Willard, Frank H., 1893-1958

Frank Henry Willard (1893-1958) was an American cartoonist and creator of the newspaper comic strip Moon Mullins .

Frank Willard was born in Anna, Illinois. Something of a hot-head, he was expelled from school as a youth and during his time in the army was reduced in rank three times from sergeant to private. He started his artistic career in 1914, working freelance for several Chicago newspapers, and in 1916 was hired by the Chicago Herald to work on the Sunday strip Tom, Dick and Harry . In 1920, after a short stint working with Billy DeBeck on Barney Google, he moved to King Features Syndicate, for whom he wrote and drew The Outta Luck Club . Captain Joe Patterson of the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate was interested in adding a strip similar to Barney Google to his own lineup and hired Willard in 1923.

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