[2] He is known for being the first illustrator to show the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Hager also edited children's page for the Christian Science Monitor[2] He studied art at the University of Washington and the Arts Student League in New York, where another Seattle cartoonist, William Charles McNulty taught.

[2] He was also a member of the Seattle Cartoonists' Club, and illustrated several of the men in the club's book, The Cartoon; A Reference Book of Seattle's Successful Men.

According to the Seattle Daily Times, Waddles was a continuation of his father's duck, associated with the weather man.

[4] John Hager had to discontinue his illustrating when his eyes went, and his children ran the Waddles comic strip.