Curly Kayoe vs Phil Zablo and the Mystery Behind the Story!

The cover above is from Curly Kayoe #2 published by United Feature Syndicate in 1946.  Sam Neff wrote the issue, with art by his brother Mo Neff (who also drew another boxing comic, Joe Palooka).  What makes this issue especially interesting to me is that the fighter Curly is facing in the issue is Phil Zablo.

ZABLO!

It seems reasonable to me that one of the Neff brothers must have known a person with the last name Zablo and liked him well enough to feature him in the comic.  Phil Zablo is mentioned on the cover and then appears in the first half of issue two.  You can see the pages here (click on each page to see a larger version)…

My grandmother told me years ago that we had a boxer in the family.  If memory serves me correctly it was a relative named Pete (maybe it was Phil?) who went by the nickname Babe.  My Dad has no recollection of either.

I’d love to know the story of how Phil Zablo was chosen to appear in Curly Kayoe #2, his relation to the Neff’s and me.  Maybe someone reading this will have a lead.

If you’d like to read the rest of Curly Kayoe #2 you can at ComicBook+.com.  Thanks also to Jerry’s House of Everything where I first read about Curly Kayoe vs Phil Zablo.