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get the big one for the best art!
Large | Medium | Small


was available in the Pulp at TCAF '09

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The first of a historic two-volume set, Doug Wright: Canada's Master Cartoonist presents the first-ever comprehensive look at the life and career of one of the most-read and best-loved cartoonists of the 1960s. Compiled in cooperation with Wright's family, it draws from thousands of pieces of art, pictures, letters, and the artist's own journals, to provide a fully rounded view of Doug Wright, both as a cartoonist and as an individual.

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A Letter from Lynn about FBorFW
Posted: August 29, 2008

To all my wonderful readers,

A couple of weeks ago I drew and sent the last two weeks of dailies, bringing to a close the main storyline of FBorFW. It sure wasn't easy! I think the drawings were harder to do than the writing, because I'd been thinking about what to say and how to say it for a long time. I had that "running in a dream" feeling, as though I'd never get there, but once the deed was done, I felt strangely comforted; a feeling that I'd done the right thing at the right time.

For the past 7 years or so I was aware that the stories were becoming more complicated, the drawings more controlled and the characters more realistic. Gone was the loose, funny, free-hand line I had started with. As the adventures of the characters became more defined, so did the drawing, until I researched everything, from forklifts to faces, from aircraft to arcades. I was out for accuracy. Every house, every apartment had a floorplan. The furniture and the color schemes had to be consistent- as did the information I gave about the "players", and if I made an error, you would let me know!

I have always been impressed by the fast response that comes when an error has been made, or if the story has a twist to it that doesn't go down well!

Readers catch the minutest of details and I'm always grateful for a correction or a reminder!! One thing I was often asked was to tell more about folks such as Anthony's parents, but there were so many characters...and only one statement a day (less than 30 seconds) to try and tell a story, I just hoped you would make up your own minds as to how these distant players fit in!! With that said, I have now let all of this pass into the mist as the story ends and I return to the beginning.

For Better or For Worse begins again on September the 1st with new material, new art and new enthusiasm! Without the need to visit all of the auxiliary characters, I can concentrate once again on the insular little Patterson household. I have the children all to myself again. I can do spot gags and silly stuff. I can fix what I don't like about my early work as I add and subtract...redraw and just improve everything.

The crazy part is drawing the way I used to draw!! I practised, using the first two books, copying as if I was trying to draw someone else's work, not my own! It's taken some time to simulate the earlier work, but it's coming and because it's a simpler style with less detail in the background, I can comfortably do all the art myself without the need for another illustrator.

This makes the process faster and because I'll be including some of the classics, I'll be able to take some much needed time off!

I expected to find a return to my old style of drawing a bit stressful, but it's been easy! I also expected to find it hard to rip into the belief that I was a young mom again with two small kids...but this is really fun!!! I'm so enjoying the loose style, the freedom to play with the younger Pattersons again and the less complicated cast of characters. Mixing the classic and new strips, is both challenging and rewarding as I improve the work I started with. Who gets to do this??? I consider it a real privilege to be able to work on the beginning again and I hope you'll enjoy what I do. One way or another you'll let me know - and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Lynn Johnston

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• Conflict of Interest Dept: As we reported in the previous post, The Wright Awards were held last Friday. I guess the big news, besides the winners of course, was a few comments by Lynn Johnston about the "absolute" end date of For Better or For Worse (August 31) and her intention to redraw the old strips for re-syndication. Nancy Beiman has a blog post with some Johnston quotes from the Q&A event, knitted together and somewhat out of context, but largely accurate. The CBC coverage has a straightforward report with more great quotes. Editor and Publisher has a short blurb/Johnston backgrounder. And see here for Best Emerging Talent-winner Jeff Lemire's earliest comics memories.
  

• Does Harper Hate Comics? Dept: The Harper government has cut funding to PromArt, the federal agency responsible for promoting Canadian art and performance abroad. The agency granted money ($4.7 million annually) to artists to pay for travel, to exhibit, perform, attend conferences, etc. As the name of the agency indicates, this was one of the major ways for creative types to promote art from this country in other countries. Conservative media like the National Post have heralded the move as a vote for free markets (and more starving artists, I guess). The government spin is the usual - "Certainly we felt some of the groups were not necessarily ones we thought Canadians would agree were the best choices to be representing them internationally,". Saner minds see a connection to political interference in arts funding, a la Bill C-10. The Canadian Press has the story.

