Gene Ahern (1895-1960) was a widely published comic-strip artist. He created, among many other recognizable icons, "Mr. Blotto " (on which Robert Crumb's character Mr. Natural was apparently based, visually at least).
Ahern studied trained at the Chicago Art Institute, after which (somewhat after 1910) he began a career creating the strips "Taking Her to the Ball Game", "Fathead Fritz", "Dream Dope", and "Squirrel Food". It was out of Squirrel Food that he introduced his well received and much loved characters "The Nut Brothers ", Ches and Wal. In 1923 Ahern's daily strip "Our Boarding House" was first published, becoming a great success.
By the mid 1930s, Ahern was a nationally famous cartoonist. He later created a variant of Our Boarding House titled "Room and Board".
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