The Cartoon!st - Jul-Aug 2017

My favorite things about being a cartoonist

There are many aspects of the cartoonist’s life that are wonderfully enjoyable. Personally, I love the fact that I get paid for doing the very thing that annoyed so many of my teachers in school when I doodled in my notebooks at the back of the classroom. I enjoy being able to work alone in my studio at night with my favorite music playing or with old movies on TV. I’m delighted by the way children’s faces light up when I tell them I’m a cartoonist, and even more so when they react to seeing me draw Homer Simpson or the Little Mermaid, as if by magic, right before their eyes.

But my all-time hands-down favorite thing about being able to draw cartoons is that I occasionally have the opportunity to use my gifts to improve lives and mitigate misery.

Several years ago I was approached by a woman at ComicCon San Diego who thanked me for making Simpsons Comics. I politely thanked her for the compliment and she said, “No, you don’t understand. Your comics changed my son’s life!”

She then began to tell me about how her son was failing in school, and not because he wasn’t smart but because he didn’t want to learn to read. She tried everything she could think of to motivate him and create some sort of interest in reading but nothing worked. Then one day she was in a

grocery store and spotted a Simpsons comic book on the racks in the magazine section. She knew that her son was crazy about The Simpsons and she thought that maybe this was something that would pique his interest. She took the comic home and gave it to her son, and in her words, “He flipped out!” She told me that he loved the comic and kept asking her what unfamiliar words were, how to pronounce them, what they meant, etc. She bought her son more Simpsons comics and he devoured them all. Before long he was enjoying reading and began to show interest in non-comic books (some without pictures at all!). She also began to see his grades improve and in a short time he went from failing marks to A’s and B’s in all of his subjects. The mother was incredibly grateful to have found comics that her son loved enough that he desperately wanted to learn to read them. And that boy’s life was changed forever by his newfound love for reading.

It felt incredible to know that by creating something that was intended to simply entertain and make people laugh, I could affect that kind of change in someone’s life.

Now, in the wakes of a trio of deadly back to back to back hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico (and possibly more on the way as I write this) and a devastating earthquake in Mexico, an opportunity to change lives with art has presented itself to all of us.

With the help of our friends at Heritage Auctions and under the auspices of the National Cartoonists Society Foundation, we will be raising money to benefit victims of these terrible natural tragedies.

By now you’ve probably received an e-mail from NCSF President Steve McGarry and myself announcing a new

This issue’s cover art is by Chicago’s finest, Pat Byrnes. We initially asked during his New Yorker Daily Cartoon stint if he’d be interested in writing about the process for us — both good and (hopefully not as much) bad. He was, though begged off until his ten-week long effort was over. Taking that look back, Pat graciously wrote and supplied several examples of those dailies in an engaging account that begins on Page 6.

NCS BOARD

Honorary Chairman

Mort Walker President

Bill Morrison

First Vice President

Jason Chatfield

Second Vice President

“The Cartoon!st” is the official publication of the National Cartoonists Society, P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NCS. Entire contents ©2017 National Cartoonists Society, except where other copyrights are designated.

The Cartoon!st needs your news, opinions, drawings and photos. Address all materials to: Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419. Phone: 937-296-0502 home, 937-229-3934 days.

Email: fpauer1@udayton.edu

Deadline for the next issue: October 25

Terri Libenson

Third Vice President

Carolyn Belefski Secretary

Ed Steckley Treasurer

John Hambrock

Membership Chairman

Greg Cravens

National Representative

Maria Scrivan

NCS COMMITTEES

The Cartoon!st Frank Pauer 937-229-3934 fpauer1@udayton.edu

Ethics

Steve McGarry mac@stevemcgarry.com

Education Rob Smith Jr. (rob@robsmithjr.com)

Greeting Card Contracts

Carla Ventresca 615-480-7931

NCS FOUNDATION President Steve McGarry 714-593-0514 mac@stevemcgarry.com

For questions about accounting, membership, database and dues renewals, contact: National Cartoonists Society P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927 407-994-6703 info@reuben.org

The National Cartoonists Society Web Site: www.reuben.org.

Please address correspondence to: Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419, or fpauer1@udayton.edu

STEPHEN SILVER

Thanks & Giving Auction, similar to the one we held back in 2001 to benefit devastated victims of the horrifying 9/11 attacks. This time we are asking EVERY NCS member and EVERY professional artist to participate, not just the syndicated community.

If you are a syndicated cartoonist, whether you create a strip, a panel or an editorial cartoon, please consider donating the art that runs on Thursday, Nov.

23 to the “NCS Thanks & Giving Auction.” You can include a tagline message that reads something like:

To benefit victims of the recent natural disasters, this original artwork is up for auction at www.HAcom.NCS.

In 2001, most cartoonists still created their art the traditional way, and we recognize that many of us have now switched, perhaps exclusively, to creating our art in a digital fashion. So if you fall into this category we are asking that either:

a) You consider creating an original piece of art once more (we KNOW you haven’t forgotten how to draw with pen and paper!)

b) Or please raid your archives to find a suitable piece to donate to the auction. (You can amend the tagline to read something like: Please visit the NCS auction at www.HA.com/ NCS to bid on an original cartoon to benefit disaster victims.)

If your work doesn’t run in syndication, you are not off the hook! We want your help and participation as well! We’re asking you to dig deep into your flat files for a valuable comic strip, illustration, or comic book page and donate it to the cause. If you don’t have a great piece of published

art, draw or paint something new and sensational! If you don’t have time to work up a modern masterpiece, or you are an NCS non-artist associate member, please dig out something by another great artist from your original art collection. (It’ll just end up going to your ingrate heirs some day, so why not use it to help ease someone’s pain and suffering?)

This is a joint effort between the NCSF and the NCS, so in the coming weeks you’ll be hearing from either me or Steve as plans develop and unfold.

Please send a scan of the art you plan to donate to prez@ reuben.org, and send the original art to:

Bill Morrison

786 Twillin Ct. Simi Valley, CA 93065

I will collect all the donations and ship them to Heritage prior to the auction.

By the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, the news stories of these tragedies may be a fading memory, but the needs of the victims will go on for months and years. You can be confident in giving generously, knowing that the money raised by your gift of art will still be desperately needed.

Let’s come together and use our unique gifts and talents to benefit those who could really use our help right now. I’m willing to bet this will become YOUR favorite thing about being a cartoonist!

10/4

YadaYadaYada

When I was a freshman in high school, I read a book and had to do a book report, you know... and I read a book called The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas. And it dawned on me, people actually make cartoons for a living. They actually can do that as a job. Get paid for it.

And I was like, ‘That’s what I’m gonna do.’

John Lasseter , chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering, recalling the moment he decided to be a cartoonist, at the 2017 Disney’s D23 Expo

I came back from RoboCop2 convinced that writing a screenplay was the equivalent of building a fire hydrant and then having dogs run around and piss on it. … I think screenplays are essentially stupid. I certainly do not regard working in Hollywood as a step up from comics, by any means.

Frank Miller, he of the Dark Knight and Sin City fame, in an interview at playboy.com.

Bill Morrison prez@reuben.org

It’s too homogenous. It’s way too much the same. The films aren’t really that different one from the other. Despicable Me could have been made Pixar, by DreamWorks. It’s not a great time for feature animation if you want to do something even moderately outside the formula.

Henry Selick, director of the stop-motion films The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline , in Variety

Hollywood executives don’t really care about handdrawn animation, and don’t really care about animation that’s not for kiddies, so there is very little opportunity for me to make the films that I want to make.