• Censorship Dept: The Alberta Human Rights Commission has dismissed the complaint against Ezra Levant and the Western Standard for republishing the Danish Muhammad cartoons. You can read the official dismissal report here (pdf file). It is a fascinating document and I urge everyone to read it. The dismissal was based on the fact that Levant reprinted the cartoons as part of a news article discussing the issue, without obvious (or at least extreme) bias (which would be a crime in Canada). The conclusion reads, in part, ""While the cartoons do, in isolation, reinforce existing stereotypes of Muslims, the cartoons placed in the context of the accompanying article, cannot be said to express deep seated feelings of hatred and contempt against Muslims." So the report concludes, "A reasonable person would not consider that the republication of the cartoons in the context in which they were republished, would expose Muslims to the very strong feelings of hatred and contempt. Again, while the republication of the cartoons in isolation would likely promote existing stereotypes, and Muslims are a relatively vulnerable group, the effect of this communication as a whole (cartoons and accompanying article) would not make it more acceptable to others to manifest hatred or contempt against the Muslims." You can read the Western Standard's own report here, Levant's press release here.

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Lynn Johnston to headline the 2008 Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning

Event to be held at Toronto Reference Library

The Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning is pleased to announce that Lynn Johnston, the award-winning cartoonist behind the long-running strip For Better or For Worse, will be the guest of honour at their 2008 awards ceremony.

Organized in partnership with the Toronto Public Library, the free event will take place Friday Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Toronto Reference Library during which time Johnston will be inducted into the "Giants of the North"; the Canadian Cartoonists' Hall of Fame.

Carried in more than 2,000 newspapers around the world, For Better or For Worse has been collected in more than 30 best-selling books since it first appeared in September 1979; making Johnston arguably the best-known and most successful Canadian cartoonist ever.

Over her three-decade career Johnston has received a number of honours including a Gemini Award (for her animated FBorFW TV series), a Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist (the first woman winner in the history of the National Cartoonists Society) and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her controversial gay storyline in the early 1990s. In addition, in 1992 she became a Member of the Order of Canada.


On August 8, Johnston will join other giants of Canadian cartooning like Peter Whalley, George Feyer and Doug Wright, when she is inducted into the Giants of the North Hall of Fame. The event will feature a retrospective of her more than 30-year career, a moderated Q&A with the audience and a book signing with Johnston.

The ceremony will comprise just part of the 4th Annual Doug Wright Awards, the country's premier comics awards, which recognizes the best in new and established cartoonists and graphic novelists. The 2008 Wrights will see announcement of the winners of the Best Book trophy, Best Emerging Talent trophy and the "Pigskin Peters" award; a new category dedicated to non-traditional or non-narrative cartooning. (To learn more about the 2008 nominees, visit www.wrightawards.ca.)

As usual, The Wright Awards will also play host to the best and brightest in Canada's cartooning community from Chester Brown (Louis Riel) and Seth (Palookaville) to Ho Che Anderson (King) and Mariko Tamaki (Skim).

The awards will be decided by a jury made up of members of the country's arts and cultural community, including: author and film critic Katrina Onstad, cartoonist Ho Che Anderson, Toronto book seller Marc Glassman, writer, performer Mariko Tamaki and Power Plant curator Helena Rickett.

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Says Johnston, "[There's] a lot of sentiment. I've lived with this strip for a long time, along with my own -- sort of in and out of reality. But I know that it's time to make the story come full circle, where the children of the original story are adults with children of their own."

Besides an affinity for the characters of the strip, Johnston long friendship with Schulz makes her doubly qualified to continue his legacy: "We were really, really close -- to the point where we would have a really good scrap. Very few people would argue with him because he was "Charles Schulz," but I would. There were times when he wouldn't speak to me, but I was the one he called when he got cancer [in 1999] and I was the one who went and sat next to his bed when he was dying. We had long philosophical talks.

"We were rivals as well. When I told him that I was in 2,000 papers, he said "I'll see you in the Louvre." He was very competitive -- and he was right! He was the only one of us in the Louvre, and I'll never get there."

Johnston plans on balancing Schulz's classic approach with the "real life" approach she popularized in For Better or For Worse. "I always followed Sparky's advice -- "Do the best you can do, every single day" -- and I've had a wonderful time.

Possible storylines Johnston envisions for the strip's first year include adultery, testicular cancer, and the war in Iraq.

For his part, Seth is thrilled to be continuing PEANUTS, feeling that he can improve on and add to the work of his idol, especially now that the strip will deal with more mature themes and is no longer limited to "dumb little kids telling lame jokes."

"It's a genuine honor to be drawing this strip," said Seth, who went on to describe the premise underlying his design for the new series: "I want to emphasize the sophistication of Schulz's work by creating a strip that is both austere and direct. I would like to try to reflect the quiet and melancholy of the classic strip in a package that hopefully, shows the proper amount of respect for Mr. Schulz. Undoubtedly, PEANUTS is a great newspaper strip and I am humbled and gratified to help steward this strip into the world."

