On day two of our look at Jack Welch, we cover his one and only known daily newspaper series, On Our Block. In his later advertising and illustration work, Welch was well-known for his depictions of children, so it is fitting that he did a panel on just that subject when King Features offered him a berth. The series was, in my opinion, delightful, but it failed to catch on. Welch's kids are a realistic blend of sinner and saint, and his settings run the gamut from the country to suburbia to the inner-city. Excellent cartoons that may have been unreasonably ignored due to the lack of focus. It is really hard to sell a panel series with no continuing characters.
On Our Block started sometime in 1937 (known to be running by August), and seems to have been cancelled on February 5 1938.
Jack Welch has been covered on several occasion on the art blog Today's Inspiration -- each installment is well worth your time:
Not to be confused with the earlier Tom McNamara crudity.
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