I
was born at a very young age long, long ago in a hospital far,
far away. In honor of my birth, the hospital
was torn down to make way for a very important parking lot. Ah, but
that was back in a time before cable TV, video games, arena football
and central air conditioning so we must fast forward (another non-existent
phrase at the time of my birth since the invention of the VCR was
years away)…
As far back as I can remember, two or three weeks on a good day,
I have loved drawing cartoons. My teachers loved my cartoons too – so
much so that over and over they sent me to the principal’s
office so the principal could enjoy them as well and I could dream
up more
as I rested on a chair outside the office. My drawings were first
published when I was in ninth grade. I drew several section divider
pages and
other illustrations for my Junior High School (this was in the dark
ages before Middle Schools) yearbook. They were awful and I spent
several years trying to buy, cajole, wheedle or steal back every
copy ever
printed. So far I have my copy. And a couple other copies have been
promised to me in the wills of classmates who, unfortunately, are
a lot healthier than I am.
My High School years were whiled away in deep trouble and as the
cartoonist for the school newspaper. My reputation having preceded
me, each weekly
cartoon was sent to the principal’s office where it was carefully
inspected with a magnifying glass and a razor blade until it was sufficiently
sanitized for publication. In spite of this “help from the authorities” I
was the first person ever to receive an award for editorial cartooning
from the “Quill & Scroll Society” of the Illinois High
School Newspaper Association.
After High School I went to college then to junior college then
into the Army then back to college then to Phoenix, Arizona
to a Captain
Beefheart / Little Feat concert. This was a life-changing experience.
When the concert ended I was hung over, unemployed and 2000 miles
from home. I recognized this as an opportunity to research material
for
future comics and immediately embarked on a years-long life of
fun and debauchery disguised as a fact-finding mission. During
these
times I held many wonderful jobs, gas station attendant, art director,
resort
manager, social worker, antisocial worker, business owner, aimless
wanderer, husband to the long-suffering Barbara, father to the
lovely Morgan and Ramona, father-in-law to the equally lovely
Eric, proud
grandfather to Sebastian the Great and always…cartoonist. So… enough
about me…how you doin’?