Seth has been regarded as one of North America's finest cartoonists for over 10 years. His comic book series Palookaville and graphic novel It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken are regarded as modern classics of the form. Born Gregory Gallant on September 16th, 1962 in Clinton, a small town in south Ontario, Seth is an emotional observer, deeply moved by the forgotten details of everyday life. A fan of PEANUTS since childhood, Seth attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto in the early 1980s. While at school he discovered the provocative work of the underground comix generation and the cool, wry wit of the great mid-century New Yorker cartoonists. Drawing deeply from this disparate group of inspirations Seth has distilled one of the most distinctive and recognizable illustrating styles of the past decade and his sophisticated style has been sought by The Washington Post, Details, National Post, Spin, The New York Times, Saturday Night, and the New Yorker. His books have been translated and published in German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian.

"Schulz was my most formative influence. No artist made me want to be a cartoonist more than Schulz (well, maybe [Jack] Kirby). I loved him as a child and his work spoke to me deeply even then. But, honestly, it was in my early 20's that I came to reappraise Schulz and look at him with the eyes of an adult. That's when I really began to collect all of his books and really study what he had done (and was doing). Later, when Joe Matt moved to Toronto (another Schulz fanatic) we talked about him incessantly. We knew the strips so well that we would often play a game with each other on the telephone: one of us would read the first panel of any strip and the other would have to recall what the remaining 3 panels were. We both did very well."

"Schulz's drawing was a real beacon to me. His simplicity of design and composition taught me a great deal. Combined with other influences like Herge, [Peter] Arno, [Charles] Addams, John Stanley etc. really made the core of what I wanted my artwork to be like. It was Schulz's profound honesty that made the most impression on me as a young cartoonist ([R.] Crumb also). I'm still deeply moved by much of what made up Peanuts."

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• Christopher Butcher on the issue of publishers selling books at conventions and the Beguiling's attitude to same.

• The aptly-named John Law writes about comics downloading for the Niagara Falls Review, including some interviews with local retailers Netral Zone and Mostly Comics and cartoonist Karl Kerschl.

• Dave Sim takes his Glamourpuss messageboard tour on the road and has some long exchanges with U.S. comic book writer, mother, and former hairstylist Gail Simone at the Sequential Tart boards.

• Tom Spurgeon reviews Therefore Repent! at Comics Reporter.

• Also at Comics Reporter, an interview that Montreal cartoonist Bernie Mireault had with himself.

• If you know your Canadian history, you know that one of Brian Mulroney's first political acts involved a campaign to ban horror and crime comic books in this country. Newly declassified British documents reveal that Winston Churchill discussed the same issue as one of his last political acts.

• The Montreal Gazette gets feedback on changes to its comics page.

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• 365 Days author Julie Doucet is profiled in the National Post: "probably the most acclaimed or respected female cartoonist of her generation," says Peter Birkemoe, owner of Toronto comic shop The Beguiling (which also sells Doucet's artwork).

• Graphic novels help teach kids Inuktitut in Nunavut.

• A quickie interview with Nepean, Ont.-based Craig Taillefer of Wahoo Morris fame, from the Carleton University student paper.

• Lynn Johnston changes her strip again. 2007's biggest comics newsmaker tells Editor and Publisher she is tweaking the nature of her long-running comic strip yet again this year:

The current plan: Continue tying up loose ends with various "FBorFW" characters (a process that's taking longer than Johnston expected). Then, no later than this September, freeze all these cast members in time. After that, the 1979-launched comic will focus on the younger versions of the characters.

But that doesn't mean the post-September strips will consist entirely of rerun material. Johnston plans to change various elements of the comics, create new story lines, etc. -- but do all that in the drawing style she used to have.

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Speaking via phone from her studio in Corbeil, a town in Ontario, Canada, Johnston, 60, said that after tying up loose ends, she plans to stop writing material about the modern-day characters, although she will make a few mainly cosmetic changes to the classic versions. "I'll fix up some of the old illustrations that I want to improve, and flesh out some story lines," she said.

Although Johnston had originally planned to continue integrating the new and old versions of the comic when the strip ends, she's since decided that "going back in time is confusing to people," so she won't have Michael et al introducing the material.

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• Jeet Heer posts a long letter from Jeannie Schulz rebutting the bestselling David Michaelis bio of her husband, Charles.

• Tom Spurgeon has a long interview with Tom Devlin about his career, comics in general, and his job with Drawn and Quarterly.

• Blogger The Mighty Godking drops in on the Faith Erin Hicks signing at the Beguiling yesterday, by accident.

• Incidentally, both of the artists who were signing at the Beguiling last night appear together in the 2005 24 Hour Comics anthology.

• Gilbert Bouchard rounds-up the best graphic novels of 2007 for the Edmonton Journal.

• Most people are not aware of this, but the Superfriends cartoon was one of the most profound and artful tv shows of all time. Now it will be more readily obvious to more viewers in Ontario, thanks to Cogeco picking up Teletoon retro. (Not comics, really, but I couldn't resist).

• More fallout for the Western Standard over Mohammed cartoons, sort of.

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