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Barry Blair, 1959-2010  Barry Blair, 1959-2010 Canadian Comics Publisher by Bryan Munn Cartoonist and publisher Barry Blair, best known for founding Ottawa-based Aircel Publishing, died January 3 of a brain aneurysm, according to several online sources. Born in Ottawa, Blair worked as an animator and commercial artist before founding Aircel Publishing in 1985. Blair had begun self-publishing the manga-influenced comic book series Elflord in 1980 under his own imprint, Nightwynd Productions. A black-and-white fantasy adventure, the book went through two separate series with Blair later adding a separate adventure title, Samurai. In 1985 Blair co-founded Aircel, transforming his friend Ken Campbell's moribund insulation company into a platform for Elflord and a slew of new titles. The company met with moderate success, cracking the North American direct market and finding distribution to comic book shops across the continent. Aircel, with Blair as editor, produced a slew of comics titles and was responsible for giving several Canadian artists their first professional comics work. These included Dave Cooper, who is credited as an inker on several early Aircel titles and who illustrated stories written by Blair. Another early success for Blair was Warlock 5, a title co-created with illustrator Denis Beauvais. As written by Blair, Warlock 5 became a cult hit, collected for its slick airbrushed artwork and sometimes-sexual subject matter. For the most part, the rapid growth and expansion of Aircel was predicated on the explosion in comics publishing begun with the phenomenon of Eastman and Laird's self-published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1982), which spawned a large number of copy-cats, parodies, and small publishers desperate to mimic their success, in part a result of the ordering practices of comic shop owners who saw black-and-white genre comics as something of a cash-cow during this period. The product published by Aircel exhibited above average artistic and professional standards and the company was able to thrive temporarily. With the downturn/implosion in this alternative comics market, followed by a period of consolidation, Aircel stumbled and was rescued by upstart U.S. comics publisher Malibu, effectively merging with Malibu imprint Eternity in exchange for financial stability. Under Malibu, Blair published the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers (1990), setting the stage for a successful film franchise. As well, many other Aircel series were abandoned in favour of a line of sex-themed comics, including the Blair-penned Leather and Lace. During this time Blair was embroiled in controversy over some of his books' content, notably that of the series Ripper, which included sexual violence and alleged racist imagery. Blair was to be haunted by allegations about the sexual content of his comics, most notably sexualized images of youth in many of his series and drawings. In 1991 Blair left Aircel/Malibu, which later was purchased by Marvel. Blair started a new company and began producing work for WaRP Graphics. Along with several collaborators, Blair produced erotic comics for publishers such as NBM and made a secondary career selling erotic art and doing illustration work for online gaming clients. Along with Colin Chan and Santos Aleman, Blair formed Studio RealmWalkers in 2009. Labels: cartoonists, obituaries, publishing - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments -   - we honor OpenID -
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Harold Bell, 1919-2009  Co-Creator of Woodsy Owl Several news sources reported over the weekend that Harold Bell, the amateur cartoonist and comic strip character marketer who helped create and drew the first image of the environmental mascot Woodsy Owl, has died in Los Angeles. Born in New Jersey, Bell worked in marketing for Disney and later set up shop on his own, licensing media characters like Dick Tracy and Mr. Magoo. While working on the Lassie tv show in 1970 (Bell has been identified online as both a producer on the show and as somehow associated with Western Publishing, the company that packaged comic books for Dell Publishing in the 1950s and 60s), Bell teamed up with two forest rangers and another co-worker to create a mascot for the first Earth-Day event. The result was Woodsy Owl and the famous slogan, "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute!" The character appeared in public service ads, publications and posters