Corey Pandolph, who took over on Phil Frank’s The Elderberries five years ago, has announced that he’s retiring the strip. March 4th will be the last comic. Corey has been working on a comic strip (notably Barkeater Lake, Toby, Robot Satan) in various forms for the last 15 years. He tells me that in the two years that he’s been living in New York City, he’s sold four cartoons to The New Yorker, hosts and produces a monthly live storytelling show and has been appearing on stage doing storytelling and wants to be more engaged in this new direction of his career.
Let me say first that the decision to end the comic was all mine. There is no one to blame but me. Put simply, my career is going in another direction. I’ve been writing and performing more comedy, finding my cartoons in the pages of The New Yorker and discovering new ways to work in comedy, while still keeping myself happy and food in the refrigerator. I’ve done a daily comic strip in one form or another for nearly 15 years. There have been some real breaks along the way – a few reasons to really get excited about a future in comics strips – but nothing seemed to manifest itself into a solid career path.
Elderberries was first created by Phil Frank and Joe Troise in 2004. Corey took over the strip in the summer of 2007 after Joe retired and Phil passed away. Corey’s other strips, Barkeater Lake, and Toby, Robot Satan are currently running as reruns on GoComics.
Good luck Corey on your new projects.
Ditto.
I’m disappointed to see it end. It’s a good strip that Corey really re-invigorated, and I’m going to miss it.
But then again, it’s better to end it than to just let it fizzle away, or to see it passed on yet again while new strips go begging for that precious space.
Good luck, man.
I’ll be sorry to see the strip end. It was entertaining with fun characters. Best of luck on your future efforts.
I’m sorry to see “The Elderberries” go, but I appreciate that Cory is taking the time to wrap up the story lines (the retirement home is closing, and the residents are moving to various other places).
I’ll miss Dusty, but I’m glad he’s moving to New York!
Another strip loss…
I am so sad, oh how I hate change – the gang at the retirement home have become like dear friends. I love the drawings and the characters are just so special – darn I hate to see such a good comic go away. At the same time, hip hip hooray to you Corey for advancing your goals and dreams – I will watch for your cartoons in the New Yorker.
I loved “Elderberries” and the kooky tribe of residents parked there. Thanks to Corey Pandolph for telling us where our special cartoon friends are headed, poignant as their departure from my every day life will be. They will miss each other too.
Thank you so much for Elderberries. I’ve really enjoyed your work and look forward to your future success. Good luck ! I’ll miss Elderberries.
drat and double drat
Good luck with your new career direction. I discovered Barkeater Lake a fw years back when I was deployed with the USAF. Your strip helped keep my spirits up. Thanks for the laughs.
Good luck, Corey! Will there be a book of all the comics throughout the years? It would make a great gift…for myself! And I am sure a lot of your other fans would buy it, too. Lots of great story lines over the years! Loved it when Boone would have to interact with the FedEx guy…being as he was retired UPS!
Good look in your future endeavors. I hate to see the Elderberries go away but understand. Elderberries was a very enjoyable comic strip. Thanks for al your efforts and the good times.
This is a little late… none-the-less, Dusty was (is) one of my favorite comic characters of all time. And I have been a comics fan for over sixty years.
He and his friends will be sorely missed!!