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Comic strips

Blondie cartoonist Frank Cummings passes

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Frank Cummings, cartoonist on Blondie, has passed away. He was 55 years old. Not a lot has been published surrounding his death.

From the Blondie Facebook page:

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague Frank Cummings. Frank has been a working commercial artist for over 30 years. His early career was spent working in newspaper and advertising agency art departments. In 1992, he self-published JAB, a regional (southeast) illustrated satire/humor magazine. By 1995, the magazine had caught the eye of exercise guru Richard Simmons and national humor mag, Cracked. Frank spent the next nine years producing Richard’s monthly newsletter, Richard Simmons & Friends, and illustrating monthly movie parodies for Cracked. In 2004, Frank was hired by King Features Syndicate and Blondie, to be the assistant artist (to head artist John Marshall) on Blondie. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

My condolences to Frank’s family, friends and associates.

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Comments 6

  1. Sorry to hear that. Frank was doing movie and TV parodies for Cracked back when I briefly worked for them. He also did some work for comedian Jeff Dunham which Jeff uses in his show. He had a very distinctive style that was instantly recognizable. Very sad to lose such a talented cartoonist at just a young age.

  2. “Not a lot has been published surrounding his death.”

    And you won’t hear a lot. He kept his illness a stoic secret. Three years ago he was a guy who came out of the woodwork to encourage and warn a guy who’d just started a daily comic strip. We lost a good guy and way too soon.

  3. I met Frank during my senior year at Tates Creek High School in Lexington, KY. He was a sophomore at the time but possessed an amazing, sprung-from-the-head-of-Zeus talent for caricature. His work for that year’s yearbook was truly astonishing considering his age. It was great to re-connect with him later via Facebook. As Tom and Mike have noted, Frank left this world way too soon.

  4. I got to know Frank briefly while we were both working for Cracked. Really nice guy- this is a big loss. My condolences to his family and friends.

  5. I also knew Frank back in High School. He was so talented then and I knew he would somehow be famous with his talent. So very sad to learn of his death. My condolences to his family.

  6. Last summer I “initiated” a get-together of several cartoonists, some of whom had never met, in Panama City. A series of serendipitous events enabled Gary Brookins, Jeff Parker, Jeff Koterba, Frank Cummings and myself to have a day together in August. I was REALLY looking forward to that gathering, as I had yet to meet either Gary or Frank face-to-face, but had to cancel at the last minute. Now I’ll never again have the chance to enjoy in person a guy I’d only “met” two years ago, but with whom I’d had the pleasure of “visiting” via telephone, Facebook and e-mail.

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