for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as on tv. Woodsy also was featured in a comic book series published by Gold Key from 1973 to 1976. Labels: comics on tv, international, mascots, obituaries - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Monday, November 09, 2009 Bruno Laporte, 1964-2009  Montreal Cartoonist was BD Ambassador The cartoonist Bruno Laporte died Sunday, October 25, in a Montreal paragliding accident. Laporte was best known as the artist behind the "Rupert K." series of humourous albums. Beginning in 1988, Laporte began placing his comics work in a variety of Quebec publications. Laporte's Rupert K, his anti-authoritarian boy character, equal parts Adrian Mole and Bart Simpson, first appeared in the pages of the University of Montreal's student paper. With his writer brother Gilles Laporte, he produced three Rupert K albums between 1997 and 2001. A fourth was finished and awaiting publication at the time of his death. Laporte was an unceasing booster of Quebec bande dessinee and was also, through Rupert, one of the first Quebec cartoonists to make a foray into the European market, appearing at France's Angouleme festival in 2000. A funeral was held October 30th and a memorial website has been established at brunolaporte.net. 400 coups/Publisher's website Labels: bd, Montreal, obituaries, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Friday, July 10, 2009 Martin Vaughn-James, 1943-2009  Painter and comics creator Martin Vaughn-James has died. Born in England, Vaughn-James published four innovative and influential graphic novels while living in Canada during the 1970s: The Cage, Elephant, The Projector, and The Park. A new edition of The Cage was published by Montreal's Mecanique generale/Les 400 Coups in 2006. Vaughn-James' later years were devoted to painting in Europe. He died in Provence, France, on July 3. Labels: obituaries - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Wednesday, January 07, 2009 Roy Carless, 1920-2009  Canada's Working Class Cartoonist by Bryan Munn Cartoonist and union activist Roy Carless died Friday, January 2, 2009, in Hamilton, Ontario. The cause of death is believed to be a heart attack. An assembly-line worker turned fierce proletarian political cartoonist, Carless was known for sticking up for the little guy and sticking it to politicians and bosses of every stripe and nationality. Born in Swansea, a village that is now part of the High Park region of Toronto, Carless began drawing cartoons while attending Runnymede Collegiate High School, publishing in the school newspaper. He quit school in Grade 10 and went to work in a General Electric plant, designing machinery and drawing for The Lamp Worker, GE's house organ. In 1948 he moved to Hamilton and began working on the assembly line for Westinghouse (later Camco). Cartoons he created lampooning his bosses and plant management eventually found their way into the newsletter of the Electrical Workers Union, and from there he began to moonlight as an editorial cartoonist, providing gags and illustrations to a variety of labour publications. His work eventually came to the attention of Duncan Macpherson, then the dean of Canadian political cartoonists and cartoonist for the Toronto Star, when Carless's wife Audrey secretly convinced Macpherson to look at some cartoons in 1966. Macpherson wrote Carless with advice and encouragement, eventually sponsoring his membership in the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists in 1971. While continuing to work in the factory and acting as Chief Steward for his union, representing over 1500 workers in contract negotiations, strikes, and in front of the Workmen's Compensation Board, Carless freelanced for over thirty union publications in Canada and the U.S., including Canadian Transport and Canadian Dimensions. He also did work for NDP publications, and magazines and newspapers published by steelworkers, fishermen, and electrical workers. Blacklisted as a communist, Carless was often hassled by the RCMP and once had trouble crossing the U.S.