Who was Joe Btfsplk?

Joe Btfsplk was a cartoon character in the famous "Li'l Abner" satirical comic strip series created by the cartoonist and humorist Al Capp, born Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979). Capp created "Li'l Abner" in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977. The strip's popularity grew from an original eight papers, to more than 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers in 28 countries.

Joe Btfsplk, well-meaning and friendly, wanted to be a loving friend but being the world's worst jinx, instantaneous bad luck befell anyone unfortunate enough to be in his vicinity. Joe was always shown with a dark rain cloud over his head. According to Capp, Joe's name was pronounced by simply blowing a "raspberry".

The "Li'l Abner" comic strip featured a host of memorably-named characters, including Marryin' Sam, Lonesome Polecat, Evil-Eye Fleegle, General Bullmoose, Senator Jack S. Phogbound, Available Jones, Nightmare Alice, Earthquake McGoon. Most notably, certainly from a G.I. point of view, were the beautiful, full-figured women like Daisy Mae, Wolf Gal, Stupefyin' Jones and Moonbeam McSwine—all of whom, along with Joe, found their way onto the painted noses of bomber planes during World War II and the Korean War.

Set in the bizarre, fictitious, hillbilly community of Dogpatch, Kentucky, the comic strip featured slapstick, irony, satire, black humor, parody and biting social commentary.