Wiley Miller, creator of Non Sequitur, was interviewed by the Kennebunkport Post. Nothing too new from this interview, but does an excellent recap of the Wiley’s history before Non Sequitur and how his feature came about.
Here’s a sample:
“When my friends and I would hang out I would just do little doodles on napkins. They really liked them so I started bringing paper and saving them, they were my ‘bartoons,'” he said.
While he was employed at the San Francisco Examiner, Miller attended a party at a friend’s home. He had brought the ‘bartoons,’ and ended up showing them to Victoria Coviello – whom he later married. Miller said it was her prodding him to sell his ‘bartoons’ to Playboy magazine that “got the ball rolling.”
“I took it on as a design project and started to fill things out, started to mix up all of these skills I had learned – editorial stuff, gags, good dialog, color,” he said.
When Miller quit the job in San Francisco, Coviello was simultaneously accepted as one of 10 students selected into the University of Iowa’s nonfiction Writer’s Workshop.
“We had to take the opportunity,” he said. “And because of bad economic times I knew I had to do something big.”
In 1992 Miller released “Non Sequitur” and “never looked back,” and with its original initial success he said he was finally able to fulfill his dream – to sustain himself using his ideas instead of doing the work for others.
Geez, you think they could get that type any smaller.
Good interview, Wiley. But it doesn’t answer the burning question…why Kennebunkport of all places? Political star gazing? 🙂
The government relocated me here to keep a close eye on me, Dawn.
Wiley,
Where can I get the complete set of bartoons? The few that I’ve seen (and saved) are hilarious and I just want more of course. Since you must be rolling in the clover by now, can you buy them back from Playboy? Probably not so I guess I’m toast. Anyway, thanks for the smart laughs. Non Sequitur is the first place I head for when I pick up the paper.
Thomas
Loved todays cartoon, Wiley…..5/12/08 “If we hired like we vote.” Thank you for getting it exactly right and bringing to light the absurd and mad media mind.
~Malissa
I’m the Rhode Islander who keeps picking on you because of your phonetic spelling of the New England (Maine?) accent. Today you spell “picture” as “picthah”. Maybe you mean “pitcha”? Don’t you know that the “ah” sound is a as in car (yeah, I know) and the thud-like ending of the “r” words in New Englandese is an “uh” sound. Pic-chuh; mothuh, fathuh. Bettuh. See what I mean? If it wasn’t for your hard (hahd?–that one works) headedness, I would thoroughly enjoy your strip.
Dear Mr. Wiley, I wanted to tell you that one of the most unforgettable cartoons I ever read was the one from a few years back, in which the little girl asks the old man how he got a number tattooed on his forearm. Without being too explicit, he explains. At the end,she is in tears, and asks him if it’s there to remind him, and he says, “No, it’s to remind YOU.” I think I still have it; I was so moved. Still am. Thanks! P.S. My father was a holocaust survivor.