Martin Branner

Martin Michael Branner, known to friends as Mike Branner, was born on December 28, 1888. He created the long-running newspaper comic strip *Winnie Winkle*, which he wrote and drew for decades. Branner began his career in vaudeville as a song-and-dance man before turning to cartooning. His path into comics led him to create *Winnie Winkle* in 1920, a strip that followed the adventures of a young working woman in the city. Branner’s style was clean and expressive, with a focus on character-driven humor and gentle social observation. He collaborated with his assistants over the years, though he remained the strip’s primary creative force. *Winnie Winkle* was later adapted into other media, including comic books and a film serial. Branner continued drawing the strip until his death on May 19, 1970. His work has been reprinted in collections such as *Cavalcade of Old Time Comic Strips* and *Large Feature Comic*, and he is remembered as a pioneer of the career-girl comic strip genre.