-Canada border. Nevertheless, over the years he earned many awards and commendations, as well as letters and requests from some of the famous subjects he caricatured, including Tommy Douglas, Lyndon Johnson, Rene Levesque, Pierre Trudeau, and many Ontario politicians. His work was regularly anthologized in Best Canadian Cartoons and the annual Portfoolio collection, in addition to inclusion in several international salons and competitions. A book collection was released in 2006, entitled The Carless Cartoon Collection: Not Bad for An Old Bastard. While he began his career drawing in the unadorned big-nose, gag cartoon style, Carless's style evolved considerably over the course of his life. On Macpherson's advice, he developed his gift for caricature, and the cartoons of his most prolific period show a strong sense of composition, use of light, and texture. Carless began signing his work "Roi" (French for king) in the late 1970s, shortly after he quit drinking. Involved in a car accident in 1987, Carless suffered head trauma and lost the use of an eye, eventually becoming unable to draw to his own satisfaction, and quit cartooning in 1990. In 2003 his wife convinced him to begin drawing again and he began publishing work in the Hamilton Spectator. Carless's public persona was that of a cigar-chomping, cowboy-hat-wearing raconteur, anti-authoritarian and champion of workers' rights. He was also a devoted family man, and a self-educated debater and activist, who also happened to be one of the most unique post-War political cartoonists to work in Canada. Roy Carless is survived his wife, Audrey Carless, his son Marc, and five grandchildren. There will be a memorial at the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, 51 Stuart St., in Hamilton at 1 pm, January 17. ----- more: photo Hamilton Spectator Labels: obituaries, Ontario, political cartooning, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Thursday, May 01, 2008 Bob Bierman, 1921-2008  Cartoonist Sued by Vander Zalm Victoria Times and Monday magazine editorial cartoonist Bob Bierman died as a result of a stroke April 16, according to a report by the Globe and Mail. Born in Amsterdam, Bierman worked for a variety of Dutch publications before emigrating to Canada in 1950. He first worked as a bar doorman in Toronto before moving to British Columbia in 1954, eventually publishing his first cartoons with the Victoria Times. After the merger of the Times and the Victoria Colonist in 1976, Bierman published in the weekly alternative paper, Monday Magazine. Besides regular contributions to the annual Portfoolio collections of Canadian caricature, Bierman published one book, 1984: A Collection of Political Cartoons (New Star Books,1982). Bierman is best known for a court case involving Bill Vander Zalm. The cartoonist drew a cartoon of then-Human Resources Minister Vander Zalm pulling the wings off flies and was sued for libel by the future B.C. premiere and amusement park owner (who was also a Dutch immigrant). A $3500 decision against Bierman and his publisher was later overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal. A collection of Bierman's cartoons can be seen here. Labels: British Columbia, obituaries, Ontario, political cartooning, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 International: Steve Gerber, R.I.P.Comics writer Steve Gerber has died. As a writer for Marvel in the 1970s, Gerber created Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown. As a result of the legal battle for ownership of Howard, Gerber became an early advocate and fighter for creator's rights in the U.S. comics industry. The best adventure comic book writer of the 1970s, Gerber enjoyed long, innovative and popular runs on The Defenders, Son of Satan, Manthing, and many other titles. Gerber's brand of tightly-plotted superheroics combined with social commentary, satire, psychedelia, and an original approach to character and setting to produce memorable characters and stories that are still read today. Indeed, for many readers , fans and historians, Steve Gerber was 1970s superhero comics. Gerber worked for a variety of publishers during his career and was a writer/producer for television, working on several animated series and created the fondly-remembered Thundarr in 1980. Gerber died of pneumonia, a result of his struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. In recent years he had been writing for DC Comics, preparing a Dr. Fate miniseries and blogging about his life. Beginning earlier this year, a new series featuring his Omega character and written by Jonathan Lethem paid honour to his legacy. Tom Spurgeon has an excellent obituary at Comics Reporter. Mark Evanier has posted the news at Gerber's blog. ---- T.Hodler's 2-part critical overview of Gerber's career, written for the magazine Comics Comics, is an excellent introduction. Hodler's footnotes are here. Labels: comics writers, creator's rights, obituaries, U.S. superhero franchises - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Monday, December 17, 2007 Whalley RuinsThey still make comics, right?
