James Herbert (1943–2013), one of the best-selling horror writers in the world, was a devoted admirer of Tufts’s work, and he claimed that there was no writer in the world who was better at action and staging a plot. Bill Blackbeard (1926–2011), a man known for preserving the treasures and history of newspaper comics, defending comic strips as worthy of study, stated in 1976 that Casey Ruggles was “unquestionably the finest Western adventure strip yet created.” There are few draftsmen in the world who would have had the courage to try something like this, but Tufts did not suffer from lack of courage. He had already successfully drawn majestic landscapes in Casey Ruggles, which in hindsight was a stepping-stone, foreshadowing the creative authenticity of Lance.
The fact of the matter is that humor is a grim business. To my mind, two of the funniest men in the world today are James Thurber and Fred Allen, and have you ever seen them? Thurber lives a virtual hermit’s life in darkest Connecticut. Ina recent extensive survey of his life and hard times, Life magazine was unable to get a single picture of him smiling. The lemoncholy Mr. Allen is constantly moaning about his ulcers and the bags under his eyes, and threatening to quit the humor racket forever.
From 1947 MacClean’s is successful Jeff Keate on the trials and tribulations of magazine cartooning.
(hat tip : Sue Moran)
This year, the [Doug Wright Awards] Giants of the North hall of Fame inducts Walter Ball (1911–1995), best known for the Toronto Star strip Rural Route. In 1982, Arn Saba (today known as Katherine Collins), talked with Ball and discussed his work with Don Harron on CBC.
The Canadian Animation Cartooning and Illustration Walter Ball entry.
Mike Lynch presents us with comic strip creators and characters from 1916.
However, there is a curious story behind the origin of these so-called awards recognising excellence in journalism. Ironically, the “Oscar” of journalism is named after a man who arguably laid the foundation for what would be known later as “yellow journalism”, a sensationalist press that is the predecessor to today’s tabloid news and fake news phenomenon.
Some background on the founder of the recently announced Pulitzer Prizes.
Celebrating the Society of Illustrators Women In Comics: Looking Forward and Back, MEAWW gives us a few brief profiles of Women in Comics.
A comic panel of Batman slapping Robin has been turned into a seemingly countless number of memes, but what led up to incident in the first place?