Hall Duncan
(1924-2020)
Hall Duncan’s interest in cartooning began at an early age; he was always drawing. After serving in World War II, Duncan was awarded an exchange scholarship and at age twenty-three spent two years in China and Europe studying political science and art.
Dr. Duncan taught cartooning and advertising design for seventeen years at Central State University, now the University of Central Oklahoma. There he was given the nickname, “Dr. D.” At this time he was also collaborating with Don Heath, an African American cartoonist, on an interracial comic strip called Winner Williams, published in the Oklahoma City Times. The cartoon strip was dedicated to teaching children from all ethnic backgrounds to respect and relate to each other in a healthy way. As a result, Duncan and Heath were awarded the National Education Association’s Whitney M. Young Human Relations Award for their work. In 2000, the comic strips were consolidated into a book, The Gospel According to Winner, Larry, and Friends.
Duncan retired in 1986 and began his Humor and Communication Publishing Company in 1998. He has written and illustrated eight children's books, and trained illustrators in Africa and the United States. He has created four published cartoon features: Les Aventures de Jano and Mopela, (in Central Africa) and Clip-a-Tip for Parents and Winner Williams (in the United States). His doctorate explores children's pictorial perception habits of graphic design conventions used in comic strips and picture books. His research has been published by New Readers' Press, Syracuse, New York, and the University of Cambridge, U.K. Duncan's work has taken him to twenty-eight countries, primarily in Africa.
As of 2012, he resided with his wife, Lois, a former school teacher, in Edmond.