5333 av. Casgrain, 6eme etage, suite 603, Montreal (Metro Laurier or bus 55 St-Laurent, Fairmount stop) Monday to Friday, 12-6
Labels: blogosphere, cartoonists, graphic novels, obituaries, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Monday, September 24, 2007 Peter Whalley, 1926-2007  Peter Whalley, cartoonist, sculptor, Giant of the North. One of only two or three important postwar Canadian magazine cartoonists, Whalley died Tuesday, September 18. ---- From the Montreal Gazette:
---- CBC video Labels: cartoonists, Halifax, Nova Scotia, obituaries, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Saturday, September 22, 2007 Alootook Ipellie, 1951-2007  Alootook Ipellie, the Inuit cartoonist, has died suddenly in Ottawa. He was 56. Ipellie was well-known as a gallery artist and his comics work had only recently begun to be appreciated by a wider audience. Raised in Frobisher Bay, Ipellie was artistically inspired by Superman comics as a youth. He dropped out of the lithography program at West Baffin Eskimo Co-Op in 1972 and went on to create single panel cartoons for Inuit Today magazine. He also worked as an editor and journalist before becoming a prominent artist, defying the stereotypes of Inuit art with his sexually charged, modern images. Ipellie also created the comic strip Nuna and Vut for the Nunatsiak News in the 1990s. His work was showcased in various galleries internationally and in Canada and in the recent Monster Island Three comics anthology, edited by Montreal's Billy Mavreas. Ipellie's book, Arctic Dreams and Nightmares was published in 1993. He also wrote a children's book, The Inuit Thought of It. Ipellie died of a heart attack outside his Ottawa apartment September 8. He will be buried in Iqaluit. Ipellie is survived by his daughter Taina. -- obit Encarta bio gallery photo People of the Good Land Labels: cartoonists, obituaries, Ottawa - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 2comments - - we honor OpenID -
John Collins, 1917-2007  John Collins, long-time editorial cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette, has died at 89. Collins died Sunday, September 16. Born in Washington, DC, Collins moved with his family to Canada in 1920 and sold his first cartoon to the Gazette while still in university in 1937. He joined the staff of the paper in 1939 and created many memorable images of the Second World War and Cold War years. Collins also contributed cartoons to Saturday Night. Collins' cartoons often featured the stock figure of Uno Who, the proverbial impoverished taxpayer, naked but for a barrel. Collins won the National Newspaper Award for political cartooning twice, in 1954 and 1973. He retired from the Gazette in 1982 but continued to contribute illustrations to Edgar Andrew Collard's nostalgic column, All Our Yesterdays, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1986. Collins is survived by his wife Edna Collins. ---- Gazette obit 1 Gazette obit 2 Labels: obituaries, political cartooning, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Jocelyn Houde, 1960-2007  Quebec cartoonist Jocelyn Houde has died. Houde died April 8, 2007 at St-Francois d' Assise Hospital in Quebec City. He was 47 and had been suffering ill health for some time. Houde was best known for several clear-line historical adventure series and for his contribution to local amateur publications and fanzines like MensuHell. A self-taught artist, Houde was inspired by the Belgian school of Herge and by fine art painters. His earliest efforts aped the style of Quebecois caricaturist Serge Chapleau but he soon found further inspiration in the "petit format" adventure strips from the 1960s and 70s like Kiwi, Kit Carson, Cap'tain Swing, and Yuma Kid. Beginning in 1998, Houde self-published three volumes of Panzer, a series of WWII adventure albums. In 2006, La Pasteque published Les derniers corsaires, a graphic novel about a WWII Royal Navy submarine crew, written by Marc Richard. At the time of his death, Houde was rumoured to be working on a new project written by French scenarist Ted Benoit. Houde's remarkable talent, including an eye for historical detail, character, and lush colour, was admired by many and his unexpected death comes as a sad shock to the Quebec BD community. His funeral takes place today, April 12, at 2pm, at St-Pierre-Aux-Liens church (corner of Roses & Henri-Bourassa). ----- More: English Review of Les dernier corsairs Les derniers corsaires at La Pasteque Jocelyn Houde interview at BDQuebec discussion at BFQ forums notice at