Gus Mager

Who was Gus Mager?

Charles Augustus Mager, better known as Gus Mager, was an American painter, illustrator and cartoonist during the first half of the 20th century. He was the creator of several comic strips, notably Hawkshaw the Detective and Sherlocko the Monk.

Mager was the son of German immigrants, and comics sent to his parents by their European relatives prompted his interest in cartooning. He began drawing sports cartoons which he sold to newspapers. By the age of 20, he already had a following when he expanded his repertoire to include clownish animals, and his cartoons soon appeared daily as In Jungle Land, or occasionally, In Jungle Society.