Derf, creator of The City, has announced today that he’s ending after 24 years to concentrate on graphic novels.
It was never my plan to produce The City this long. Nearly a quarter of a century? How the hell did THAT happen? But I?d be nothing without this cranky, quirky, little comic strip. Still stuck in a lame daily newspaper job, or, more likely, laid off and lamenting the end of my career. The City by itself is a minor blip in the comix landscape, but I look back with pride at a body of work that was consistently good, and, for a few periods, even exceptional. But it’s time to put The City to rest. This strip means too much to me, and I owe it too much, to let it wheeze on as an afterthought.
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Bottom line is I’d rather make books and the truth is, I’m a LOT better at graphic novels than I ever was at a comic strip. It’s obviously what I should have been doing all along. To paraphrase Elvis Costello, “I’m an overnight sensation… after 30 years!”
The last strip:
Best of luck to Derf, he’s a talented cartoonist.
Sad to see strips come to an end.
Thanks for everything, Derf. Glad you’re still creating even better stuff – I will be sure to check out your graphic novels.
Here is a Talking Heads lyric from “City of Dreams….”
Here where you are standing
The dinosaurs did a dance
The Indians told a story
Now it has come to pass
The Indians had a legend
The Spaniards lived for gold
The white man came and killed them
But they haven’t really gone
We live in the city of dreams
We drive on the highway of fire
Should we awake
And find it gone
Remember this, our favorite town