Bill Plympton, celebrated independent filmmaker, in an interview at cartoonbrew.com

SuSan Kirtley

I have the greatest job in the world. Well, at least I think so. As the Director of the Comics Studies program at Portland State University I get to read interesting comics and cartoons and talk about them with interesting people. However, my origin story isn’t quite so auspicious. I was a nerdy and contrary kid — captain of the Brain Bowl team, Outstanding Band Member — you get the idea. I started to read comics because I was specifically informed that I shouldn’t. I remember the scene quite well: it was a crisp day at Jefferson Elementary when I wandered away from playing kickball and approached my classmate Sean, who sat huddled against the brick wall of the school, reading. Sean was kind of a tough kid, and I was curious to see what could hold his attention, which generally ran more toward pulling my hair. I asked if I could take a look at his colorful reading material, but Sean replied, “Girls don’t read comics.” After that, I set out to read every comic I could get my grubby little hands on and, shockingly, I’ve able to make a career out of reading comics, writing about comics (including my book Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass), and hopefully, educating and inspiring new creators through my work at PSU.

skirtley@pdx.edu

Milt Priggee

Milt Priggee is an international award-winning editorial cartoonist who started his graphic commentary career with the Chicago Daily News in 1976. Beginning in 1978, he was the first staff editorial cartoonist for the weekly Crain’s Chicago Business

His first daily metro staff editorial cartoonist position was with The Journal Herald in Dayton, Ohio from 1982-1986. After The Journal Herald closed, Priggee moved to The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash-

ington where he drew cartoons from 1987 to 2000.

He was awarded a Journalism Fellowship to the University of Michigan from September 2000 to May 2001.

Currently he is nationally syndicated with Cagle Cartoons, Inc. He also produces state and local editorial cartoons from his site www.miltpriggee.com. His work has been reprinted in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and CNN Headline News.

Milt lives with his wife Jan on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound and are parents to four and grandparents to six.

Shane Sowell

I was born and raised in South Bend, IN. I began my love of drawing at a young age, and through much encouragement of my family, I began to take drawing classes. After high school, I attended Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH. I pursued my love for comic strips and animation by taking classes in illustration and film. Once I acquired my BFA, I went to UCLA’s Theater Film and Television school and received my MFA in animation.

Upon graduating I began working on King of the Hill and The Simpsons. I continue to work on The Simpsons today, marking my 12th year. Through a mutual friend, I was introduced to Richard Rosser, and we created Piggy Nation , which was developed into the children’s book “A Day At Work With Dad,” the chapter book “Let’s Go Camping,” the Off-Broadway play “Piggy Nation The Musical,” and a weekly single-panel comic.

I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have three beautiful daughters that keep us very busy.

John rocco

I was born on July 9, 1967, to a skilled nurse and a mad scientist in Barrington, R.I. Since I can remember, I spent my days at the dock fishing all day every day. My first job at the age of 11 was as a deck hand on a commercial shell-fishing boat. By 16 I had purchased my own boat and continued to work as a quahogger on Narragansett Bay… until my boat sank in the middle of winter. That’s when I headed off to college to study engineering. It wasn’t until I had a roommate who was an illustrator that inspired me to become one myself. I went to Rhode Island School of Design and then School of Visual Arts to fine-tune my craft. I worked as an art director for 15 years at Disney, DreamWorks and Digital Domain, to name a few. In 2004, I switched to writing/illustrating children’s books, and with more than 20 books published, I’m glad I did. I was especially honored to receive a NCS Reuben Book Award in addition to the Caldecott Honor in 2011. See more at www.roccoart.com

DoingDailythe

Idumb.

had never been a political cartoonist. I avoided topical humor. So I had not considered throwing my hat into the ring to draw the extremely topical Daily Cartoon for The New Yorker. I prefer gags with a longer shelf life, always have. If I have anything like a niche, it’s moral conflicts or taking something that was supposed to be smart and making it dumb. That’s my wheelhouse. My turf. Moral issues,

See where this is going?

Ken Krimstein (NCS member and fellow Chicago-based New Yorker regular) saw the connection before I did, and he prodded me to ask Bob Mankoff about doing the Daily. I instantly realized he was right … a few hours after the second time he mentioned it. Political and topical humor had drifted onto my turf. We have a moral conflict; what’s supposed to be smart isn’t. I dropped Mankoff a line. He thought Ken was right too and, the following week, he handed me a start date.

TOM TORO, WHO WAS WRAPPING UP a wildly successful run on the Daily,

“The Russians hacked my homework.”

gave me tons of helpful advice. The first was: prepare for an all-consuming job. Chris Weyant, who had also done the Daily, told me the same. Now, I used to have a daily comic strip and ran for three years with no trouble meeting deadlines, but this, I was assured, was different. Every cartoon has to be New Yorker-worthy. And New Yorker-style, not editorial cartoon-style. That means no visual allegory, no “Big Government” labels on characters or name tags, no extreme exaggeration. Just a regular gag cartoon you’d find in the magazine, except that it happens to draw from up-to-the-minute current events.

In the early days of the Daily Cartoon, this was challenging. In the Age of Trump, it has become maddening. Up-tothe-minute events can be old news a minute later because of some other event blowing up, sometimes literally.

More than once I filed a cartoon at midnight, only to find it outdated by the time I awoke. I got a 7 a.m. email once suggesting I tackle an overnight bombshell. I was at the airport. I had pen, paper, ink, and brush in my travel bag, but no watercolor for a wash. Nor a container to hold water. Luckily there was a Starbuck’s near the gate. The coffee helped me think and draw fast, and I mixed some of it with ink to make my wash. Drinking and splashing frantically as my group was boarding, I then ran to find adequate light to “scan” my cartoon with my iPhone and email it before being the very last person on the plane. Oh, and the magazine went with the cartoon I had turned in the night before.

But back to the beginning. In the week and a half between being tagged and my actual start date, I whipped up a bunch of cartoons that might be good for days when nothing too specific was happening. I also pulled some evergreen gags from my files and drew them up for days we all needed a rest from the news. So I was ready when The New Yorker asked me to send them two or three of these evergreens for days when a fresh gag didn’t work out for one reason or another. I had way more than that two or three, because I had a secret that I had to keep from them.

After my seventh day on the Daily, I was going to be leaving the continent for a week and a half, or eight cartoon days. I had already scheduled a family visit to see my brother in Guam during the kids’ spring break, with a stop in Hawaii where my wife had a conference. I couldn’t cancel the trip, and there was no way I was going to turn down this gig. I’d have to make it work.

MY FIRST WEEK WAS A RESPECTABLE INTRODUCTION. I got off a few solid gags, and the soft ones gave me a feel for how much I could expect from readers who were not spending every waking minute scrutinizing the news the way I was. This paid off on Day One of Week Two with a clean hit about Russian hacking. The next day brought a lucky break in the way of a snowstorm, which hit the Midwest a day before it would hit the East Coast. While I was shoveling snow, the sheer joy of distraction from current events set up the next day’s cartoon. I turned it in, slogged back out through the snow, and boarded the

“A pet always boosts a President’s approval rating.”

“Did I say sprinkles? Did I say foofaraw, flavors, or swirls? Or did I say gimme a damned Scotch?”

“She’s doing much better. She can no longer remember who’s President.”

More than once I filed a cartoon at midnight, only to find it outdated by the time I awoke.

plane to sunny Hawaii feeling like I was ahead of the game. That feeling lasted precisely one day.

