Bud Blake

Bud Blake was born Julian W. Blake on February 13, 1918, in the United States. He is best remembered as the creator of the beloved comic strip *Tiger*, which debuted on May 3, 1965, and followed a gang of suburban boys navigating childhood adventures. At its height, the strip appeared in roughly 400 newspapers worldwide through King Features Syndicate. Blake's path to comics began after serving in World War II; he worked in advertising before turning to cartooning full-time. His style was warm, clean, and gently humorous, capturing the timelessness of boyhood friendship. *Tiger* became his signature work, and he handled both writing and art duties for its entire run. In our catalog, he is credited as artist, inker, and writer on 15 issues between 1974 and 2003, with titles including *Allers Familie-Journal*, *O Tico*, *Tijger*, *Strip Reeks*, and *Tiger'n*. Blake received the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 1970, and his strip earned the Best Humor Strip award in 1978. He continued drawing *Tiger* until his retirement in 2003. Blake passed away on December 26, 2005, leaving a legacy as a gentle observer of childhood who never talked down to his audience.