In December 1918, a young sports cartoonist at the New York Globe was short on ideas and up against a deadline. He filled a panel with a handful of odd athletic records, called it Champs and Chumps , and sent it to press.
Readers wrote in. He drew another. More than a hundred years later, that panel, renamed Ripley’s Believe It or Not! , is still running, and now it has a new hand drawing it.
Ripley's Believe It or Not! World Entertainment is excited to announce illustrator Howie Noel as the ninth cartoonist for its syndicated feature, the daily panel Robert Ripley started in 1918, and the very foundation Ripley's was built on.
Noel's résumé reads a little like a Ripley's panel itself, an unlikely collection of mind-blowing credits.
He's been a featured colorist on the New York Times tribute to Stan Lee, published after the Marvel legend's death in 2018. He's drawn for the Tribune's Dick Tracy , the strip that's been running since 1931. Noel has even worked with Shadowline Comics and Devil's Due.
He's also made concert posters and album artwork for Noel Gallagher, The Pixies, The Midnight, and Matt Forbes, to name a few.
Believe It or Not!, Noel’s work has taken home Wizard Magazine's Top Indie Comic spot and a Spacey Award for Best Independent Comic Artist.
Noel was kind enough to sit down with us amid his busy schedule of curating the weird and answer a few questions to help the world better understand the man behind the pen.
You’ve worked across comics, editorial illustration, album art, and more. What has each taught you, and do you bring aspects of all of them to your work?
One important thing I’ve learned from all my projects is to meet deadlines and adjust the art as needed in order to hit them. Comic strips are daily, so it’s important to get them done in advance.
The process teaches you to draw quicker and plan each comic in a way that looks great but also allows you time to hit the project’s due date.
You’re inheriting the longest-running syndicated cartoon. Does that history feel more like a weight or a gift?
It’s an honor, and I’m very aware of the legacy always. As a lifelong fan of Ripley’s and the comic, it’s truly a dream to draw it and add to its history.
How do you draw a fact? What’s your process for turning a line of text into a panel that makes someone stop?
I’ve always drawn since I was first born so it’s when I’m happiest. When I read each Believe It or Not! fact in our database, I immediately get an idea in my head about what the comic will look like. I’ll then research the fact and start penciling and then inking.
Is there a Ripley’s cartoon from the archives that has stuck with you or one you remember seeing as a child?
I really love Ripley’s art style. He was so talented, and I love his use of inking and shading. The classic comics featuring the artwork of Pelorus Jack, J.T. Saylors, and the Eye Popper inspire me daily, as well as his first comic that I get to see in person every day I work.
I constantly reference his work to draw inspiration from.
As you make the panel your own, what do you want to change, and what would you never touch?
I draw the comic in my personal art style but add trademarks of Ripley’s work, like his use of shading, gestural inking, and textures.
I like to add my own personal take on caricature but also maintain the format that Ripley established. So, while the comic is new and modern, it has respect for its past.
What’s the strangest true thing you’ve come across?
One of the best parts of my job is reading all the facts. One fact I learned was about a rare disorder that causes a person to view human faces as distorted and demon-like. It was published on September 10, 2026, and it was a submission from one of our readers.
I love that our readers can submit their own Believe or Not! facts to have a chance to see it turned into a comic strip.
What’s sitting on your desk right now that would surprise people?
I always have some action figures on my desk to keep my workplace fun and give me some inspiration. So, I have some Mexican Lucha figures, Batman figures, and more.
Taking over the longest-running syndicated cartoon is a strange kind of job. The panel has outlived its creator by more than seventy years. It has run through the Great Depression, a world war, the arrival of television, and of course, the arrival of the internet!
Every cartoonist who has held the pen has had to solve the same problem Robert Ripley solved in 1918: make a stranger stop, look, and say no way.
Noel steps into that lineage with a style that's bold, character-driven, and with an obvious affection for the weird corners of the world that Ripley spent his life exploring.
The panel runs daily, as it has for more than a century. See each new Believe It or Not! cartoon here .
Have a hometown oddity, an unusual personal feat, or a weird fact you stumbled across? Submit your own Believe It or Not! for a chance to be featured in a future cartoon.
Looking to find out more about Robert Ripley’s legacy? Start here , and dive into the man who began it all!
October 5, 2026
In 2026, Kentucky nine-year-old Daxton Hunter drew and completed a 10-square hopscotch course in 48.27 seconds.
Robert Ripley began the Believe It or Not! cartoon in 1918. Today, it continues uninterrupted as the world’s longest-running syndicated daily cartoon. Howie Noel is the ninth artist in over a century to take up the pen as lead Cartoonist.
