Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Camp

Lil’ Neebo

That same first issue with the new name also featured a cartoon character who would keep Amache residents chuckling through the next several years. Lil' Neebo, short for "Little Nisei Boy," was the creation of cartoonist Chris Ishii (1919-2001), who created the character when he was in the Santa Anita Assembly Center , a converted race track in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia, to show the lighter side of life under such extreme circumstances. Lil' Neebo became a regular feature in Santa Anita's newspaper for the few months that the inmates were imprisoned there, and when Ishii made the rail trek to Colorado with others from Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Clara counties, Lil' Neebo came along for the ride. [3]

Ishii wasn't new to cartoons. He had attended art school and was working for Disney when war broke out. When WRA officials saw Ishii's talent, they recruited him in 1943 to make propaganda posters, and he eventually served with the Military Intelligence Service in Shanghai. When Ishii left Amache, friends continued drawing the cartoon because Neebo was so popular.

from DENSHO https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Granada_Pioneer_(newspaper)/

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