FBDFQ site (thanks to Le BeDenaute-en-chef) Labels: bd, graphic novels, obituaries, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 More on Muff MillsWriting for the Cambridge Now! website, Thomas Hagey remembers cartoonist Muff Mills who died last week: I remember the first time I met Muff Mills. He had an outwardly crusty disposition. I recall muttering under my breath, "What the heck is his problem?!?" But then, I didn't know the character ... or the character behind the character. Labels: cartoonists, obituaries, people, poltical cartooning - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Monday, March 12, 2007 Muff Mills, 1923-2007Cartoonist was WWII Nose-cone Artist Albert Edward "Muff" Mills, longtime editorial cartoonist for the Cambridge Times, has died. Born in Todmorden, Ont and raised in Humber Bay. During the second World War, Mills trained in Galt (now Cambridge) as a pilot and mechanic before being assigned overseas in 1943. As a member of the RCAF's No. 428 Squadron, he worked as an airframe mechanic and used his skills as a cartoonist to paint nose art on bombers. In May, 1945 he was re-assigned to No. 408 Squadron along with his brother. Many of the planes he worked on are on exhibit in museums across Canada. After the war he worked as an artist and lived in Toronto. He moved to Cambridge in 1985 and began working as a cartoonist for the Cambridge Times. Mills passed away Wednesday, March 7, at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Mills was predeceased by his wife Norma. He is survived by 3 children and 2 grandchildren. A funeral was held March 9th. --- links: Examples of his paintings on planes Cambridge Times Obit Labels: links, obituaries, Ontario, political cartooning, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Friday, January 19, 2007 Said Shiraga Rahimi, 1971-2007  Said Shiraga Rahimi, 1971-2007 Said Rahimi, an Afghan-born cartoonist living in Canada, was killed early on the morning of January 15 in Hamilton. Rahimi had recently emigrated to Canada with his family and was working as a pizza delivery man while studying English and preparing an exhibit of his cartoons. He was killed on the job when his van was hit by a train at a railroad crossing at approximately 1:30 am. Rahimi was born in Kabul, Afganistan but lived in Iran and Azerbaijan during the reign of the Taliban. He published political cartoons in several Iranian magazines and also submitted cartoons to international contests. His cartoon output and opinions made both countries inhospitable to him and he brought his family to Canada in September 2005. His ambition was to work as a forensic artist. A funeral was held at a Hamilton mosque on Tuesday and Rahimi was to be buried at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in Stoney Creek. Said (Saeid) Rahimi was 35. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, five daughters and two sons. --- Hamilton Spectator Toronto Sun Addiction cartoon contest entry Labels: news, obituaries, Ontario, people, political cartooning, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 1comments - - we honor OpenID -
Monday, December 11, 2006 Bus Griffiths 1913-2006  Bus Griffiths (1913-2006) Logger Cartoonist Created one of Canada's First Graphic Novels Gilbert Joseph (Bus) Griffiths, a cartoonist, logger and fisherman, died of prostate cancer in Comox, B.C., on Sept. 25, 2006. Griffiths was best known as the creator of Now You're Logging, a 119-page graphic novel about the 1930s logging industry in BC. Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Griffiths was raised in British Columbia, first in Penicton and then in Burnaby. As a teenager he was interested in cartooning but was unsuccessful in finding work in the newspaper field. As a young adult he illustrated catalogues for Massey-Harris but left that job to work as a logger during the 1930s Depression. Giffiths specialized as a faller, a logger tasked with dropping trees so that they do not cause damage to or become entangled with neigbouring trees. By his own account, Griffiths was very good at his job and loved every aspect of the industry, even though it was seasonal and prone to lay-offs, especially during the 1930s. His logging career began in the Fraser Valley and the Mainland coast of BC, but he eventually migrated to Vancouver Island. After a decade in the bush, Griffiths married his wife Maragaret in 1940. He also managed to find jobs as a cartoonist, creating work in the 1940s for Vancouver's Maple Leaf publishing, one of the short lived Canadian