The creator of comic-strip characters Chief Redeye, Mawsquaw, Tanglefoot and the battle-shy horse Loco died Friday at his Boise home.
Gordon C. Bess, 60, a Boise resident since 1970, retired as the artist of the daily cartoon because of poor health in May 1988, said his wife, Joanne.But the characters, now drawn by two other artists, live on in more than 400 newspapers nationwide.
The cartoon featuring Chief Redeye and his amiable but bungling band of Indians became an international hit after its 1967 introduction in the United States.
Newspapers in more than 20 countries translated the strip. France honored Bess with the Alfred Award for the best foreign humor strip of the year in 1976.
Bess , a native of Richfield, Utah, grew up in Idaho, in the towns of Glenns Ferry, Marsing and Hailey.