Brian Gable retires, Jeff Schultz keeps on, the long Bill Griffith interview,
remembering Ralph Heimdahl, Ricardo Caté talks, Edward Sorel appreciated.
Bado’s Blog reports that editorial cartoonist Brian Gable has retired.
After a long career as editorial cartoonist at The Globe and Mail, Brian Gable announced this morning his retirement to its’ readers.
Graduating with a B.Ed. from the University of Toronto in 1971, he taught art in Brockville and began freelancing for the Brockville Recorder and Times in 1977.
In 1980 he started full-time with the Regina Leader-Post and has been the editorial cartoonist for The Globe and Mail since 1987.
**********
On the other hand younger cartoonist Jeff Schultz never wants to retire.
Barbara Mackey Byrd, for The Dayton Daily News, interviews Jeff Schultz.
Now, at 66, Shultz is happy to explore new challenges, even working as a delivery driver just to get out of the house to see people and earn extra money, he says. Still there is a comic strip idea on his drawing board, and he regularly reviews and edits comic book scripts for comic book writers. Archie Comics has his number for future cover art.
“I never want to retire,” he says. “If I inherited a million dollars, I’d still do (delivery). And I would still do art.”
**********
Bill Griffith has two new books out, both paying tribute to cartoonists central to his life. One is a loving biography of Ernie Bushmiller, the mercurial, almost mathematical force behind the Nancy comic strip. At 272 pages, Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, The Man Who Created Nancy (Abrams ComicArts) is a book that Griffith has been working on for several years – and in some ways, has been preparing to write his entire career. The other, a 24-page stapled comic book, is a powerful memorial to the life of his late wife, the brilliant cartoonist Diane Noomin. It’s called The Buildings are Barking: Diane Noomin in Memoriam (Fantagraphics), and it’s a book that Griffith wishes he never had to make.
In The Comic Journal’s trademark long interview fashion John Kelly talks to Bill Griffith (they don’t forget Zippy).
**********
In a three and a half minute segment Joe Mazan at KSTP-TV remembers Ralph Heimdahl.
After graduation, Heimdahl won a contest to work at Walt Disney Studios and taught at Disney’s animation school. He worked on classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, and Fantasia.
Heimdahl was offered the Bugs Bunny newspaper comic strip and he would draw Bugs for more than three decades.
“He drew the comic strip from 1947 to 1978 and it was published in 400 newspapers and it was all over the world,” [SCSU Archivist Tom] Steman said.
**********
The Conversations Different podcast has a half hour interview with Ricardo Caté.
… cartoonist Ricardo Caté joins the show to discuss the path that led him to becoming a cartoonist at The New Mexican, shares what it’s like to provide a Native perspective through the Comics page and recounts his experience of recently receiving the International Inkpot Award by Comic-Con International.
**********
© Edward Sorel (Penthouse, 1990)
gasp65, at Who’s Out There, sends Edward Sorel some love.
I’ve always been blown away by how deceptively easy he makes it all look, and that’s what’s so impressive: very loose on the surface, but with an underlying, laser-sharp precision. I could easily go on at some length, but Sorel’s career and are are well-documented themes. Check out, for instance, The Enigmatic Edward Sorel (From The Comics Journal), or this fine New York Times review of his recent memoir (circa 2021), Profusely Illustrated.
feature image © Edward Sorel (The Nation)