Cartoonist. He is best remembered for co-creating (with writer John Saunders) Danny Raven, the first black lead character in an American comic strip. A native of Greenwich, Connecticut, McWilliams was a noted science fiction animator for comic books, newspapers, and other publications. A graduate of the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, he started his career as an artist for numerous pulp magazines before turning to working on comics in 1935. His early work included illustrating for the Zane Grey Magazine, Crack Comics, DC Comics, and the Military Comics. He also illustrated the daily comic strip, "Tim Tyler's Luck", and science fiction titles including, "Captain Frank Hawk", "Flash Gordon", and "Space Cadets." At the outbreak of World War II, McWilliams joined the United States Army, and fought in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery. After the war ended, McWilliams returned to the United States and to comics. His next works consisted of a series of war and crime stories. Over the next 20 years or so, McWilliams began working on a daily science fiction comic strip, "Twin Earths", a sea adventure daily, "Davy Jones", and a spy story, "Dateline: Danger!" Later, he did work for the comics, "The Wild Wild West", "Spider-Man", "Buck Rogers", "He-Man", and "Star Trek", for Gold Key Comics. In the 1970s, he also got involved in doing advertising, although he never stopped working on comics. In 1978, McWilliams was the recipient of the Best Story Cartoonist Award from the National Cartoonists Society. He continued to work up until his death in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1993.
Cartoonist. He is best remembered for co-creating (with writer John Saunders) Danny Raven, the first black lead character in an American comic strip. A native of Greenwich, Connecticut, McWilliams was a noted science fiction animator for comic books, newspapers, and other publications. A graduate of the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, he started his career as an artist for numerous pulp magazines before turning to working on comics in 1935. His early work included illustrating for the Zane Grey Magazine, Crack Comics, DC Comics, and the Military Comics. He also illustrated the daily comic strip, "Tim Tyler's Luck", and science fiction titles including, "Captain Frank Hawk", "Flash Gordon", and "Space Cadets." At the outbreak of World War II, McWilliams joined the United States Army, and fought in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery. After the war ended, McWilliams returned to the United States and to comics. His next works consisted of a series of war and crime stories. Over the next 20 years or so, McWilliams began working on a daily science fiction comic strip, "Twin Earths", a sea adventure daily, "Davy Jones", and a spy story, "Dateline: Danger!" Later, he did work for the comics, "The Wild Wild West", "Spider-Man", "Buck Rogers", "He-Man", and "Star Trek", for Gold Key Comics. In the 1970s, he also got involved in doing advertising, although he never stopped working on comics. In 1978, McWilliams was the recipient of the Best Story Cartoonist Award from the National Cartoonists Society. He continued to work up until his death in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1993.
Bio by: The Silent Forgotten
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