Creator/Gladstone

Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks has 21 credited comics indexed across 17 series, working as cover, writer, penciller, inker.

Ub Iwerks was an American cartoonist and animator of German descent. He was one of Walt Disney's oldest friends; they met in 1919 while working as illustrators for the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio in Kansas City. He and Disney later formed their own commercial illustration business together, and then Iwerks followed Disney into animation. After their first animation studio failed, Iwerks followed Disney to California, where he joined Disney's new studio and became his chief animator. Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927, but he and Disney soon lost the character to Universal. He then helped create Mickey Mouse with Disney. He was Disney's chief animator for the latter part of the '20s, when they produced the first Mickey and Silly Symphony shorts. He worked with Disney on the initial development of the Mickey Mouse comic strip, but by 1930 he and Disney had fallen out and he left to found his own studio. Iwerks studio lasted for 10 years, but never attained the status of the Disney, Fleisher, Warner Bros., or rival studios. In 1940 Iwerks returned to Disney, where he began to specialize in technical effects, like developing new ways to mix animation with live action. Iwerks died of a myocardial infarction in 1971 in Burbank, California, aged 70.