After a year of service in South Korea, clearing minefields, he arrived back in San Francisco on the day the war ended.

After a year as a commercial artist in Philadelphia, he took a job as the art director for a greeting card company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

[2][3] On September 11, 1967, King Features Syndicate launched his comic strip Redeye, about a wacky Indian tribe.

With Redeye in 400 American newspapers and translations into 15 languages, the success of the strip enabled him to move in 1970 to 310 Balmoral Road in Boise, Idaho, where he enjoyed hunting, fishing, dirt bike riding, skiing and playing blackjack in Nevada.

[4] His Redeye routine involved waking at 7am and descending to his basement office, sometimes for ten-hour sessions and on weekends, working six months in advance.