Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: R.H. Webb

Robert Hayward “Bob” Webb was born on April 23, 1914 in Yonkers, New York, according to his World War II draft card. However, his Social Security application had the year 1915, and the Social Security Death Index had the birth date as April 12, 1915. 

Curiously, Webb was not counted with his parents, Thomas and Sarah in the 1920 United States Census. They were Bridgeport, Connecticut residents at 475 Colorado Avenue. Webb’s father was an engineer at a machine shop.

The 1930 census recorded Webb and his parents in Bridgeport at 694 Courtland Avenue. His father was employed as a mechanical engineer at a brass company. 

In 1937, Webb was a student at Pratt Institute. The 1937 yearbook, Prattonia, listed his address as 694 Cortlandt [sic] Ave., Bridgeport, Conn. The Illustration II X class photograph pictured him with future comic book artists Lillian Chestney, Charles Cuidera, Gerald McCann, and Samuel Weissman. 

Webb graduated from Pratt in 1939. The Brooklyn Eagle (New York), June 8, 1939, listed the graduates and several of his Pictorial Illustration classmates went into the comic book field: John E. Ayman, William T. Bossert, Lillian Chestney, Charles Nicholas Cuidera, Philip J. Dring, Charles Mazoujian, and Stanley M. Zuckerberg. 

The 1940 census said Webb lived with his parents at the same address. He was a self-employed artist. 

On October 16, 1940, Webb signed his World War II draft card. He resided in Brooklyn, New York at 45 Cambridge Place. Webb’s employer was [Will] Eisner & [Jerry] Iger Associates. (Many of his credits are at the Grand Comics Database.) Webb was described as five feet four inches, 162 pounds, with blue eyes and blonde hair. 

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia), September 2, 1941, reported Webb’s engagement. 

Lynchburg—Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Marshall Panck have announced the engagement of their daughter Ethel to Robert Hayward Webb son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Miller Webb of Bridgeport, Conn. and brother of Mrs. Charles E. Warner of Lynchburg. They will be married in early fall.

They married on September 20, 1941 in Lynchburg, Virginia, according to the marriage certificate at Ancestry.com. 

Webb pencilled the Classic Comics/Classics Illustrated adaptations of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.’s Two Years Before the Mast (October 1945); Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (December 1945); and Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island (February 1947). Editor and Publisher, March 1, 1947, announced the launch of the New York Post Syndicate’s Illustrated Classics series which was produced by the Gilberton Company. Webb was one of several artists whose work was syndicated. American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Webb drew Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped which ran from March 30 to April 20, 1947. The script was by John O’Rourke. The comic book version appeared in 1948 and Webb’s art was praised in Robert Louis Stevenson Reconsidered: New Critical Perspectives (2003). The New York Post, March 26, 1947, said: 

…‘Kidnapped,’ the first in a series of ‘Illustrated Classics’ in striking four-color comic strip form will be presented in four installments, four full pages each on successive Saturdays as an extra attraction of the Post’s brimful week-end edition.

New York Post 3/28/1947

New York Post 3/29/1947

Kidnapped original art courtesy of Heritage Auctions

A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993) said Ann Brewster inked Frankenstein. 1941 Pratt graduate, David Heames, inked Two Years Before the Mast and Mysterious Island. The Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Volume 1, Part 1B, Number 1, Pamphlet, Serials and Contributions to Periodicals, January–June 1947, had this entry: 

Stokes, Manning L.

Mysterious island, by Jules Verne, adapted by Manning L. Stokes, illustrated by Robert Hayward Webb and David Heames. [New York, Gilberton co., 1947] 55 p. col. illus. 26cm. (Classic comics. Feb. 1947. no. 34) © publisher; 11Mar47; AA53546.

Webb drew the strip The Hawk which was credited to Rod Maxwell, a pen name. Jerry Iger’s full name was Samuel Maxwell Iger. Writer Ruth Roche used several pen names including Rod Roche. It was syndicated by Phoenix Features, a continuation of sorts of Eisner & Iger Associates and Lincoln Features. The Hawk appeared in the weekly Illinois newspaper, Wood River Journal, which printed six numbered strips at a time from March 27 to June 5, 1947; 66 strips were published out of an unknown total. Some original art is at Heritage Auctions. 

Wood River Journal, 3/20/1947

Webb worked in the comics industry for nearly thirty years. Webb had a notable run illustrating Sheena, Queen of the Jungle stories. An overview of his career is at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History said 

... After leaving the comics field, he turned to boatbuilding and later roared with laughter as he told Hames Ware, “I used to draw boats, and now I build them.” 

Webb passed away on September 11, 2000 and his last known residence was Capitol Heights, Maryland, according to the Social Security Death Index. An obituary was published in The Independent (Maryland), September 13, 2000. (Enter keywords Robert H Webb La Plata MD in the RootsWeb search box.) Webb was laid to rest at Presbyterian Cemetery. 

(An earlier profile appeared in 2013.)