Neil Grahame, Our Newest Senior Stripper
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From newspapers to comic books, from editorial cartoons to comic strips – Neil Grahame covers all the bases. But first we apologize for our belated 90th birthday wishes as Neil was born on March 25, 1934.
With some help from Neil, who was kind enough to respond to my inquiries, here’s a career rundown.
Neil came south from Toronto in the early 1960s, way south to Florida. After floating around a few newspapers he ended up as the chief photographer for the Naples Daily News by 1969 (photography, both professionally and for personal pleasure, would be a lifelong pursuit).
He was also then freelancing for The Marco Island Eagle as an editorial cartoonist.
In 1972 Neil moved on to the Fort Myers News Press where he was hired as staff cartoonist and illustrator, soon becoming the paper’s graphic art director.
By the end of the decade he signed on to (Cocoa/Florida) Today as editorial art director.
That only lasted a year or two when Neil resigned to freelance, showing up in diverse places (like Fort Worth).
Around 1982 Gannett bought The Jackson (Miss) Clarion Ledger and Jackson Daily News and Gannett called Neil back into the fold (The News Press and Today were Gannett papers). Neil took on being the Sunday cartoonist/illustrator/editorial art director. Here Neil added comic strips to his repertoire.
His Grahame’s Gallery sports panel ran on Wednesdays from August 15, 1984 to August 7, 1985.
On March 17, 1985 he partnered with Clarion-Ledger business editor H. M. McCall to produce Oglethorpe & Co., a Sunday comic strip (in daily format) for the paper. It ran until September 21, 1986. Around that time Neil left The Clarion-Ledger for the freelance life once more.
Neil had still been contributing editorial cartoons to The Marco Island Eagle through his various moves.
The 1980s (1982-1990) would also see him contribute multi- and single-page comics to CARtoons magazine.
That practice at sequential art stood Neil in good stead as he began pencilling comic books.
One of which combined politics with comics in the 1992 trade paperback Read My Lips!:
Around the turn of the century Neil returned to newspaper work becoming the graphics director and editorial cartoonist for The Times Record and Roane County (WV) Reporter until 2012 when he semi-retired. Neil’s cartoons there saw him earn spots in various Best Cartoons of the Year volumes (2007, 2009, 2012). He continues to contribute editorial cartoons for Spencer Newspapers.
His semi-retirement saw monthly comic strips for trade journals.
Rod McTackle for Fishing Tackle Retailer and J. Magnum McGunn for Shooting Sports Retailer.
He also contributes a comic strip for Hildreth Supply, Inc. advertisements.
At 90 Neil is not slowing down. His latest venture is graphic novels.
A historical graphic novel Nancy…The Life and Times of West Virginia’s Confederate Girl Guerrilla was published by the Hur Herald a local digital newspaper.
The graphic novel Here There be Monsters, published by Markosia Entertainment, is scheduled to go on sale on April 22 in the UK.
A third graphic novel The Odd Job Men, also published by Markosia, will hopefully appear later this year.
Yeah, “semi-retirement.” Neil seems to be one of our more active Senior Strippers!
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