From The Comics Journal 143, July 1991

Ed Dodd

Edward Benton Dodd, 88, creator of the comic strip Mark Trail, died May 27 at a hospital near his home in Gainesville, GA. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Dodd was born in LaFayette, GA in 1903; he began his cartooning career in New York in 1929. He drew a daily humor panel, Back Home Again, from 1930 to 1945. In 1946 he developed Trail as a continuing drama strip which would have a more folksy, wholesome theme than the action-adventure strips of the previous decade. Mark Trail was an outdoor writer, and the strip's stories had wildlife and conservation themes. The Sunday strip featured a weekly lesson in American animal life narrated by Mark. The strip led to three books: Mark Trail's Book of North American Mammals, Mark Trail's Outdoor Tips, and Today's World of Conservation.

Ironically, as public concern over the environment grew in recent years, the strip that had been discussing these issues all along came to be seen by newspaper editors as a relic that appealed mainly to an older audience, an audience less desired by advertisers. Several papers dropped the strip, including the Washington Post, where an avalanche of reader complaints [see Journal #141) persuaded the paper to rein- state the strip and publish the complete backlog of missed episodes. Trail still appears in over 200 papers nationally. It has been drawn since 1978 by Dodd's longtime assistant Jack Elrod, who has signed it with both their names.

Dodd is survived by his wife Rosemary, four stepchildren and eight grandchildren.