When Friday rolled around last week, cartoonists from far and wide could be found at the check-in desk for the weekend’s festivities. Name badges were put on, goodie bags were enjoyed, and backs were slapped. It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.
Andy Heckathorne of Penn State, editorial cartoonist Jeff Parker who is also co-creater (with Steve Kelley) of the “Dustin” comic strip, and yours truly.A picture at the check-in area of “MAD Magazine’s” Sam Viviano taking a photo of Great Lakes Chapter members Mark Szorady and Polly Keener.Walking through the streets of Pittsburgh, I stumbled across this well done, yet bizarre mural of Pittsburgh natives Andy Warhol and Andrew Carnegie getting their hair done over local dive Wiener World.
Friday afternoon delivered to us three informative seminars on three very different topics. The first seminar was hosted by Andrews McMeel Publishing who brought together a panel to discuss their foray into e-book publishing. Second up was Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh’s own editorial cartoonist who shared with us his work, most notably several cartoons poking fun at Pittsburgh’s very young mayor (only 26 years old when he was elected) whom Rob depicts as an impish child. The third seminar was provided by Terri Liebenson, cartoonist of the syndicated Pajama Diaries comic strip.
A candid moment of members of the NCS Great Lakes Chapter posing for a photo between seminars. Included in the bunch wearing a red shirt is the legendary humorous illustrator, 90 year old Roy Doty.
In the evening, the National Cartoonists Society members descended upon The ToonSeum, Pittsburgh’s cartoon art museum. On display were original pieces of art by every Reuben winner in the NCS’ 67 year history of the awards. Of note was an original by Rube Goldberg himself, along with his Reuben Award and his original sculpt when he designed the trophy named after him. Also garnering many “ooooohs” and “aaaaahs” was an original daily Calvin & Hobbs strip that Bill Watterson had hand colored and signed to Charles Schulz. Rare stuff indeed!
Cartoonists enjoying the Reuben winners art show at Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum complete with an anvil dangling from the ceiling. On the left is Rick Kirkman (“Baby Blues”), next to Rick is Greg Evans (“Luann”), against the yellow wall is children’s book illustrator Mo Willems, and to the right of the art is Nick Meglin retired from “MAD Magazine”.More cartoonists socializing in the ToonSeum such as John Reiner (“The Lockhorns”), Barbara Dale (greeting cards), Anton Emdin (“MAD”), Sam Viviano (“MAD”), Jim Borgman (“Zits”), and Abrams book editor Charles Kochman.The ToonSeum likes to have visiting cartoonists sign wooden drawing boards. You can see that my impromptu monster sketch is in good company.The Greenville Gang – Floridian cartoonist Keelan Parham who grew up in Greenville, SC, and yours truly with pal Andy Heckathorne who were art students together in Greenville.With great architectural details like this all over the city, it is no wonder Christopher Nolan made Pittsburgh his Gotham in “Dark Knight Rises”.
As the evening wound to a close, cartoonists gathered once again in the lobby of the historic William Penn Hotel where the gentle jazz strings of the piano scored our conversations long into dreamland territory. I enjoyed chats with Tundra cartoonist Chad Carpenter, his associate Bill Kellogg, Archie artist Stan Goldberg, new acquaintance Ainsley Olsen and Los Angeles pal David Folkman (Hogan’s Alley Magazine).
Standing in the magnificent lobby of the William Penn Hotel, the legendary Stan Goldberg known for his work in Archie Comics and the original color designer of the early Marvel Comics superheros.While Pittsburgh isn’t quite Philadelphia, there was still lots of brotherly love amongst colleagues such as here with David Folkman and Stan Goldberg.
With Saturday and Sunday still to come, more images from the 2013 Reuben weekend will be on their way!
