Earlier this week the Daytona Beach News-Journal laid of 10% of their workforce including editorial cartoonist Bruce Beattie. Bruce has been with the paper since 1981 and is currently syndicate through Creators. In 1986 he launched a panel feature called SNAFU which later became Beattie Blvd. The strip ran for 11 years and was a finalist in the NCS Best Cartoon Panel division award in 1992 and 1995.
UPDATE: It should also be noted that Bruce was a former president of the National Cartoonist Society.
Really sorry to hear this bad news.
Good luck to you, Bruce. Glad to see you have the Creators syndication.
UG! Man I’m sorry to read this. Bruce is a great guy. I know something good will happen for him!
Sad , sad news.
Bruce is another incredible talent let go by an industry that doesn’t understand how important content is to readership. Hang in there, man. There are great things ahead for you .
I think it’s great for Rall to go to Afghanistan. But I wonder if building a fund for cartoonists in need who find themselves out of a job or facing huge medical bills or something wouldn’t somehow serve a greater purpose. There are many guys who received little if any severance pay from their papers, and the guys with comic strips are often left with nothing after their five year commitments are up. That and I’ve always wondered why some of the bigger organizations (NCS, AECC) don’t find a way to band together and come up with some kind of health plans for cartoonists. I know this profession is full of risks that we have all chosen to take. But still, I keep going back to Shuster and Siegel who got virtually nothing from a comic creation whose issue no. 1 just sold for $1.5 million. It frustrates me to no end that as an art form our work still receives such little respect from the industry that employs us yet garners huge respect among the readers who love the work. Just random thoughts.
I know where Bruce has been along with many others in our field. We’re a creative bunch who have had to be resilient and tenacious enough to land a position in a very tough field years ago. In the future those that seek different paths will be the survivors in this field that is swiftly disappearing. In addition to King features, I draw for a local weekly alternative that does not charge for the paper but makes more than enough money off of advertising. I also started to send cartoons out to smaller newspapers throughout the state that focus strictly on state issues. The small paper, daily, and weekly who are privately owned are doing very well. Go after them, they won’t make you rich but will be another revenue source. I came up with animated cartoon of sorts for a local TV station that is doing very well. I tested it out at Iowa State University and found that the cartoons that lasted less than 30 seconds hold the attention of the viewer the best.
Believe me it won’t be too many years in the future when newspaper especially ones that are owned by large corporations will start to collapse because they won’t be able to pull in the profit margins that Wall St. expects. They won’t be able justify paywalls because they have gutted the product and younger people just won’t fork over the money for what is left in the paper. Better to be out there finding your own path before then.
Bruce you are a great talent I wish you the best.
Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. Means more to me than you can imagine.
i’ve followed Bruce’s work via gocomics.com & have enjoyed all of them back to 2001. i’ve been wondering why there hadn’t been any new ones in weeks. hope there’ll be lots more as he has a unique & great style & love what he has to say