Fact checking. Did you know that The New Yorker fact-checks cartoons? They do, and they did with the day after that cartoon. It’s really quite smart of them, when you think about it, in these days of #fakenews. Except I hadn’t thought about it. And I was caught off balance when they wouldn’t let a common phrase be attributed to someone unless he was on record saying it. I could have protested, “It’s just a joke!” but that would have sounded too Trumpy. So we dipped into the “evergreens” for the first time. My first failed cartoon. My confidence was shaken, but hopefully nothing else would go wrong while I was four thousand miles away from my studio.

LET’S TAKE A MOMENT to review some nuts and bolts: While Mankoff oversaw the process, he was not hands-on. A different set of editors manage online content, including the Daily. I had to email my cartoon to them, plus their production folks, maybe half a dozen people overall, by sometime in the morning of the day it was supposed to run. I gave myself the personal deadline of sometime the night before, just in case. I had specific size and resolution constraints to meet for the image area minus the caption. And the caption was to be sent in the text of my email, rather than on the image file, so the editors could edit it (for instance, to add an umlaut to a word you never knew had an umlaut, which they did on two occasions) before the production crew set the type. And that’s about it. Now, back to our story.

HAWAII AND GUAM ARE IN DRASTIcally different time zones from New York. But I had worked all that out with various alerts programmed into my phone. My only real concern would be finding a scanner on days when

I couldn’t use a cartoon I had done before I left home. No big deal, right? Conference hotels have business centers. Right?

The hotel’s business center did not have a scanner. It had a table where some guy was getting a massage (awkward), but it had no scanner. Not panicking, I found a UPS Store nearby with a “scanner.” Except it was made for salesmen making electronic copies of contracts while on the road, not for high resolution graphics. Same with every other business center or copy shop in town.

When I finally found something approximating a decent scanner — at the drug store photo desk — I could only walk away with my image on a disk, which my laptop cannot take. So I had to go back to the UPS Store to have the DVD data transferred to a thumb drive. Unless I wanted to buy an external disk drive from the local Apple Store for $175, which I didn’t. Suffice it to say that I spent the rest of my days in these island paradises chasing down alternatives and stressing out about how to get a print-worthy scan.

SOMEHOW I MANAGED A LITTLE relaxation amid the madness and made

it back home with a run that seemed to be going well. My ambition had been to last at least four weeks on the Daily, and I had three under my belt as I alit onto home soil.

The next week, the fourth week, brought me a viral success. The Boris and Natasha gag. Having been both a big fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle and a voiceover actor myself, I had always paid close attention to Boris’s fabulous accent. He would do sly little things like pronounce the “L” in would and should and could. And his broken English resounded with authenticity. So it wasn’t enough simply to draw a good Boris and Natasha. What he said had to capture his voice. I bounced the line back and forth with my old comedy writing partner at a bar the night before, and when we were both “laughink,” we knew it was right. It’s a good job that can let you judge your own progress that way. I now had two days left to wrap up the four weeks I had hoped for. Yet I had not been informed of anyone else taking over after me. That’s how it was with the Daily: you were it until they told you someone else was. So I plunged into my fifth week. Then my sixth, seventh, eighth week. It was exhilarating, but—

REMEMBER

THE PART ABOUT

IT taking all my time? That was true. I would work all day, blowing through my phone’s data limit, combing the news, digesting everything, not only from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and the like, but also from Fox News and Breitbart. You know, to be fair and balanced. I would try to mix in gags that related to other things that were going on in the world, too, or something simply to cleanse the palette, but the stuff people wanted was Trump, Trump, Trump. Pie-in-the-face stuff. Relief from the nonstop insanity

“Tell them is fake news, work of Moose and Squirrel.”

coming from the White House. So my pre-drawn evergreens were pretty much worthless. Every day demanded something new.

Two or three days a week, I might come up with two or three decent gags in a day, maybe even draw them up as roughs and poll my ersatz focus group of writer and cartoonist friends, then end up scrapping them all for something else after dinner, and not get to bed until after midnight from working on the finish. Nine o’clock on a good night. But I’d have to be up at six the next day, no matter what, to get the kids off to school. And then get back to work. Sure, I can go a day or two on six hours of sleep, but weeks of that schedule start to take a toll.

I was overwhelmingly thankful for my extended run, but I was also weary (not to mention worried about appearing greedy by hogging this plum, a manifestation of my IrishCatholic guilt). Except I could never say that out loud without sounding like a colossal ingrate.

Then a neighbor smacked the self-pity violin out of my hands. Lamenting the chaos of this Administration and how it was stressing out regular folks and their families, he thanked me for the cartoons. People like him, he told me, needed the laughs to maintain their perspective. In other words, I needed to suck it up and keep cartooning.

IN MY SEVENTH WEEK, I WENT OUT to New York for the last day of drop-off with Bob Mankoff as cartoon editor. At the very least, I needed to thank him in person. I also wanted to witness such a historic day. It was a giddy madhouse scene featuring nearly every living New Yorker cartoonist. Some who are still living, but retired, showed up at the lunch afterward. My heroes! It was exactly what I needed to get my energy

and enthusiasm back. I also learned that someone was in the pipeline to follow me. Soldier on, relief is on the way.

Days later, Emma Allen officially took over as cartoon editor. She spent her first week settling in and sifting through the gazillion weekly submissions for her first official picks. But in her second week, she looked toward the transition of the Daily Cartoon. She wanted a successful one, naturally,

and picked Kim Warp, a tested veteran, to be next. It was welcome news, but it still left me with a week and a half to go, and my brain hurt.

Speaking of things that hurt the brain, how about a digression about social media. Facebook and Twitter comments on the cartoons were typically the supportive sort you’d expect from New Yorker readers. Or just funny. On two occasions, when the magazine’s punctilious editors inserted those umlauts I mentioned, lively debate ensued among fanatically grammarian readers.

On my more pointed cartoons, however, I encountered something even funnier. Russian trolls! I had read about troll farms, but I never imagined I’d get to see them in action — and trolling me. How cool is that? They revealed themselves by being the absolute first to comment, often within seconds of the tweets going live — who can type that fast? Their implausible, often hilarious name–photo combinations and spammish grammatical tics further outed them with the kind of “high confidence” levels the intelligence agencies talk about. Oh, I would also see common American trolls venting their bile on any given day, but nothing says you’ve touched a nerve like the instant abuse of paid Russian troll-farm trolls.

WEEK TEN, THE HOME STRETCH.

I only had to tick off five more cartoons, and one would be a Mothers Day gag. Looking at it like that — onetwo-three-four-Mom — it suddenly seemed manageable. I heaved a sigh of relief and my brain relaxed in that moment.

And the ideas flooded in. I suddenly had more good gags than I could use. (That’s the big lesson here.

“You fools! It’s getting away.”

“My client pleads celebrity, Your Honor.”

Staying relaxed is the key to good ideas.) One even had me giggling the whole time I was drawing it (the one with the alien), which is about as good as it gets for a cartoonist. I came off Wednesday’s and Thursday’s cartoons on a roll. One to go, and I felt I had nailed it with a Mothers Day sentiment, turning the very personal issue of parental dementia into a positive. And a dig at Trump, of course.

Then something magical happened. Twitter, which typically racked up the smallest but most consistent totals, inexplicably blew up. My wife said, “It’s a good cartoon, but something is wrong with the numbers here. Are these bots?” The likes and retweets were ten times what I might normally expect for a popular cartoon.

