Scribbly was a semi-autographical character created by Sheldon Mayer in 1936. He first appeared in Popular Comics #6 by Dell Comics but moved with his creator to DC Comics in 1939. His series focused on his career woes and his interaction with various supporting characters. The most memorable of them was Ma Hunkel, the Red Tornado who came to dominate the series from 1940 to 1944.

Mayer got DC to revive the character with his own magazine "Scribbly" (August, 1948 - December, 1951). Scribbly stories also appeared in the back pages of the titles "Buzzy" and "Leave it to Binky". Later, he starred in his own series where he met his love interest and future wife, the redhead cartoonist Red Rigley. Since the 1950s the character has been used rarely with the last time being in 2015 at the Convergence event.