Cartoonists on Parade
Skip to comments
Featured in the parade are Luke McGarry, Gary Varvel, W. Heath Robinson. Joe Long, Steve Brodner, John Cuneo, and Tom Richmond with gags, books, lectures, awards, carucatures, and returning to a first love.
Luke McGarry Picks a Weird Hill to Die On
Luke McGarry, the famous co-cartoonist of KidTown, was interviewed by Comic Beat’s Diego Higuera recently, and while KidTown never came up Luke’s new book Weird Hill to Die On did.
After more than a decade of building a following through comedic, often viral comics online, Luke McGarry is bringing his work into print with his first proper collection. Known for his fast-paced output and sharp, absurd humor, McGarry has spent years developing a voice that resonates with readers across social media.
[Luke:] I’m also becoming more interested in being my own imprint. I have my own record label with my brother, so why not my own publishing company? This seemed like a fun way to approach it.
There’s stuff I want to do that’s outside the mainstream, and a mainstream publisher isn’t going to touch it. So why bother trying to water something down when I can just tell the stories I want to tell and make the jokes I want to tell?
[Luke:] I had a book with Chronicle called Keep It Down Up There, but it was more loosely narrative. I’ve done other comics and collections, but this will be the first physical collection of my jokes.
Gary Varvel visits Greencastle Christian Church
Gary Varvel, no stranger to churches, paid a visit to one earlier this month to give a talk about editorial cartooning and devotion to his faith. Codey Emerson for The Sun Commercial covered Gary’s appearance.
A big part of Varvel’s talk was him discussing how he quickly found out his next calling after spending nearly 40 years in the newspaper industry after 2019.
“I was asking myself what are you going to do with the next stage of your life?” Varvel said. “I taught an adult Sunday School class for nearly 23 years and that’s a lot of time studying the Bible. What I’m seeing in today world now is there’s a lot of things already happening that the Bible already spoke about.
Still an advocate for small-town newspapers, Varvel also spoke on the importance of local journalism in today’s climate.
“Big paper’s aren’t covering the local news that small town newspapers do on almost a daily basis,” he said. “Keeping newspapers alive especially in small towns is so important. I don’t see how people could stay informed and be properly educated, especially in an election year like we are this year, if someone isn’t giving you the facts. I really do hope that people continue to support their local newspapers. For towns to be maintained properly and to operate at their best, they need to have the information that local newspapers provide.”
The Wonderful World of W Heath Robinson
On April 6 the Arts Society Horsham sponsored a lecture by Barry Venning about W. Heath Robinson. Rowena Kerr Lectures Secretary reviewed the presentation and profiled the cartoonist.
… this April lecture to hear all about the surreal world created by cartoonist and illustrator W Heath Robinson who became a legend in his life time.
We learnt about his quiet, unassuming character, which contrasted with the hugely complicated machines and gadgets invented in his cartoons and illustrations, often used as a gentle satire and to great effect as a morale booster for the British troops during the two wars. As early as 1912, the name Heath Robinson entered the Oxford Dictionary as a by word for ludicrously elaborate contraptions that invite a good laugh rather than for their practicality!
Today, the legend of Heath Robinson lives on with a large modern day following of artists, writers, architects and film makers including Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit, Philip Pullman and Thomas Heatherwick. Indeed, the delightful homage is cleverly reinvented in “The Wrong Trousers” of Wallace & Gromit! Heath Robinson’s “inventions” are prolific, but who can forget “The Multi-Movement Cat Silencer”, “The Sun Bathing Wheel” or “The Wart Chair”?
Joe Long Returns to Cartooning After 25 Years
So Joe Long spent about 20 years at a small newspaper and did some cartooning there then, at 39 he changed careers and became an educator. Now in his sixties Joe is once more a cartoonist.
Chris Brock for The Watertown Daily Times has the story (or here).
“Not a lot of people get a second act,” Long said from his home in Frankfort, Herkimer County, where at his kitchen table, he creates his single-panel cartoons that he distributes for free to about a half dozen newspapers, now including the Watertown Daily Times.
Long shifted from a career in newspapers to a career in teaching and school administration late in life, when he was 39. He worked at The Evening Times in Little Falls for 19½ years as a process cameraman and graphic artist in the cut-and-paste era when the paper was sold and eventually combined with the Times Telegram in Herkimer.
Long also drew cartoons for The Evening Times and had dreams of pursuing a career in cartooning much further. But with the paper’s sale, he needed a new direction.
“I was inspired by a teacher, so I decided to become one,” he said.
Steve Brodner and John Cuneo Among the Selected Winners
American Illustration and American Photography celebrate the best in the graphic arts. The latest graphic artists honored in the American Illustration 44 selection include Steve Brodner and John Cuneo.
Steve Brodner’s two pieces can be viewed here and here, John Cuneo’s two pieces are here and here.
Tom Richmond’s MAD Cover on TV
The latest issue of MAD magazine featuring a Tom Richmond cover features late night talk show hosts/comedians. It was featured on one of those late night shows:
Comments