Then I noticed something else odd. A familiar name kept popping up in retweets. J.K. Rowling. She had retweeted the cartoon to her millions of followers, giving me a wonderful — or, as I said, magical — finale to my run. (Though what a nightmare it would have been if I had had to continue the following Monday, knowing I never could top that!)

As I began to decompress, Kim Warp leapt in and gave Emma the first-rate transition she was hoping for and ran the next four weeks, picking up the distinction of being the last solo Daily Cartoonist.

Then Emma ushered in a new era for the Daily Cartoon. Modeled on the headline submission process for The Onion, today a pool of cartoonists submit ideas by 9 a.m. each morning. One of those ideas is okayed by 10 a.m. and a finish is due by noon. This shifts most of the everyday pressure onto the editors; the cartoonists need only submit when they want to. It also spreads out the opportunity, and it is truly fun to see the excitement it brings a lot of cartoonists who might never have had their lucky shot at a solo Daily run.

As of this writing, I’ve only submitted one or two ideas for the new Daily. I’ve been too busy catching up on the work I had put off and thanking my lucky stars for that remarkable opportunity.

Will I start submitting more and get back into the Daily fray? Probably. I still don’t think of myself as a normal political cartoonist, but these are not normal times.

See more of Pat’s work at patbyrnes.com, including cartoons for The New Yorker, books, fun facts and his inventions.

“Media at the gate!”

not happy.”

“We’re running out of diversions. We have no choice but to crimp his hair.”

Mr Doubleday Goes to Oregon

HEN I was asked to address the members of the National Cartoonists Society, it was with great excitement - and not a little trepidation - that I accepted. Famously, the American people have little or no sense of humour, so I was intrigued to find out how Viz - Britain’s third or fourth funniest magazine, possibly fifth, would be received.

Following a misunderstanding at Atlanta Airport, which resulted in an intimate body cavity search, I eventually boarded a plane for Portland with seconds to spare. Three hours later, I arrived in Maine, and following a further minor misunderstanding and yet another intimate body cavity search, I finally managed to buy a ticket to Portland, Oregon. Settling back in my seat, I looked forward to what I hoped

Wwould be a short hop between the two similarly named cities.

However, I had underestimated quite how big America is. After five days on the Greyhound bus with no change of underwear, I finally disembarked in “downtown” Portland and headed to the Hilton to freshen up a little.

I’m afraid I didn’t sleep particularly well on my first night. The combination of twelve hours in a pressurised aircraft cabin, two intimate body cavity searches at the (rather large and clumsy) hands of the TSA, and five days on a hard

bus seat had aggravated a longstanding medical condition, the ointment for which had unfortunately been seized at Atlanta Customs.

The next morning I gingerly made my way down for breakfast, where I met my hosts for the weekendSteve McGarrett, Bill Morris and Rick Stromboli.

Throughout the meal, Mr McGarrett made fun of me by affecting a very unconvincing English accent. Indeed, he continued this “joke” throughout the whole of my stay, even to the extent of encouraging his wife and children to join in.

Hampton Doubleday has been editor of British comic for nearly 40 years. This year he was honoured to be invited to attend the 2017 Reuben Awards.

Viz editor Hampton Doubleday, safely back in Britain and enjoying a cup of tea.

An aeroplane similar to the one which whisked Doubleday to Portland, Maine.

Contributed by Graham Dury of Viz Comics

2017 NCS REUBEN AWARDS SPECIAL ISSUE!

SECRETS SUITE 2222

“What I found in the Presidential bathroom will make your hair curl!”

Hilton Maid Speaks Out

STEVE MCGARRY’S BAR TAB!

EXCLUSIVE LEAKED PICS INSIDE!

LATEST! GALLIFINIAKOS’S AWARDS ROUTINE ENTERS FOURTH MONTH

“Comedy speech could go on till June 2019”~ Scientists

I spent the rest of the day exploring the wonderful city of Portland, looking for a chemist’s shop - or “Pharmacy” - that stocked the particular preparation I required to relieve the symptoms of my condition. And what a magnificent place it is, sitting as it does upon a majestic river the name of which I never found out. In its own way, it reminded me

of some of the beautiful and historic cities of my own homeland, such as Middlesborough, Wolverhampton and Barrow-in-Furness.

Eventually, I managed to procure some ointment and headed back to my hotel room to apply it, treating myself to twice the recommended dose. With the affected area suitably

‘‘

Stealing Shampoo and Towels from my Room was a Piece of Cake - and I’ll show you how I did it!

Says Simpsons’ David

numbed, I headed off to that evening’s party at the headquarters of Wacom - a company that apparently manufactures a sort of electrical television set for drawing cartoons on.

Whilst their products are certainly ingenious, and Doug, Joe and all the other Wacom people were utterly charming, I can’t help feeling that

they are flogging a dead horse. An Australian cartoonist by the name of Jason Chatsworth had made a short “comedy” film extolling the virtues of their MobilestudioPro graphics tablet, but frankly I was left unconvinced by it. Technological advances are all very well, but at the end of the day, for a working cartoonist nothing is ever going to beat the convenience of carrying round a simple pen and paper, a few spare nibs, pencils, rulers, erasers, a bottle of white-out, paints, brushes, and an angled flat surface of some sort. And a lamp.

Towards the end of the evening, the effects of my ointment were beginning to wear off, so I boarded the bus back to the hotel. Unfortunately, despite another liberal application of balm, the symptoms flared up overnight and I spent most of the next two days lying on my front with the affected area exposed to the breeze from an open window in the fruitless hope it would afford me some small relief from my dreadful suffering.

At 6.00pm on Saturday I roused myself and donned my traditional Englishman’s garb of black tie, white gloves, tailcoat, spats and cummerbund, and made my way downstairs for the weekend’s main event - the 2017 Reubens Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony. It was a glittering event, marred only by the presenter Nick Galapagos, who somewhat soured the atmosphere by systematically insulting everyone in

the room for what seemed like hours, but was in fact an endless eternity.

By the time Mr Galapagos finally brought the evening’s proceedings to a close, I had been sitting down for far longer that I should have been, and I urgently needed to get back up to my room to apply some more unguent onto my symptoms which, by this point were what I believe is known in medical circles as “galloping.” Unfortunately, the queues (lines) for the lifts (elevators) were extremely long, so I decided to walk up the stairs to the 21st floor instead.

This was, in retrospect, a bad decision. After seven flights I was in agony. Each step upwards merely served to aggravate my pre-existing condition. Like a mountaineer trapped on a ledge I could go neither up nor down. Fortunately, two hotel employees found me in my fevered state and somehow got me into a service elevator. Manhandling me into to my room, they lay me face down

on the bed and after much pleading, they reluctantly agreed to apply my ointment as I was in no fit state to do so myself. I gave them a dollar each for their trouble. I am not normally such a big tipper, but in this instance these Good Samaritans had truly gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Next morning, I bid my hosts a bleary-eyed farewell and hopped in a cab for an agonising ride to the airport. Once there, the way I was walking through security evidently aroused suspicion because I was subjected to yet another intimate body cavity search. To make matters worse, my ointment was once again confiscated and no amount of pleading with the TSA could get it back.

There then followed nearly 16 hours of pressurised discomfort on the plane, made doubly worse by an inflight meal of Jalapeno Chimichangas and a subsequent misunderstanding over the correct use of the onboard vacuum toilet flushing system. After landing, I struggled down the steps of the plane, reclaimed my baggage and waddled towards Passport Control and the final intimate body cavity search of my American adventure.

