Finieous Fingers

Finieous Fingers (often misspelled Fineous even in Dragon magazine's own FAQ) was among the earliest comics that appeared in Dragon magazine. Finieous Fingers, the title character and self proclaimed "World's Greatest Thief", was a good-natured thief who was pestered by halflings (hobbits) and evil magic-users. He was generally found in the company of his two men-at-arms, Fred and Charly. The full-page comic was created by J. D. Webster, who was its sole author and illustrator.

The comic's appearances became sporadic, due to Webster's commitments as an A-7 pilot in the U.S. Navy. It appeared in issues 3, 4, 6,7, 9 through 22, 25 through 28, 30, 33, 35, 38 through 41, 43, 45, 49 through 51, 53 and 54. After the strip's final Dragon appearance in issue #54 (October 1981), Webster moved it to Adventure Gaming magazine, a publication which folded the following year. Finieous was next spotted in The Space Gamer and its sister publication Fantasy Gamer in 1984, but again this only lasted about a year. In the 1990s, Finieous Fingers was resurrected for a time in the pages of Shadis magazine, this time drawn by Jason Holmgren.

Author J. D. Webster is a late '70's graduate of Auburn NROTC and a former Navy pilot. Webster is currently flying for Northwest airlines and is living in Michigan with his wife and daughter. Several of his Fineious Fingers characters were modeled after friends who he dungeon mastered for: BoredFlak was based on Everette Burge who now lives in Selma, Alabama. Ozyamadas was based on Grant Castlebury who now works in the Texas aerospace industry. The title character was based on close personal friend Scott Mills, who currently delivers mail in the Birmingham area.

A compilation, The Finieous Treasury, was published by TSR in 1981. A series of miniature figures based on the comic was produced by Thunderbolt Mountain in 1982 and made their debut at the 1982 Origins in Baltimore, there were also 10 gold plated sets created at that time.

Partial Listing of Dragon Appearances

Partial Listing of Adventure Gaming Appearances

References