CSotD: An All-Star obit
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Bill Gallo, a legendary sports cartoonist, died Tuesday. Drew Litton, a sports cartoonist himself, drew this tribute to his inspiration and mentor.
Obituary cartoons generally range from pointless to offensively maudlin, and only very rarely rise to the level of terrific. Litton could have drawn any sort of Pearly Gates crap, patted himself on the back and called it a day and we'd have looked at it and said, "Yep. Bill Gallo died and Drew Litton did a cartoon tribute." And then we'd have gone to the next thing and thought about it no more.
What makes this cartoon work on that higher level is this: He could have listed those sports legends, he might have drawn caricatures of them. He could have picked a deceased Giant rather than Namath — Wellington Mara? — and had them all welcoming Gallo at the Pearly Gates.
But he placed Gallo in the pantheon with his signature, and their autographs, as the unifying element. Mantle and Ruth made their mark with baseballs, Namath used a football, Gallo had his cartoons, and they all used those tools to contribute to the sports scene — and placed their signatures on them as a hallmark.
I think Gallo would be pleased.
For more on who he was, and to see examples of Bill Gallo's work, here are some of the better writeups that have appeared in the 24 hours since the announcement of his death:
Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter
Mike Lynch also linked to this slide show of Gallo cartoons at the NY Daily News, Gallo's home for most of 70 years (except for a couple of years in the 1940s, which he spent strolling on the beaches of Iwo Jima and other Pacific islands).
And, of course, Daily News sports columnist MIke Lupica wrote an extensive appreciation. There are many links on the sidebar of that article for those who want to explore further.
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