Chic Young

Murat Bernard Young — better known by his pen name Chic — was born on January 9, 1901, and went on to become one of the most widely read cartoonists in American newspaper history. He died on March 14, 1973. The nickname that gave him his professional signature originated in his high school years: his 1919 William McKinley High School yearbook lists him under the moniker "Chicken," which he eventually shortened to Chic.

Young's enduring contribution to the medium was *Blondie*, the domestic comedy strip he created and shepherded across decades. At its peak, King Features Syndicate reported a daily readership of 52 million — a figure that speaks to the strip's remarkable cross-demographic appeal. His work on the title spanned writing, drawing, inking, and lettering, and *Blondie* generated a substantial publishing footprint that included *Blondie Comics Monthly*, *Chic Young's Dagwood Comics*, and international editions such as *Skippern* and *Hjemmet Kryss*. Stan Drake, who continued the strip artistically during the 1980s and 1990s, credited Young as "one of the geniuses of the industry" — a judgment that the strip's longevity and readership numbers do little to contradict. Our catalog credits Young across 349 issues between 1938 and 2022, reflecting both his own output and the strip's continued vitality long after his death.