On a slow day in December 1918, while working as a sports illustrator for the New York Globe®, Robert Ripley created his first collection of odd facts and feats.
The sketches, based on unusual athletic achievements, were initially entitled "Champs & Chumps," but after much deliberation, Ripley changed the title to Believe It or Not! It soon became a super popular cartoon in newspapers around the world.
Best Selling Series
Ripley's Believe it or Not!, with over 100,000 printed cartoons, is the longest-running comic panels in history and continues to fascinate comics readers with unbelievable facts from around the world.
Currently illustrated by John Graziano, these fascinating panels are read every day in over 42 countries. The panel gives readers a view of the unusual that earned originator Robert Ripley his fame.
Ripley's has developed a worldwide following since Robert Ripley's first Believe It or Not! cartoon appeared in The New York Globe in 1918. Over decades, the panel established a tradition of bringing phenomenal events to local newspapers
Ripley traveled all over the world to find the strange tidbits for his Believe It or Not! books and comic strip. He continued to do the strip until he died in 1949. The panel was later drawn by Walter Frem, and then by Don Wimmer.
Current illustrator Graziano has been working as an artist and illustrator since 1983, when he received a certificate in illustration from the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts. He has designed trading card sets and a portrait series based on the 1960s cult TV show "Dark Shadows." Graziano has also created comic strips for Scream Queens magazine, designed t-shirts graphics and created storyboards and concept drawings for Hollywood films.
Check out the most recent cartoons at http://www.comics.com/comics/ripleys/index.html