News that Mort Walker has died at the age of 94 today was a shock. I met him last summer and had the honor of staying at his studio for three nights and sharing breakfast with him two of the mornings. I took a couple of pictures, but the one above is one of my favorites (which I hadn't shared yet). It shows Mort walking into the entrance hall of his ofice, with all of his 'real art' in from of him, including a portrait of himself in the right top corner. On the walls behind him is his collection of comic strip art, which he started as a young boy by writing to the big name artists of the thirties. He was as sharp as ever, still drawing the strip that made his name. 94 is a hell of an age to reach but there were plenty of us who would have loved to hang on to him a little bit longer. My heart goes out to his children, his wife and everyone at the studio. I will prepare a post for Tuesday to celebrate Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark and even some of his lesser known strips with new scans. In the meantime you can try and spend some time with any of the posts I did in honor of this great talent. I expect that there will be many tributes over the next few days.
2 comments:
The comic art world has lost a giant.
Thanks for letting me know about Mort Walker. He was a special cartoonist and one whom I have books by and about. For the past several months, Beetle Baily has been absent from my local newspaper but I was glad to get it online if I wanted to. Walker was a rare talent who could turn a daily comic strip into a classic of humor and characterization.
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