comics publishers that sprang up during World War II. At the same time, he produced an 8-page children's comic book about logging for the BC government. An editor for BC Lumberman magazine encouraged Griffiths to submit strips about logging to the magazine --a project that would eventually lead to the creation of a much longer work. Giffiths retired from logging in 1961 and began working as a fisherman out of Fanny Bay, where he had moved in 1944. In 1972, at the urging of his wife, and using her as a model, Griffiths began working on a longer comic book about logging in his spare time. This was published in 1978 by Harbour Press as Now You're Logging. The book concerns the adventures of two young loggers in the 1930s who learn the ropes from an older camp-boss. Full of period detail, Now You're Logging is almost a primer on the basics of the business from the days before the advent of the chainsaw, and contains many lengthy explanations of the techniques and tools of the trade. Graphically, the book looks something like a cross between a textbook and a love story illustrated by a heterosexual Tom of Finland. Griffiths cartooning combines muscular figures with tightly rendered machines and landscapes to charming effect. Shawn Conner, writing in the Comics Journal in 1996, characterized the book as "a true anomaly: written and drawn by a man with decades of experience in the woods, it's a book with no clear antecedent, more intent on documenting a way of life than telling a story (though it does that, too)," noting that, "it might just change your perception of what comics are, what they can do, and why we need them." Indeed, although published during the same period that U.S. based cartoonists were beginning to refer to their long-form comics as graphic novels, Griffith's book seems totally divorced from the world of North American comics of the time. In this sense it has more in common with other sui generis graphic novels of the past, such as The Four Immigants Manga or Frans Masereel's woodcut novels. Now You're Logging went through 3 printings but is now out of print. In later years Griffiths continued to pursue artistic endeavours: he illustrated a few other books about BC subjects and several of his oil painting hang in local museums. At the end of his life he was preparing a series of short prose stories about his logging career. According to Grant Shilling's Globe and Mail obituary, Griffiths "was a small man with a big chest, a lovely lilt in his voice and a twinkle in his eye. He was built more like Popeye, with well-developed forearms grown strong from working a saw and an axe for a living." Griffiths experienced a stroke in 2003 and had been living under extended care since then. He is survived by his wife Margaret, two sons, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A memorial service was held October 21. Further reading: online: Globe and Mail obituary (08/12/06) Georgia Straight Profile by Grant Shilling illustrated article by Gordon Hak Publisher's Website in print: Shawn Connor, "Beyond the Grid, Later, up in the woods...," The Comics Journal, 187 (May 1996), 111-2. (the same issue also includes an interview with Giffiths and samples of his work) Labels: British Columbia, news, obituaries, people, Saskatchewan, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Tuesday, October 17, 2006 Michelle Urry, R.I.P.Editor a Significant Force in Post-War Cartooning by Bryan Munn Michelle Urry, longtime cartoon editor at Playboy Magazine, has died of cancer in New York. Raised in Winnipeg, Urry (born Michelle Kaplan in 1939) was an early fan of comic art. According to a 1995 New York Times interview, "What no one knew at the time was that as a kid I had the biggest comic book collection of any girl I knew, just stacks and stacks of Wonder Woman and other characters. I expected to grow up to wear gold bracelts and fly. [...] I was a snob even then --a comic that wasn't well drawn didn't interest me. But give me a well-drawn comic with a good story and I was hooked." She later moved to the U.S., was educated at UCLA and ran a fashion design business in Los Angeles before moving to Chicago in search of employment. Hired as a typist at Playboy in 1965, she was soon noticed by publisher Hugh Hefner and promoted to assistant cartoon editor and then to cartoon editor. For 40-odd years it was Urry's job to sift through thousands of submissions to Playboy on a monthly basis before presenting the cream of the crop to Hefner for his seal of approval. In this way, Urry became one