Steve Roper and Mike Nomad

Steve Roper and Mike Nomad was an American adventure comic strip that ran under various earlier titles (proposed as The Great Gusto, published as Big Chief Wahoo, then Chief Wahoo and Steve Roper, Steve Roper and Wahoo, and then Steve Roper) from November 1936 to December 26, 2004. Initially distributed by Publishers Syndicate (Publishers-Hall Syndicate), and then by Field Enterprises, it ended at King Features Syndicate. Despite the changes in title, characters, themes and authors, the entire 68-year run formed a single evolving story, from an Indian who teamed up with an adventurous young photojournalist to two longtime friends ready to retire after their long, eventful careers.

The strip was originally proposed by Elmer Woggon as The Great Gusto, drawn by himself and written by Allen Saunders (who would also write Mary Worth and Kerry Drake). J. Mortimer Gusto was a freeloading opportunist based on the film persona of W.C. Fields. In his autobiography, Saunders said Fields was flattered. But the syndicate preferred his sidekick Wahoo, so the proposal was revamped to center on him, and the strip debuted on November 23, 1936 as Big Chief Wahoo.

Wahoo was a short Native American in a ten-gallon hat who was played for laughs but showed courage, loyalty, and common sense. It was whites who were often the targets of the jokes (Wahoo: "Paleface full of prunes!"), and of vigorous defenses of Native Americans (e.g., December 16, 1941). Wahoo was rich due to the discovery of oil on his land back in Te(e)pee Town (spelled both ways in the strip), and headed to New York City to find his girlfriend Minnie Ha-Cha, who had gone away to college and was now a beautiful singer in a nightclub. On the way, he was joined by Gusto, who liked Wahoo's medicine so much that he bottled it up for sale as Ka-Zowie Kure-All. Gusto continued as a support character through August 1939, and then was dropped. (For more on Wahoo, see Elmer Woggon article; for a picture of Wahoo, Gusto, and Minnie, see Woggon's biography card at the National Cartoonists Society.)

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