Erie native Dave Blazek has written and drawn his daily cartoon panel “Loose Parts” for nearly two decades, and the panel has been collected into five books and counting. But he never considered himself a cartoonist until May.
That’s when Blazek and “Loose Parts” received the highest honor a newspaper panel cartoon and its author can receive — a Reuben Award for best newspaper panel from the National Cartoonists Society. The honor is presented at the society’s annual meeting by a vote of the membership. Blazek and “Loose Parts” had been nominated four times previously.
“I really wanted this,” he reflected in a recent interview by telephone. “It’s a validation that I really belong.”
Dave Blazek gets a nice write-up in his local Erie Times-News,
with some behind the scenes information…
The reason why it is populated by characters with glasses who are at rest is that Blazek had to avoid things that are hard to draw — like eyes and movement.
and the hope of more perks to follow his winning a Reuben:
…he’s feeling that the award might open doors to new opportunities. During the event, he made some connections that could help him achieve a “bucket list” goal of having cartoons published in “The New Yorker” magazine. And there might be opportunities for greeting cards and animation.
above: recent Loose Parts including character with glasses not moving