Winnie Winkle - Artists

Artists

Branner employed a number of assistants, including Royal King Cole (during the 1930s), Rolf Ahlson, Mike Peppe and Max Van Bibber (1938–1962). Another assistant was the young French author Robert Velter, who on his return to Europe created the famous series Spirou et Fantasio.

From 1941 until 1958, his assistant was John A. Berrill, who later created Gil Thorp. After Branner suffered a stroke in 1962, Van Bibber continued the series until 1980, later followed by students from the Joe Kubert school of cartooning and finally by veteran artist Frank Bolle. Bolle recalled:

I did Winnie Winkle for 20 years, and when they told me, "You have 90 days to wrap it up," because they were discontinuing it, I felt terrible, but after I finished it, I didn't even miss it. I was depressed because I lost a good job, but I just didn't miss it. Maybe it was the routine of it every week I didn't miss, but I have a lot of good memories of doing that strip.