Underground cartoonist Simon Deitch has passed away.
Simon Deitch
May 12, 1947 – June 21, 2022
Simon Deitch, a member of a superbly talented family of comic artists and writers, whose work first began appearing in the earliest days of the underground comix revolution, died of kidney failure Tuesday morning, June 21st, at the Bronx Lebanon Special Care Center, according to his brother Seth Kallen Deitch. He had been a patient at the facility for the past decade, suffering from dementia that “may or may not be the result of bad habits he had in the past,” Seth Deitch wrote in a 2017 Facebook post.
Simon was the son of animator/cartoonist Gene Deitch
and brother to cartoonists Kim and Seth Deitch.
More from The Comics Journal:
As an early participant in the underground comix movement, Simon Deitch’s work appeared in publications like the East Village Other, Gothic Blimp Works, Tales of Sex and Death, Skull Comics, and Thrilling Murder Comics, on which he did the cover art for issue #1. Deitch, who struggled with drug addiction, later did work in the field of animation, and was a regular contributor to the magazine Mineshaft.
“Since I was born in 1947, my life has had more ups and downs than a biorhythm chart on horseback,” Simon Deitch wrote in his Biographical Notes for Deitch’s Pictorama [2008]. “I’ve been kickin’ around the comics fandom racket in one form or another from the very beginning. I had my first artwork published in 1964 and worked the N.Y. convention scene from the get go. I slept on the floor of Gary Arlington’s comic book store, the legendary San Francisco Comic Book Company, for the first year of the ’70s and was Rory Hayes’s roommate for the next two. Since then I’ve worked in animation, doing design work on the first two Nicktoons. I now continue to stay visible on the fanzine circuit. After three unsuccessful marriages I now make my home with a roommate and a diabetic cat.”
The Comics Journal obituary includes memories of Simon by his brothers Kim and Seth.
Comix Joint has a list of underground comix with Simon contributions.
The Internet Movie Database listings for Simon.
He must be related to Gene Deitch – the creator of Tom Terriffic and the unkonown but still beloved strip “Terr’ble Thompson”.
Mary,
Simon was Gene’s son (which is mentioned in this post).
Sorry to hear of his passing.