Paul Anderson Follows in Big Pawprints
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Paul Anderson was 6 years old when his teacher bragged to the entire class one day that Paul’s dad, Brad Anderson, was the famous cartoonist who created “Marmaduke,” the wildly-popular syndicated comic about a mischievous but lovable Great Dane. Every kid in the class was smitten by the weekly tales about that larger-than-life dog, so naturally, their eyes bugged out of their little heads — in a cartoonish fashion, ironically enough.
But all Paul wanted to do was melt into the walls.
Fast forward to today, and Paul does the comic strip — continuing the legacy his father established 68 years ago.
At its peak, the “Marmaduke” one-panel weekday comics and Sunday strips appeared in more than 500 newspapers around the world. Brad continued his passion full-time until he died in 2015 at the age of 91.
When Brad died, he left Paul with five years of daily roughs and three years of Sunday pages. That was more than enough to create an easier transition as Paul worked on the finishing touches, and it also drove home the point that when the time came for Paul to create “Marmaduke” content from scratch, there wouldn’t be a need to reinvent the wheel.
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Steve Gamel, at The Cross Timbers Gazette, interviews Paul Anderson.
[P]art of the “Marmaduke” comic charm is its unique style. Brad never believed in preaching, teaching, or talking politics. He also never gave the dog a human personality or the ability to speak. “Marmaduke” simply did things a real dog would do, including driving his owners, the Winslows, bonkers and getting into lots of trouble with each installment.
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