Since then, I am pleased to report that my condition has ameliorated somewhat. My doctors assure me that if the affected area continues to improve, I should be fit enough to attend the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October, where I hope to meet up with many of my new-found friends from across the water.

Acknowledgements: Viz editor Hampton Doubleday would like to thank the National Cartoonists Society, The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Wacom, Dennis Publishing, The Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, Delta Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, the TSA and Preparation H.

A wonderfully panoramic and copyright free view of one of the Portlands visited by Mr Doubleday on his odyssey.

The Hilton Portland and Executive Tower.

Long Island

Adrian Sinnott 631-547-0778

The Gang gathered at the Hoest Castle this past June for the 36th Annual “Bunny Bash!” This, the highlight of the Berndt Toast Gang calendar, is an event not to be missed. Even with the weather forecast undecided, we knew it wouldn’t dare rain on that part of Long Island. Not when you have cartoonists traveling from multiple states and a couple of countries just to spend the afternoon talking shop and swimming in the Long Island Sound. Carol Surreal travelled all the way from the UK to meet with the Gang. We talked about the possibility of a repeat exhibition of American cartoonists at an upcoming Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival in the UK. Robert Lemieux was there to talk to cartoonists about his upcoming project: Comic Strip: A Documentary. Which tells of the impact of the comic strip on American culture from the 1890’s to the present. And just to round out our notoriety, “Dean on the Street,” a local internetbased talk show, was there to delve into the psyche of some of our more well-known members.

Also on hand after a long absence from the Bash was the legendary Mort Walker, accompanied by son, Greg. Then of course, we had the best of the New Yorker cartoonists and MAD’s “Usual Gang of Idiots.” When you’re at the Bash, we’re all part of an extended “Unusual Gang of Idiots.” And it was great to see Mort and Barbara Drucker, with Mort’s talents immortalized with his induction into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. And just so he wouldn’t be lonely, another SI Hall of Fame member is in the Gang, the exceptional, Sandy Kossin.

We sang a Happy Birthday to Joe Giella (89), George Booth (91, even though George couldn’t make it this year) and Sandy Kossin (91). With an early “tip of the hat” to Mort Walker who’ll be 94 this coming September.

We had the sad task of raising a Berndt Toast to Jerry Jurman. After a short illness, Jerry passed away just a few days before the Bash. For the last three and a half decades, Jerry had been chronicling the exploits of the Gang with photos and videos. Always with camera at the ready, he had captured the “Golden Age” of the Long Island Chapter. Andrew, his son, is digitizing the thousands of photos and, as each batch is completed, will be making them available to the Gang

and the NCS (through the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum). It is a wonderful trip through the years with sorely missed friends including, Creig and Marie Flessel, André LeBlanc, David Gantz, Frank Springer, Don Heck, Joe Edwards, Al Scaduto, Valerie Costantino and a host of others. An invaluable history that will keep Jerry’s memory alive. Some of the photos can be seen here: bit.ly/BTG1991

Our custom for the past few years has been to award that supremely important support group for a working cartoonist, the spouses. As we recognize the wonderful talent that is embodied in the membership of the NCS we also wished to recognize those that make that creativity possible. This year’s recipients of the BTG “Best Support for a Cartoonist” award were: Elvira Tallarico (kindly accepted for Elvira by Mary Janocha), Suzy Orehek (with the irrepressible Marie Stemmle accepting), Susanne DuQuette (with husband Steve jump-

ing into the fray on her behalf), Donna Jungreis (Bunny’s daughter-in-law who has been helping keep the gathered cartoonists welcome). Each award contains a valuable piece of real burnt toast for those times when the larder is a little thin. And special thanks to Roberta Fabiano, who helps make my speech a little more bearable by adding appropriate musical accompaniment.

As always with the Bunny Bash, a wonderful day of laughter as only a batch of cartoonists can create. One that can’t be repeated, at least, not until next June.

In July, as the warmth of summer toasted Long Island, we raised a Berndt Toast to actor, and cartoonist, Martin Landau and the irreplaceable, Bob Lubbers. Landau started his cartooning career as an assistant to Gus Edson on The Gumps . Bob’s career is unrivaled. At the 2016 Bunny Bash, NCS President Bill Morrison presented Bob with the “Gold Key” to signify his induction into the NCS Hall of Fame. The BTG was so very happy to have been able to help in honoring Bob for a lifetime of stellar and ground-breaking work.

And Roberta Fabiano leaked the news that she has a part in The Papers, Steven Spielberg’s next film starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. It is about the Washington Post’s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers

NCS members living in an area served by a regional chapter should contact the chairman, or contact national representative Maria Scrivan at maria@mariascrivan.com. Chairmen, please send news, photos, artwork and information about your chapter to The Cartoon!st, in care of Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419, or fpauer1@udayton.edu. Deadline for the next issue is October 25.

Above, the Berndt Toast Gang and many friends gather on the lawn at the 36th annual ”Bunny Bash.” Right, Ray Alma, Mort Drucker, Steve DuQuette and (rear) George Casden. Below, Bunny with her son, Chip Jungreis.

in 1971. The real Pentagon Papers revealed that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scope of its actions in the Vietnam War. And Nixon’s White House was found to have engaged in unlawful efforts to discredit United States military analyst Daniel Ellsberg. The films goes into limited release in December and full release in January. We’re hoping she’ll consent to give us her autograph before the rush.

Connecticut Maria Scrivan

maria@mariascrivan.com

The Connecticut Chapter had a field trip on Thursday, August 3 to see the “Animal Farm” exhibit at the Brandt Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, Conn. The Brandt Foundation Art Study Center is situated next to the polo fields in idyllic back country Greenwich and was created by Chairman Peter Brandt. The mission of the foundation

is to promote education and appreciation of contemporary art and design. Peter Brandt’s company, White Birch Paper, is one of the largest newsprint manufacturers in North America.

The “Animal Farm” exhibit was filled with a variety of contemporary art including works from Keith Haring, Jean-Paul Basquiat, Kenny Scharf and Don Glen Vilet, aka Captain Beefhart. On the exhibition website, Matt Groening is quoted as saying “Beefhart begat Bart.”

Southern California/ Los Angeles

Matt Diffee mattdiffee@gmail.com

Report by Chad Frye

Summertime and the living is easy when you hang with the NCS LA! On June 4, we were a sea of plaid when our guest speakers spoke to us about their own animated sea: Disney directors Ron Clements and John Musker regaled us with tales of making their latest movie Moana , but not before sharing some experiences about their previous films we like to refer to as Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog , and The Little Mermaid

To celebrate Independence Day, we pulled our best Paul Revere imitation to welcome a couple of brothers of British heritage to our July 2 meeting. Joe and Luke McGarry, new residents of LA, came to show us what they have been up to creatively.

And in August, our special guest was Martin Olson who regaled us with tales of working as an animation writer for shows such as Disney’s Milo Murphy’s Law and Phineas & Ferb , and how Metallica once threw back shots with him after they became a fan of one of his books. However, one should not infer that Martin’s writing leads to drinking.

Our mascot Cornelius the Bear welcomes all NCSers to our monthly gatherings, especially as fall approaches — he needs to bulk up for hibernation. You have been warned.

Great Lakes

Polly Keener pollytoon@aol.com

In front of Keith Haring’s (Untitled) “Mickey,” are Connecticut members Bob Englehart, Greg Walker, Chris Janocha, Mary Janocha, Bill Janocha, Mary Anne Case, Maria Scrivan, Abby Walker and Brian Walker.

