Joe Johnson was an American gay cartoonist, whose Miss Thing and Big Dick were among the first ongoing gay comics characters, appearing in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The characters were featured in single-panel humor cartoons originally published in The Advocate. Cartoonist Donelan was inspired by Johnson's work to begin his series "It's a Gay Life", which appeared in The Advocate after "Miss Thing" and "Big Dick" ended. Howard Cruse cited Johnson's "brazenly gay" cartooning as an inspiration.