Wiley Miller, the cartoonist behind the popular “Non Sequitur,” told an audience for the first time Monday that he almost lost his livelihood and marriage after he scrawled a vulgar note to President Donald Trump that appeared in newspapers nationwide.
He and his wife lost their dream home and moved to another state following the hit to his reputation and his income. The experience was “financially and emotionally draining,” Miller said.
Miller deleted his accounts and left social media. He began to move forward by sending an individualized apology letter to papers who ran his comic strip.
The Spokesman-Review closes the Spokane, Washington weekend visit of cartoonist Wiley Miller
by covering his Monday evening public greeting of fans of the Non Sequitur comic strip.
An audience of about 500 at Monday’s Northwest Passages Book Club event was thankful too.
At the end of the event during an audience question-and-answer session, 12-year-old Maria Friendshuh asked what it’s like to transition into drawing as a career.
Friendshuh came to the event because she loves cartoons and drawing, she said.
“I want a job that has something to do with art,” Friendshuh added.
For Miller, being a cartoonist is more than a job, it’s a way of life, he said.
“I’m not in a profession you retire from,” Miller said. “I’m in a profession you die from.”
above: Wiley signs posters at the evening meet and greet.
The Spokesman-Review covers the Monday evening Wiley appearance,
with a gallery of dozens of photographs.
Andrews McMeel, Wiley’s syndicate (and the Daily Cartoonist’s owner)
released some numbers about the evening with Wiley:
- 436 people attended the event at the Bing Crosby Theater; paid $6 each and over 100 waited over an hour for his autograph and to greet him.
- Local TV covered the story on the 6 and 11p broadcasts
- A podcast was produced by the paper.
- A series of articles appeared over the past few months beginning with a reader poll about reinstating it. 1,440 readers said “yes”.
- Two features on Wiley; covering The Incident; his reaction and fall-out
- The most popular N-S’s as sourced from GoComics, Permissions, shares, etc. ran in the paper and a poster was printed
- Custom TV shirts announcing his return for the entire newspaper staff, VIP’s at the event.
- 46 people paid $50 for a meet/greet with Wiley and received the attached poster. Wiley did a “Spokane-specific” comic for the paper and the event.
- Every Non Seq comic between Feb 10 and Aug 3 ran in the paper.
Don’t know when or how those six month’s of Non Sequiturs appeared in the newspaper,
but I do have a shot of the Non Sequitur poster by Wiley.
