Joe Palooka

The comic-strip heavyweight boxing champion Joe Palooka, drawn by Ham Fisher changed his appearance to fit the reigning real-life champ -- until the coming of African-American Joe Lewis in the 1940s, after which Palooka remained a cowlicked blond. Though his adventures were mostly low-key, he was pumped up by a good supporting cast, led by the lovable giant Humphrey Pennyworth, a smiling blacksmith who wielded a 100-pound maul the way most of us would swish a walking stick. Like Osark Ike McBatt in baseball, Palooka exemplified the sports hero in an age when uprightness of character mattered most.