of the most prominent and respected gag cartoon editors in the field, helping to discover and develop the careers of many successful cartoonists, including B. Kliban, Howard Cruse, Bill Plympton, Harvey Kurtzman, Jules Feiffer, Arnold Roth, Shel Silverstein, Gahan Wilson, and Chris Brown, who has called Urry "one of the greatest comics editors ever." In a 1970 article on humour for the Chicago Tribune, Urry tried to explain the appeal of the cartoons she published, many of which targetted women and sexual politics: "The rise in sexual and erotic humor is often viewed with alarm but it may, in fact, indicate a generally healthier society. You cannot laugh at anything unless you have mastered your anxieties about it, and the airing of these previously forbidden areas with more acceptance by society means that they are no longer so frightening. In order to laugh at a cartoon, for instance, one must be able to perceive the hidden hostility and be stimulated by it, but the cartoonist has to make it clever enough so that you don't feel guilty because you identify with it." Along with The New Yorker, Playboy remains the most important market for freelance panel cartoonists. On the continued prominence of cartoons in Playboy (from that same NYT interview): "Mr. Hefner, because he loves cartoons so much, was the one who decided that cartoons would be an important part of the magazine, and he created a budget for them. I started off at Playboy being wildly spoiled. Now everyone fights for space --photgraphers, writers, advertising reps, the fashion department. I think this is true of all magazines. Increasingly, cartoons are viewed as expendable, they're just fillers." Urry, who once claimed she bought "approximately a million dollars worth of cartoons a year" for Hefner, also worked as a consultant for other magazines and edited several collections of Playboy cartoons over the years. She often shared her experiences with comics fans and young cartoonists at many conventions and forums and was an articulate writer and critic of the artform (she contributed an essay on Jack Cole to the third volume of DC's Plastic Man archives). In the late-1960s Urry was briefly married to Jack Altman before marrying the sculptor Steven Urry (d.1993), with whom she had a son, Caleb. She later married screenwriter Alan R. Trustman, with whom she lived in New York and Sag Harbor. More: Google's cache of cartoonist Skip Williamson's reminiscence of his time working with Urry at Playboy. (with files contributed by Jeet Heer) Labels: Manitoba, obituaries, Winnipeg - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 Lillian S. Robinson, 1941-2006Concordia Professor, Comics Scholar Lillian S. Robinson, a feminist scholar and activist, has died of ovarian cancer in Montreal. A respected lecturer and writer, Robinson was for the past six years Principle of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia Univerisity. A seasoned protestor and former SDS-member, she wrote several scholarly books of criticism and cultural theory. Her last, Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes, was published in 2003 by Taylor and Francis. Concordia has posted a full obituary and has established and is soliciting donations for the "Lillian S. Robinson Scholars Program" to bring lecturers to the Institute. Labels: obituaries, Quebec - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Michael "Bud" Riley, 1925-2006Cartoonist of the Canadian Whites The Toronto Star reports today on the death of Michael Riley two weekends ago. Riley created and drew Terena of the Jungle for an unnamed Canadian publisher sometime in the 1940s. (The strip is so obscure that when I was contacted by the Star for info I could find no reference anywhere, not in my admittedly tiny collection of 1940s black & White comics, not even in John Bell's generally informative essay in Canuck Comics, which mentions many many 1940s cartoonists. If anyone has any more info about Terena of the Jungle, please let me know.) As ad-man for most of his life, Riley also seems to have contributed to the look of Canadian post-war popular culture, creating graphics for many long-gone Canuck products. I'm posting the bulk of the obit here because it may be the best information published on this creator: Michael Riley, 81: Comic book artist TheStar.com - Michael Riley, 81: Comic book artist Labels: obituaries, Ontario, Toronto - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Wednesday, May 10, 2006 Sid Barron, 1917-2006  "Poet of the mundane" Cartoonist Sid