Editing Al Capp (section)

==Production methods==
Like many cartoonists, Capp made extensive use of assistants (notably Andy Amato, Harvey Curtis, Walter Johnson, and [[Frank Frazetta]]). During the extended peak of the strip, the workload grew to include advertising, merchandising, promotional work, public service comics, and other specialty work—in addition to the regular six dailies and one [[Sunday strip]] per week. From the early 1940s to the late 1950s, there were scores of Sunday strip-style magazine ads for [[Cream of Wheat]] using the ''Abner'' characters, and in the 1950s, Fearless Fosdick became a spokesman for [[Wildroot Cream-Oil]] hair tonic in a series of daily strip-style print ads. The characters also sold chainsaws, underwear, ties, detergent, candy, soft drinks—including a licensed version of Capp's moonshine creation, [[Kickapoo Joy Juice]]—and [[General Electric]] and [[Procter & Gamble]] products, all requiring special artwork.

No matter how much help he had, Capp insisted on his drawing and inking the characters' faces and hands—especially of Abner and Daisy Mae—and his distinctive touch is often discernible. "He had ''the touch,''" Frazetta said of Capp in 2008. "He knew how to take an otherwise ordinary drawing and really make it ''pop''. I'll never knock his talent."

As is usual with collaborative efforts in comic strips, his name was the only one credited— although, sensitive to his own experience working on ''Joe Palooka'', Capp frequently drew attention to his assistants in interviews and publicity pieces. A 1950 cover story in ''Time'' even included photographs of two of his employees, whose roles in the production were detailed by Capp. Ironically, this highly irregular policy (along with the subsequent fame of Frank Frazetta) has led to the misconception that his strip was "ghosted" by other hands. The production of ''Li'l Abner'' has been well documented, however. In point of fact, Capp maintained creative control over every stage of production for virtually the entire run of the strip. Capp originated the stories, wrote the dialogue, designed the major characters, rough penciled the preliminary staging and action of each panel, oversaw the finished pencils, and drew and inked the hands and faces of the characters. Frazetta authority David Winiewicz described the everyday working mode of operation in ''Li'l Abner Dailies: 1954 Volume 20'' (Kitchen Sink, 1994):

{{Blockquote|text=By the time Frazetta began working on the strip, the work of producing ''Li'l Abner'' was too much for one person. Capp had a group of assistants who he taught to reproduce his distinctive individual style, working under his direct supervision. Actual production of the strip began with a rough layout in pencil done by Al Capp, from Capp's script or a co-authored script, and the page passed to Andy Amato and Walter Johnson. Amato inked the figures, then Johnson added backgrounds and any mechanical objects. Harvey Curtis was responsible for the lettering and also shared inking duties with Amato&nbsp;... To make sure that the work stayed true to his style, the final touches were added by Capp himself. He enjoyed adding a distinctive glint to an eye or an idiosyncratic contortion to a character's face. The finished strip was truly an ensemble effort, a skillful blending of talents.}}

There was also a separate line of comic book titles published by the Caplin family-owned [[Toby Press]], including ''Shmoo Comics'' featuring Washable Jones. Cartoonist [[Mell Lazarus]], creator of ''[[Miss Peach]]'' and ''[[Momma]]'', wrote a comic novel in 1963 entitled ''The Boss Is Crazy, Too'' which was partly inspired by his apprenticeship days working with Capp and his brother Elliot at Toby. In a seminar at the [[Charles Schulz Museum]] on November 8, 2008, Lazarus called his experience at Toby "the five funniest years of my life". Lazarus went on to cite Capp as one of the "four essentials" in the field of newspaper cartoonists, along with Walt Kelly, [[Charles Schulz]], and [[Milton Caniff]].

Capp detailed his approach to writing and drawing the stories in an instructional course book for the [[Famous Artists School]], beginning in 1956. In 1959, Capp recorded and released an album for [[Folkways Records]] (now owned by the [[Smithsonian]]) on which he identified and described "The Mechanics of the Comic Strip".<ref>[http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=1284 An Interview with Al Capp – Smithsonian Folkways]</ref>

Frazetta, later famous as a [[fantasy art]]ist, assisted on the strip from 1954 to December 1961. Fascinated by Frazetta's abilities, Capp initially gave him a free hand in an extended daily sequence (about a biker named "Frankie", a caricature of Frazetta) to experiment with the basic look of the strip by adding a bit more realism and detail (particularly to the inking). After editors complained about the stylistic changes, the strip's previous look was restored. During most of his tenure with Capp, Frazetta's primary responsibility—along with various specialty art, such as a series of ''Li'l Abner'' greeting cards—was tight-penciling the Sunday pages from studio roughs. This work was collected by [[Dark Horse Comics]] in a four-volume hardcover series entitled ''Al Capp's Li'l Abner: The Frazetta Years''. In 1961, Capp, complaining of declining revenue, wanted to have Frazetta continue with a 50% pay cut. "[Capp] said he would cut the salary in half. Goodbye. That was that. ''I'' said goodbye," (from ''Frazetta: Painting with Fire''). However, Frazetta returned briefly a few years later to draw a public service comic book called ''Li'l Abner and the Creatures from Drop-Outer Space'', distributed by the [[Job Corps]] in 1965.