Cartoonist of the Month-July 2011

Wayne Campbell (1921-1996)

Teacher and cartoonist Wayne Eugene Campbell was born on April 12, 1921, in rural Benton County, Indiana, and lived much of his life in the Boswell area. He graduated from Boswell High School in 1939 and Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, in 1943. During his four years in the U.S. Army, he contributed drawings to Yank and Stars and Stripes. In civilian life, Campbell drew cartoons for the Milwaukee Journal, but he didn't gain national exposure until 1952 when Press Features Syndicate released his comic strip, Shorty. The name was fitting, for the strip was shorter than normal and designed to meet the needs of newspapers short on newsprint. The Chicago Sun-Times syndicated a second Campbell cartoon, Oh, Teacher, beginning in 1955. It lasted until 1958. Campbell drew on his experiences as a history teacher at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, for both features. He held that position for thirty years and retired to his hometown, Boswell. Campbell died on May 4, 1996, in Lafayette, Indiana.

A promotional advertisement for Wayne Campbell's syndicated cartoon panel Oh, Teacher.

And an example of the cartoon itself.

Campbell used a different style for his magazine gag cartoons. Here is one from an unknown date, published in an unknown journal.

Text and captions copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Hoosier Cartoonists Today

Dave Sattler

Dave Sattler is a newspaper cartoonist, illustrator, author, speaker, and long-time resident of the Lafayette, Indiana, area. He started cartooning for the Lafayette Courier and Journal in 1969. According to his website, he's still at it. You can read more about him and his see his work at his website, Dave Sattler Cartoons, here.

Copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Hoosier Cartoonists Today

Dee Bonner

Dennis J. "Dee" Bonner drew cartoons for the Shelbyville News for thirty years, retiring in 2008. Now his career has taken a new turn on the Internet. Mr. Bonner has his own website with more features than you can shake a stick at. It includes his own cartoons, cartoons submitted by readers, political commentary and more. You can read and see it all at Dee Bonner.com by following this link.

Copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Hoosier Cartoonists Today

David Sowards

David Sowards is the creator of Wild Life Cartoons, "The Comic Strip with the Most Jokes," featured on his own blog, Wild Life Cartoons at:

http://wildlifecartoons.blogspot.com/

A native of Ohio, David has lived most of his life in Indiana where he has become a mostly self-taught cartoonist as well as a writer of novels, short stories, songs, and jokes. His work has been published in The Indiana Daily Student, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Foliate Oak, Down in the Dirt, Creative with Words, UAW Newsletter, Fort Wayne Reader, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, Victory Herald, South Side Times, London Free Press, and several online publications. David is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with other cartoonists and to contribute to publications. He has several blogs. If you find one, you have found them all, but you might want to start with Wildlife Cartoons.

Thanks to David Sowards for information he provided for this posting.

Copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Peter Manges

Fort Wayne High School Student Wins Multiple Awards for His Cartooning and Illustration

Peter Manges, a student at R. Nelson Snider High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, recently brought home multiple awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's annual awards competition. Mr. Manges won first-place awards for art/illustration, cartoon portfolio of work, and comic/cartoons. He also picked up a second place award for illustration portfolio of work. Added to those awards, Mr. Manges won first place in the National Scholastic Press Association's cartooning contest and an award of excellence for column/commentary in the Ball State University High School Journalism Contest. Although he is still in school, you can't call Peter Manges an up-and-coming cartoonist. He's actually an already-here cartoonist. You can check out his work on his website (link below).

You can read more about Peter Manges and his award-winning in articles posted on the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette's website:

"Snider Artist Awarded for Comics" by Kelly Soderlund, February 15, 2011

"Recognitions," July 11, 2011

Look for Peter Manges' website, "Peter Manges Dot Com," here.

Copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

Cartoonist of the Month-June 2011

Frank O'Neal (1921-1986)

If there were a category here for "Just Barely a Hoosier," Frank O'Neal, creator of the widely admired comic strip Short Ribs, would qualify. Born in Springfield, Missouri, on May 9, 1921, O'Neal moved around a lot as a child, living in Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Louisiana, California, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. After serving in World War II, he studied cartooning with Jefferson Machamer for three years and started selling gag cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post in 1950. After six years as a freelancer, O'Neal got a job drawing storyboards for television. That lasted a year and a half. By the late 'fifties, he was ready for a shot at syndication. His spare but clever gag strip, Short Ribs, made its debut as a daily strip on November 17, 1958. A Sunday version showed up a few months later, on June 14, 1959. Short Ribs included a revolving cast of characters, including a king and his knights, a witch, cowboys and Indians, baseball players, ancient Egyptians, and even a pair of Russians living under communism. When O'Neal left the strip in 1973, his assistant, Frank Hill, took over with hardly a break in style or appeal. Frank O'Neal continued working in advertising and commercial art. Married with children, O'Neal enjoyed cars and sailing. He died on October 10, 1986, in Pacific Groves, California. I don't know if Tom K. Ryan (another Hoosier cartoonist) knew O'Neal personally, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Tumbleweeds was influenced by Short Ribs. If that's the case, maybe the influence has survived in the work of Mr. Ryan's assistant, Jim Davis of Garfield fame.

A gag cartoon by Indiana cartoonist Frank O'Neal (1921-1986), probably from the 1950s.

And the cover of a paperback collection with an altogether appropriate and informative title: The Name of This Book Is Short Ribs (1961).

Text and captions copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley

In the News-Howard Ashman

Stage and Screen Lyricist Howard Ashman Featured

Lyricist Howard Ashman who (with composer Alan Menken) wrote the songs for the Disney films The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992), was recently featured on the website of Northwestern University's North by Northwestern magazine (May 4, 2011). Ashman, who was born in Baltimore, studied at Boston University and Goddard College before receiving his master's degree from Indiana University. He broke into musical theater in New York City with an adaption of Hoosier author Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, his first collaboration with Alan Menken. The two went on to win two Grammy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards.  Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to Howard Ashman, who died in 1991 at age forty.

Copyright 2011, 2024 Terence E. Hanley