Barron, dubbed "the poet of the mundane" by Robert Fulford, has died in Victoria at age 88. Barron was one of the funniest and most stylistically distinctive cartoonists to emerge in the post-war editorial cartoon world. Born in Toronto in 1917 to a British mother and an un-identified Belgian soldier father, Barron was adopted by his maternal aunt and raised in Victoria, B.C. With very little art training, Barron found work as a commercial illustrator and sign painter. According to Peter Desbarats and Terry Mosher in "The Hecklers", during the Depression he did some illustration work for Toronto's Star Weekly "until the paper discovered that for pennies it could buy cratefulls of illustrations that appeared originally in various American publications." During the Second World War, Barron found work in the short-lived Canadian comic book industry, producing strips for Educational Comics' Canadian Heroes title. After the war, he received art training for a short period in Detroit and later found work across Canada. In 1959 he began working for The Victoria Times as an editorial cartoonist. In 1961 he began a life-long association with the Toronto Star. He also found work with The Albertan in Calgary as well as with Maclean's magazine. Barron's relatively mild yet satirically insightful topical cartoons of social mores and suburbia have been likened to the UK's Giles but his closest Canadian counterpart, aesthetically and geographically was probably Len Norris of Vancouver. The editorial cartoons of Doug Wright used a similar approach. Barron's cartoons utilized a clear line and elegant, unexagerated figures placed in extremely cluttered backgrounds full of sight gags and signs, a mix of styles akin to the chaos of Wil Elder's Mad cartoons crossed with the sophistication of a New Yorker gag. His two most distinctive trademarks were the sardonic banner-trailing biplane and a bored-looking, sign-toting Cheshire cat. Barron lived a somewhat bohemian lifestyle with his artist wife Jesi, raising several children in Victoria and on the road. In later years, the couple exhibited paintings with a West Coast theme. A life-long smoker, Barron suffered from declining health for some years. He died in hospital Saturday, April 29. (with thanks to Jeremy Spencer) More: Wry illustrated commentaries delighted West Coast readers Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, obituaries, Ontario, Toronto, Vancouver - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
Sunday, February 26, 2006 Ed Franklin, 1921-2006  Former Globe and Mail political cartoonist Ed Franklin has died. Born in Texas, Franklin worked for the Globe from 1968-1987. Franklin started his career at the Houston Press in 1947. He also drew cartoons for the Houston Post until 1953 when he moved to New York and freelanced for magazines including The Saturday Evening Post, True, and Argosy, among other clients. In 1959 he moved his family to Toronto and worked in advertising and illustration. His first Globe cartoon was published in 1966. Following a short stint with the Toronto Star, he joined the staff of the Globe in 1968, alternating with Jim Reidford, the Globe's chief cartoonist and the man responsible for getting Franklin the job. Franklin became the Globe's main daily cartoonist in 1972. According to Peter Desbarrats in The Hecklers, "His caricatures always illuminate public figures with harsh clarity but his ideas are often as labyrinthine as his drawings and sometimes remain tantalizingly obscure for a large part of his audience." Desbarrats also notes that, "Probably remembering his experience with Reidford, Franklin has always been very encouraging towards younger cartoonist, including Ted Jackman and Tony Jenkins." The Globe and Mail attributes Franklin with ending the political career of former Prime Minister Joe Clark when a Franklin caricature of a pants-less Clark was circulated at the 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. Another cartoon is said to have influenced Ronald Reagan on the issue of acid rain on the eve of Reagan's 1985 visit to Canada.  Franklin also worked for the Financial Post and Saturday Night after retirement. --- There is a Memorial Service: Monday, February 27 1 PM Campbell House 160 Queen West, Toronto (reception 1:30-3:30) 1984 Profile Complete Globe Obituary (above: 2 cartoons by Ed Franklin from 1987, including a portrait of Brian Mulroney) Labels: obituaries - Stumble It! - Leave a comment!| 0comments - - we honor OpenID -
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