Florida

Mark Simon

marksimonbooks@yahoo.com

The Florida Chapter held a very special (but not after-school-special) Spider-Man: Homecoming screening. We invited famed Spider-Man comic strip and comic book artist Alex Saviuk to join us for an evening dinner and group screening.

Alex has been drawing comic books for more than 30 years and has been drawing the Spider-Man daily and Sunday strip with Stan Lee and Larry Leiber (Stan’s brother) for 20 years.

We drew Alex into our web (see what I did there?) with a Cajun dinner at Pointe Orlando complex.

We were happy to congratulate NCS LA member Chris Savino for winning the Television Animation Silver Reuben in Portland for his creation of Nickelodeon’s The Loud House , and also wish to congratulate him on the recent announcement that his show will become a theatrical movie in the near future! To Chris we heave a hearty Hey Ho Hey!

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman! And Superman was certainly everywhere at the Cleveland Public Library’s huge, beautiful exhibit for Superman’s 79th year. Great Lakes Chapter members Ed Black, Craig Boldman, Ron Hill, Terri Libenson, Chip Sansom, Mark Szorady and Polly Keener were panelists for the Library’s “Heroes and Illustration” event.

fitting that his first IMAX screening was to see Spider-Man. Joining us at the movie was Brystal Cauthen.

Dinner web-slingers included, from left, Mike Conrad, Alex Saviuk, Marty Stein, Chapter prez Mark Simon, Lon Smart and Wink Winkler. Right, Saviuk’s Spider-Man print.

Then we treated Alex to an IMAX viewing of Spider-Man: Homecoming . It was also Alex’s first IMAX movie; how

After the movie we hung out at Adobe Gillas, had some drinks and snacks and debated the quality of the movie. Dan Antkowiak was the last straggler to join us. We all agreed that it was really good and that the big reveal in the movie was awesome. Not everyone agreed on who made the best Spidey. For the record, I like Tom Holland the best. We ended the evening when Alex signed a Spider-Man/Vulture print for all of us. It was freakin’ cool!

Ron Clements and John Musker fresh off their global Moana publicity tour.

That was followed by a tour of the three-floor exhibit and a reception in “The Treasure Room,” all arranged by special collections manager Pamela Eyerdam. The GLC cartoonists did a great job of presenting different types of heroes and cartoon incarnations based on their own cartoon creations. Almost every cartoonist, it seems, has used Superman symbols and references in their own cartoons.

Ed Black showed us another side of his personality, as a former newscaster, in voicing the classic opening of a Superman TV show (he nailed it) as well as providing a rich history of Superman’s creators, Jerome Siegal and Joseph Shuster who, interestingly, worked on the creation of Superman in the Cleveland Public Library.

Craig Boldman told of experiences writing and drawing for Archie comics, Superman, and his own Tailipoe comic series.

Chip Sansom’s Born Loser, now 52 years old, was featured in the panel publicity, and a Sansom original was on display with Superman/ Clark Kent references, along with cartoons by Tom Batiuk. Chip Sansom also kindly signed many “Born Loser” reprints for fans. Ron Hill’s presentation displayed many of his weekly editorial cartoons with Superman symbols.

Mark Szorady also provided an entertaining PowerPoint show, featuring his George characters and their Superman moments. Ron, Chip, Ed and Polly all got into the spirit of the

Upstate New York

Scott Jensen

jensencreative@stny.rr.com

event by showing up in Superman T-shirts. By the way, Action Comics No. 1, Superman’s first appearance, sold for 10 cents in 1938, but recently went for something in the range of $3.5 million. The Library had a copy in a big “magic box” that featured a clear interactive touch-screen showing colorful moving images — and an armed guard standing beside it. We all wanted a “magic box” wall for our homes, with or without an original Superman comic book.

Giant Superman figures, a treasure trove of artifacts, books and a whole kid’s bedroom outfitted with the superhero’s stuff, as well as

Clockwise from top: Great Lakes super panelists included Ron Hill, Mark Szorady, Craig Boldman, Chip Sansom, Polly Keener, Terri Libenson and Ed Black; Don Peoples; Craig Boldman; and Terri with husband Michael Davis and Chip.

a huge replica of the permanent Superman sculpture that is being installed in Cleveland, were memorable parts of the exhibit and great for photo ops.

Other Chapter members and family members seen in the audience were Don Peoples, Tim and Laura Ellis, Ed Black’s son Danny, Michael Davis, Bob Keener and Whitney Keener Dronzek. The whole event was live-streamed on the Library website and also received special coverage in Cleveland’s The Scene magazine.

At the reception following, we awarded some door prizes, and panelists autographed one of the last remaining copies of Toon Appétit, our chapter’s cartoon and recipe book, to present to the Library for their Archives. At the reception, Polly Keener was delighted to see a former student from the University of Akron cartooning course she taught 30 years ago, who is now a busy, successful cartoonist and in town for a Comic Con the following day in the Cleveland area.

GLC member Jeff Smith, creator of the award-winning graphic novels Bone and RASL, is the recipient of the 2017 Sparky Award, presented by the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco (see Page 20). And GLC’er Jerry Dowling was recently inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Journalism Hall of Fame by the Cincinnati Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Congratulations

The Upstate NY Chapter gathered in North Tonawanda (just north of Buffalo) on July 29 to enjoy a special exhibit at the Carnegie Art Center. “History of the Funnies: 1880-2000s” showcased some 150 pieces of cartoon art from the collection of Dr. Maurie Dewey. This fabulous collection was the lifelong passion of the late Dr. Dewey, and was organized and curated by his family. Later, the group convened for a chapter get-together and recruitment event at the Dockside Bar & Grill, an old stone building

along the Erie Canal. Attending were NCS members Frank Mariani, Graham Nolan, Bill Abbott and Scott Jensen, as well as cartoonists David Gilbert, David Woodson and John Bloom.

Left, Bill Abbott, David Woodson, John Bloom, Graham Nolan, Frank Mariani and David Gilbert pose with Reed Dewey (second from right), son of Dr. Maurie Dewey and an organizer of the cartoon exhibit. Far left, more of the same, along with Scott Jensen.

to both Jeff and Jerry for their honors, and to Terri Libenson for her election to the NCS Board as Second Vice President!

Southeastern

John Sheppard sheart@aol.com

The SECNCS annual fall meeting has been set for Huntsville, Alabama at the Huntsville Marriott at the Space & Rocket Center (NASA). Speakers include Robert Pope (animator, Peanuts /comic book artist) and Rich Powell ( MAD and Highlights). If anyone would like to attend please get in touch with me and I’ll provide the details. Y’all gonna love it (he says with his thick Queens accent). We are also arranging a visit to the Huntsville Women & Children’s Hospital.

The SECNCS met with University of Georgia Comic Creators Association faculty to see if we could provide any assistance or mentoring following up last years Q&A panel. They welcome another visit but we

New Jersey

Dan Nakrosis Report by Tom Stemmle

need to wait for school to resume and see how the CCA membership/leadership shakes out.

Chapter member Steve Barr’s program “Drawn To Help” is in full swing at several cities. Memphis as well as Nashvillebased cartoonists are helping Steve bring a ton of joy to the kids in the Volunteer state. Guy Gilchrist volunteered at Vanderbilt University Hospital entertaining kids. John Lotshaw was there also shooting video and taking photos. Atlanta-based cartoonists will be joining the effort very soon.

