 12, 1954. When the writer, Allen Saunders, was considering a counterfoil pal for "straight-arrow" Roper, Overgard suggested a character he had been working on and described as "a realistic working-man kind of guy who was not beyond taking any opportunity that presented itself" (Harvey, ibid). Thus appeared on June 19, 1956, Mike Nomad, who would ultimately become the protagonist of the strip.

With a family started and the security of Steve Roper, in 1954 Overgard and his wife Gloria "left behind their bohemian Manhattan life" (Traster 2007) and moved up the Hudson to a house on a rural 17-acre (69,000 m2) site in Stony Point, NY, close to friend Caniff's home. He invested much of his earnings over the years in renovating the house (built in 1770) while also indulging a love of antique cars and motorcycles. He did his cartooning and writing at night, except when he and his wife entertained in "artsy soirees" in their home and gardens (Traster, ibid).

In 1963 (May 17), he wrote in Time Magazine that a featured painting by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein "came close" to an August 6, 1961 panel of his Steve Roper. He added: "Very flattering...I think?" He joined the National Cartoonists Society and clearly took pride in his work on the strip (which became Steve Roper and Mike Nomad in 1969), giving it new popularity (Lambiek).