Bunny Matthews, who created the quintessential comic-strip Yats “Vic and Nat’ly” in 1982, announced today in a Facebook post that he is suffering from brain cancer.
Matthews, whose cartoons appeared in Gambit for years (along with every other local publication), has provoked, skewered and amused the New Orleans arts, music and media communities in cartoons and print since making his debut in the now-defunct Figaro in the 1970s. Two compilations of Vic and Nat’ly were published in the 1980s, featuring the flamboyant, buxom Nat’ly and greasy, cigarette-ash dripping Vic (whom Matthews said was modeled after former New Orleans Mayor Vic Schiro). In recent years, Matthews has created advertising campaigns for local businesses (including Vic and Nat’ly biting into a loaf of bread on the sides of Leidenheimer Bread trucks).