Philadelphia

Dave Blazek looseparts@verizon.net

The Philadelphia Chapter held another of its popular Cartoonists Run Amok nights near Philadelphia. Chapter members appeared at the Cherry Hill Library just across the river from Philly and entertained 140 people who came out to see their act.

The Cartoonists Run Amok format features Philly NCS cartoonists at a table while the crowd mills around asking questions, watching them draw and getting quick sketches and doodles to take home. Meanwhile, the cartoonists sell their wares and build deeper bonds

with their fans. The library spread out its own sampling of books on cartooning, its techniques and its history.

Appearing were Mark Tatulli, Tom Stiglich, Debbie Schafer, Patrick Harrington, Gary Kopervas and Chapter Chair Dave Blazek. Of course, the evening led into an after-event celebration at a local watering hole where the chapter caught up on business over a few libations.

The Library called our visit its most successful public event of the year. Look for more Cartoonists Run Amok events to come in the months ahead. Any other NCS cartoonists who would like to travel to Philly and make a special appearance at one is more than welcome to come along. Just contact Dave Blazek at looseparts@verizon.net

The Annual Tom & Marie Picnic, aka The NCS New Jersey Chapter Picnic was held on Sunday, July 16, at our residence in Piscataway under perfectly clear blue sunny skies. With the temperature a very manageable 84 degrees, it was an ideal weather day to welcome cartoonists from the tri-state area, as well as many of our non-cartoon friends, to eat and imbibe in our backyard under three large tents. The combined crowd numbering close to 40 enjoyed the usual picnic-grilled foods of burgers, hot dogs and brats cooked in beer (yes, Ed Steckley was in attendance). In addition, there was a buffet which included a range of appetizers, many different summer salads, kielbasi, sauerkraut, won ton chicken, deviled eggs (did I say Ed Steckley was in attendence?), a variety of vegetables along with a multitude of pickles and trimmings. A slew of different desserts rounded out the extensive fare.

Music, both background and performed, was provided by cartoonist Angie Jordan who very kindly brought her karaoke machine to the festivities. It was a very unique touch which added much to the fun afternoon! Among other cartoonists in attendance were Helene and Bob Parsons, Debbie Schafer, Laurie Triefeldt, Dan Nakrosis, Marc McKenzie, Doug Goudsward, Jay Wecht, Hy Eisman and Cary Matzkin. We were so pleased that Bob and Gloria Rich spent the weekend with us, having traveled from New London, Connecticut. Our noncartoon friends rounded out the group of attendees. We thank all who came and brought all types of appetizers, side dishes, salads, desserts, wine, beer and heavier types of alcohol. We appreciate it — and appreciate too, all who traveled quite a distance to attend. I want to give a special thank you to non-cartoon friend Mike Furka who did an exemplary job of taking over the grilling duties, leaving me free to circulate and to try to be THE perfect host! We want to also thank Bob and Gloria Rich for helping with the set-up of our outside area and with preparing a few of the side dishes. Nicer house guests one could could not imagine! We do this every July, and we would love to include you next year — just let us know!

Picnicking in Piscataway were Angie Jordan, Marie Stemmle, Ed Steckley and Dan Nakrosis. Right, Bob Rich, Debbie Schafer and Laurie Triefeldt.

Guy Gilchrist (center, rear) entertains kids at Vanderbilt University Hospital.

From left, Gary Kopervas, Dave Blazek, Mark Tatulli, Deb Schafer, Patrick Harrington, Tom Stiglich and Tierney Miller of the Cherry Hill Library

Dick Locher, 1929-2 017

Longtime Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, Richard E. “Dick” Locher — who also worked on the strip Dick Tracy for more than three decades — died of complications from Parkinson’s disease Aug. 6 in Naperville, Ill. Locher was 88.

Tribune editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis said Locher’s work “had a level of certitude reserved for very fine artists.

“Every line had a confidence that separates the good from the great,” Stantis said. “Conceptually, you never had to guess where Dick stood on the issues. His political outlook was as bold and straightforward as his artwork — the perfect combination that all editorial cartoonists strive for.”

Born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, Locher studied at Loras College, the University of Iowa and the Art Center of Los Angeles before earning a degree from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

While in Chicago, he became an assistant to Rick Yager, who was drawing Buck Rogers. Locher left the job after a few months to enlist in the Air Force, where he spent two years on active duty as a test pilot, followed by another 18 years in the Air Force Reserve. While in the service, he began freelancing for Stars and Stripes

In 1957, Locher began assisting Chester Gould on Dick Tracy, where he inked the figures and colored the Sunday strips. He worked as Gould’s assistant for the next four years.

He left the strip in 1961 to work on other areas, includ-

ing starting an advertising company, where he worked on designing some of McDonald’s characters.

In 1973, an editorial cartoonist position at the Chicago Tribune opened up and Gould recommended Locher to take the position. Despite having no experience in editorial cartooning, the Tribune hired Locher, and remained on staff — and winning the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning

— until his retirement in 2013, producing more than 10,000 drawings on a raft of topics.

“That’s a whole lot of getting mad six times a week,” Locher said upon his retirement.

Locher, working with his son John, returned to work on Dick Tracy in 1983, after the death of Rick Fletcher, who had taken over when Gould retired in 1977. Locher continued drawing the strip until 2009 and kept writing the storyline until in 2011.

Locher’s son John worked with his father until his death in 1986 at age 25. In his honor, Locher created the John Locher Award for college cartoonists.

Over the years, Locher’s longtime hometown of Naperville became closely associated with Dick Tracy. In 2010, a nearly 9-foot-tall statue of Tracy was placed on the Riverwalk in Naperville. Locher had created an 11-inch model for the sculpture and also helped select its location.

June Foray, 1917-2 017

On July 26, a powerful voice in the world of animation was silenced when the legendary June Foray passed away just two months shy of her 100th birthday.

She brought life and personality to a host of animated characters such as Tweety’s owner Granny, Magica De Spell and Ma Beagle in the original “DuckTales” show, Jokey Smurf in the 1980s TV show, witches by the name of Witch Hazel for both Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck cartoons, little Cindy Lou Who who questioned the Grinch Santa’s motives, Mulan’s Grandma Fa, the creepy Talky Tina

from “The Twilight Zone,” and of course Natasha and Rocky the Flying Squirrel from “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.”

Much has been written about June’s eight-decade-long voice acting career that began in radio,

and grew to include records, toys, television, shorts, films, theme parks, and just about anything else.

I’d like to mention what June meant to cartooning. June loved spending time with cartoonists. They weren’t just people who hired her to voice their projects; they were her friends. WE were her friends. June often attended art shows to see the personal work of cartoonists. Whenever the Los Angeles chapter of the NCS held an event, June was there bringing her whole family with her. June even hosted big backyard pool parties at her home for cartoonists. Even in her later years, one could see her dining every day at a hamburger place near her home, often with cartoonist friends dropping by for a visit.

June’s friendship with cartoonists wasn’t just limited to friendly repast. She supported us all with a fierce activism for the industry. June served for many years on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, keeping a close eye on the Academy’s support of animation by fighting to keep the animated short Oscar as a part of the official ceremony, and helping to create the Animated Feature Film Oscar.

In the late 1950s, June became a very active charter member of ASIFA-Hollywood, an organization that supports the animation industry. In 1972, she spearheaded the founding of ASIFA’s Annie Awards that have become the premiere awards for all aspects of animation. Her volunteer work was rewarded with ASIFA creating the June Foray Award in her honor to recognize individuals whose charitable work for the animation industry might otherwise go unnoticed.

