Kieran Castaño and Ripley’s BIoN Part Ways – New Artist Starts
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Kieran Castaño, who has drawn the Ripley’s Believe It or Not panel since 2021, parted ways with BION, Inc.
The Daily Cartoonist asked Kieran who left who and, with Kieran’s permission, here is his reply:
Kinda both. I was terminated by them after I decided to take time off for the holidays and lied to them to do so. I was a chef before Ripley’s, and was a chef on the weekends the entire time I drew the panel because of how little they paid me. Over the holidays I decided to lie about my workflow and took my own time off. I was on an accelerated schedule-different from the syndicate- so that I could do extra work for them on top of the daily panel. It got me fired but it was worth it. Believe it or not, I make more now as a line cook than I did as a cartoonist for a legendary panel. I was denied a 2k raise “because of the economy” the same exact week that the press release came out about them buying the 12.1 million dollar gold toilet [link added]. It felt like a spit in the face, so I did what I did.
We appreciate the honesty in Kieran’s answer.
As for the future of the feature, which has been rerunning John Graziano dailies from February 2019 since February 2, 2026 and began rerunning Graziano Sundays yesterday, Kieran mentioned that:
I forgot to say that they hired a new cartoonist earlier this month [February 2026]. One of the fashion designers in the art department. From what I heard, every cartoonist they reached out to denied the position. They’ve been rerunning cartoons for now but might have new artwork coming soon.
And sooner than expected is the debut of the new Ripley’s Believe It or Not artist for February 23, 2026:
I’m not able to decrypt the signature. It looks like “D?Joy” to me but DeJoy? DaJoy? DoJoy? D.Joy?
Kieran drew the dailies as signed artist from August 9, 2021 to January 31, 2026 and as the Sunday signed artist from November 11, 2021 to February 15, 2026. Earlier in 2021 he had ghosted the dailies from April 26 to May 8 and ghosted the two Sundays of May 9 and May 16, 2021.
The Daily Cartoonist has reached out to the Ripley people but it was the weekend and no response has yet been received. If and when they reply to our request we will update this story.
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