Obscurity of the Day: Saga of Steve West

Joe Archibald kicked around trying to make it as a newspaper cartoonist in the 20s and early 30s, and the closest he ever came to success on that quest (and it was a long way away still) was Saga of Steve West, a feature syndicated by the New York Evening Graphic. As with all the Graphic's features, it found few takers outside of the small chain of McFadden-owned newspapers.

Saga of Steve West is written and drawn in the style of Oliver's Adventures, Bobby Thatcher and other 'boy wanderer' features, but with an older protagonist. Steve seemed to be in his late teens or early twenties. Wish I could tell you more about the plot, but beyond these isolated examples from Cole Johnson I've only seen the strip in my own very small collection of Graphics, and there seems to be a dearth of expository dialogue to get us, um, occasional readers, up to speed.

Saga of Steve West began on November 12 1928 (based on strip numbering of later strips), and ended either in late September or the first week of October 1929.