The 10+ Cartoonists Who Influenced Lynn Johnston
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To call Lynn Johnston a legend would undersell her influence on newspaper comic strips. Her strip For Better or for Worse launched in 1979 and quickly became one of the most widely syndicated comic strips with a client list rivaling those of Peanuts and Garfield. FBoFW was one of the few comic strips whose characters age in real-time. That approach provided Lynn with a near-endless stream of material as her fictitious Patterson family aged along with her own. It also allowed readers to grow alongside and identify with the strip. Her strip tackled difficult topics not often touched on the funny pages: adolescence, divorce, death, sexuality, and family conflict. Lynn’s ability to approach each subject with humor and honesty demonstrated that comics can be both deeply personal and relatable. In 1993 she drew national attention for featuring a gay character coming out of the closet. The series resulted in her being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.
Speaking of awards, she was the first female cartoonist to be awarded the Reuben Award in 1985, and became a member of the Order of Canada in 1992. The Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honor. She has been bestowed five honorary degrees, inducted into the Canadian Cartoonist Hall of Fame, and inducted into the National Cartoon Museum Hall of Fame.
And she’s just one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
So without any additional delay, here are…
The 10+ Cartoonists Who Influenced Lynn
Len Norris of the Vancouver Sun
“Amazing illustrator and very funny man.”
Virgil Partch
“Loved his drawing style and irreverent subject matter.”
Jules Feiffer
“Loved his line and writing style. I copied him unabashedly in my high school yearbook illustrations.”
Terry Mosher
“Incredible caricaturist and fearless political cartoonist.”
All the Looney Tunes Cartoons
Disney
New Yorker Cartoonists
Mad Magazine
Jay Ward cartoons
Lynn notes that while her list may focus on the positive influences she adds that, “some of the WORST cartoons were also wonderful incentives! ‘I can do better than that’ is a mantra all fledgling artists say when practicing their gift.”
We are all influenced by cartoonists and writers and performers and musicians – there is a foundation of creative people from whom we have all taken a “class” or two. Since you can’t go to school and learn to be a cartoonist, we owe a debt of gratitude to all of the resources, all of the incredibly talented artists who gave us permission to take the plunge and go for it. They all paved the way.
Lynn Johnston
Other cartoonists that Lynn says influenced her along the way.
Lynn also credits several comedians such as Phillis Diller, The Goon Show, Monty Python, Victor Borge, and The Smothers Bros with “the talent, comic artistry and courage to go onstage and do what they did so well.”
Thank you so much, Lynn, for sharing with us your influences. You can follow Lynn on her website, GoComics, and on all the socials (Twitter, Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, Facebook). They’re all updated daily.
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