Casper’s origins begin several decades before the ’90s live-action Casper film. Created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, the children’s book The Friendly Ghost was published in 1939.
The rights to Casper were sold and in 1945 the Noveltoon titled The Friendly Ghost was produced by Paramount Pictures’ Famous Studios. Casper the Friendly Ghost began in 1950, with the comics published a year prior. In 1963 The New Casper Cartoon Show aired.
If you grew up in the ’90s, kids were a little bit in love with Casper (in his human form), played by Devon Sawa. Did you wish you could have traded places with Christina Ricci? Sawa then went on to star in far more gory movies such as Idle Hands and Final Destination.
Casper appeared in various other projects in the late ’90s and 2000s, including two direct-to-video follow up films, with one featuring the future star of Lizzie McGuire, Hilary Duff. 2011 saw a DVD release containing 55 original theatrical cartoons and 26 The New Casper Show episodes.
Casper the Friendly Ghost has entertained several generations of us across print and visual media – now, in 2026, we’re taking a look at Casper in the tattoo realm.
The Tattooed Archivist 