Edwina Dumm

She was known simply as “Edwina,” and she was the first full-time cartoonist in America.  

Her full name was Edwina Drumm and, in 1915, she took her first job as a cartoonist working for the short-lived Columbus Daily Monitor. During her time with the Monitor, she was often granted full-page editorial spreads called “Spot-Light Sketches”. In them she could explore the topics she cared about – mainly the daily issues women faced. Ms. Dumm loved dogs, and one of her strips for the Monitor featured a young tomboy named “Minnie” and her canine companion.

Her most enduring work was the creation, in 1918, of her syndicated strip Cap Stubs and Tippie. This one too featured a dog – this one named “Tippie” and his boy owner. As its readership grew, it soon became apparent that the real draw was the dog. Overshadowed by his dog, Cap Stubs was given second-billing. The strip was appropriately renamed Tippie and Cap Stubs, and eventually just Tippie in the 1960’s – over four decades after its creation!

Tippie wasn’t the only character who enjoyed Ms. Dumm’s attention. She also lent her hand to pencil & ink the interior of early issues of Wonder Woman in the 1940s (see issue #5, released June 2, 1943).

In 1978 she received the National Cartoonists Society Gold Key Award.

Edwina Dumm (1893 – April 28, 1990)