The National Cartoonists Society extends our sympathies to the family of June at this time. She was an extraordinary talent, a tireless supporter of the animation industry, and most of all, a special friend to many of us.

Chad Frye

■ In the first exhibit exclusively dedicated to his work, the cartoons and illustrations of George Booth will be featured in an exhibit at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Recognized by the NCS with both the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award and the Gag Cartoon Award, the exhibit celebrates Booth’s work spanning more than seven decades, from his work for the U.S. Marine Corp’s Leatherneck Magazine to his illustrious career with The New Yorker. The exhibit runs from Oct. 24 through Dec. 30. An opening reception will be Oct. 27; “An Evening with George Booth” occurs on Nov. 8, 2017. See societyillustrators.org for details.

■ The Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont, celebrates the work of 18 contemporary Vermont children’s book artists/authors in the exhibit “Draw Me a Story – Tell Me a Tale.” The exhibit includes paintings, illustrations and photographs, as well as the books that feature their artwork. Among the artist included is Harry Bliss, the noted New Yorker contributor. Author readings, presentations, panel discussions, and hands-on activities occurred throughout the run of the exhibit, which runs through Oct. 15; see henrysheldonmuseum.org.

■ Continuing at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a pair of exhibits celebrating the Museum’s 40th year.

“Tales From the Vault: 40 Years/40 Stories” explores 40 stories about fascinating collectors, ground-breaking comics, controversial cartoons, influential characters, innovative cartoonists and more from the Museum’s 40 years of collecting.

“Founding Collections: 1977-1987” celebrates the story of the Library’s founding and its first decade of collecting, beginning with works from its original collections: the archives of Milton Caniff, creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, and illustrator Jon Whitcomb. Included are the stories of important figures in the

history of cartoon art such as pioneering licensing agent Toni Mendez, and preeminent cartoonists Will Eisner, Edwina Dumm, and Walt Kelly, whose early donations helped to establish Ohio State University as the premier institutional collector of comics and cartoon art. Also features is art and archival materials from OSU alumni, Ohio cartoonists, and the Archives of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and the NCS. See cartoons.osu.edu.

■ The South Bend Museum of Art in South Bend, Indiana, presents “The Best American Comics – Selections: 20142017.” Culled from the annual series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the exhibit offers a snapshot of the contemporary comics scene, and features an array of visual, narrative, and thematic approaches. The exhibit showcases original artwork for comics that appeared in the series’ past several volumes, including work by Jaime Hernandez, Deb Sokolow, Chris Ware and more. Curated by series editor Bill Kartalopoulos. The exhibit opens Oct. 21 and runs through Dec. 31; see southbendart.org.

■ Ongoing at the Cleveland Public Library is “Superman: From Cleveland to Krypton – An Exhibit.” In celebration of the Man of Steel and his connection to Cleveland, the Library is present-

ing an exhibit of art, artifacts and memorabilia spread throughout three floors of their downtown main branch. Highlights include Brandon Routh’s Superman outfit from Superman Returns (2006) and David Deming’s larger-than-life Superman statue, as well as memorabilia from the Mike Curtis Collection of Superman Memorabilia, donated to the library in 2016. In total, the exhibit includes memorabilia from more than a dozen private collections. Through Dec. 31; see cpl.org.

The indefatigable Murray Olderman has a new book out — his 16th — published by Fantagraphic Books. The Draw of Sport compiles, in a collection of a mid-century cartoonist’s athlete portraits and essays, more than 150 of Murray’s favorite personalities (of an estimated 6,000 potential subjects) from the sporting world. Each full-page illustration is accompanied by his reminiscences of those illustrious stars. In a career that began in 1947, Murray was trained as a journalist and wrote as often as he drew over the past 70 years. He met, and in many cases got to know, most of the greatest sports personalities of the 20th century, going back as far as Jesse Owens and Babe Ruth, to Muhammad Ali and Yogi Berra up to the likes of Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. The Draw of Sport also sports an introductory chapter on the art of sports cartooning. “Not bad for a 95-year-old!” he writes.

The New Yorker’s Roz Chast was this year’s poster artist for The Library of Congress National Book Festival — which featured more than 100 authors and presenters — held in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 2. Graphic specialists at the Library led a team in selecting Chast to design this year’s poster, though the theme Chast came up with was all her own. Chast said that books are “a way to escape from the world, but also a way to feel more deeply connected to it. I wanted to make a poster that expressed the excitement, appreciation, and delight I have for the books of my life.” … Chicago NCSer Jim McGreal has re-issued “Comic Jazz, A Comic Art Portfolio,” originally published in 1983 for which he created original artwork and music. The set includes seven full-color 10 by 16-inch silk-screened prints, including the illustrated song “On the Run” with an accompanying cassette tape (an MP3 file is also available). The package also includes a pair of additional prints: “Homage to Steve Ditko” and “Space Babe.” When Jim first released the collection, Will Eisner wrote, “Congratulations on a beautiful package! It is colorful and innovative.” A limited amount of sets are available; more info at comicjazz.com … Jeff Smith , best known as the creator of the BONE and RASL graphic novels, was the recipient of the 2017 Sparky Award, presented on behalf of the Cartoon Art Museum and the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Library. The award — named in honor of Charles “Sparky” Schulz — was presented during a spotlight panel at the Schulz

Though well-known as a celebrated actor, some of Martin Landau’s earliest years were spent at a drawing board. Landau (who died July 15) was a 17-year-old high-school senior with a talent for art when he lied about his age and took a job at the New York Daily News. The paper “was grooming me to be the theatrical caricaturist, which was a great job,” Landau once said. His job at the Daily News led to work as an assistant to cartoonist Gus Edson on The Gumps. Interviewed by Mark Evanier, Landau recalled, “I started working at the

News doing illustrations in ‘47... or maybe it was ‘46. I was working for them while I was still in high school. So after I’d been at the News for a few years, I became Gus’ assistant. I started off lettering and doing backgrounds, and in just a few months I was drawing whole strips by myself, usually the Sunday page. Gus had a continuity on Monday through

Museum’s 15th Anniversary Celebration on August 12. The award celebrates the significant contributions of cartoon artists who embody the talent, innovation and humanity of Schulz. Past recipients include, among others, Schulz himself, Sergio Aragonés, Gus Arriola, Carl Barks, Will Eisner, Creig Flessel, Phil Frank, Chuck Jones, Gary Larson, John Lasseter, Bill Melendez, Dale Messick, Jerry Robinson, Morrie Turner and Mort Walker. Mister & Me , the online comic created by Jason Platt that celebrates parenthood and the innocence of childhood, has been collected into a second volume of strips, Of Castles & Kings. The strip, which has been an ongoing project since 2009, chronicles the adventures of a single father and his son Newell and shows the “funny situations that happen to them in this little thing called life — even if life happens to be within the panels of a comic strip.” Speaking of real life, Mister & Me was adapted in 2011 for the stage by Western Illinois University and has toured throughout the northern Midwest. Also still available is Jason’s first collection, Dream; Go to www.mister-and-me.com/store to order signed and sketched copies. …

Saturday but the Sunday page was an entity unto itself, and he eased me into doing it. At first, he’d write it and maybe rough it out, but pretty soon, I was doing the whole thing. I did it for about a year, maybe a little longer.” He quit the Daily News when he was 22 to concentrate on acting. “I told the picture editor I was going into the theater,” he recalled. “I think he thought I was going to be an usher.”