Lynn, you are correct about Scott Dikkers. According to an article from CityPages, a web magazine based in the Twin Cities, Scott Dikkers was one of many co-creators of The Onion. In 1988, he teamed up with friends Tim Keck and Chris Johnson to start this highly successful newspaper.
Initially, Dikkers contributed a few of his cartoons to The Onion. However, because he was unsure if the paper would be a success, Dikkers did not use his cartoon, “Jim's Journal” in The Onion. Instead, he left “Jim's Journal” at the Daily Cardinal where it had been running since 1987.
The comic strip, in which nothing happened, featured a stick figure with no mouth, who semi-sleepwalked his way through life. As a college student, Jim put off reading his textbooks, watched TV constantly and sometimes spent the entire day in bed. At its peak, “Jim's Journal” has appeared in more than 200 college papers. The comic strip gained tremendous popularity, and there were even Jim T-shirts, boxer shorts and coffee mugs. However, Dikkers confirms that Jim is now “dead.” There is no indication that it ever ran in The Onion.