Supes, Bats and Spidey have become icons of superhero-dom, but for this Illustration Friday topic, I thought it would be fun to bring up a lesser-known, decades-old hero.

There aren’t too many folks out there today who remember this early forties comic strip character, but in his day, The Yawn captured the imaginations of kids everywhere. Created by Gordon A. Plume in 1938 for a local independent newspaper, “The Harrowing Tales of The Yawn” featured a hero with an extraordinary power. Playing on the contagious nature of yawning, his mask caused ne’er-do-wells to instinctively yawn, and in yawning, become easily subdued by one of the many weapons in The Yawn’s sleep-themed arsenal.

Seemingly overnight, the Yawn comic strip became a hit with kids and adults. Glimbit Publishing acquired the rights in early 1940 and got the strip into newspapers across the country. Mainstream success followed for Plume and his hero, and soon the Yawn could be seen on the packaging of household products, like Jupiter Oatmeal and Clean-n-Smiley Toothpaste. A movie deal was announced, and Humphrey Bogart agreed to play “Stretch,” the Yawn’s faithful, wizened sidekick, but the project fell into production limbo.

Details are sketchy, but somewhere around November of 1949, at the height of the Yawn’s popularity, Gordon Plume pulled the plug on his creation and disappeared into obscurity. Though unconfirmed, there are reports that he traveled east and became a Tibetan Monk. Glimbit Publishing honored Plume’s request to bury “The Yawn,” and has to this day never reprinted a single panel from the strip.

If you have any additional information on this obscure but important character, please post in the comments below! Let’s bring back The Yawn for a new generation.

Update! It turns out the picture above was a forgery, a fake! Glimbit Publishing found this authentic piece under the toilet brush in the bathroom.

The Yawn, from the Flint Voice, January 22, 1944.
(Click the image for a better look.)

Editor’s Note: (I decided to do this type of old-looking, newsprint style to practice a technique I learned here, at the thoroughly entertaining and informative jonnycrossbones.com. Sadly, the site was down for awhile and I couldn’t remember the exact steps, but since it was back up today, I thought I’d go for it. Thanks to Les McClaine for the neat tutorial.)