Do you care to see what a cleaned up cartoonist looks like? I have PLENTY of photos to share with you from the black tie Reuben Awards banquet held last Saturday night on May 24. We COULD give these awards out wearing T-shirts and jeans, and maybe someday we will when we have enough categories to give one to everybody (cough-Grammys-cough), but for now there is something very classy about a tuxedo and gown (so long as they are not worn by one person at the same time).
Dad & Mom getting ready to attend their first Reuben Awards banquet.Wonderful comic book artist Stephanie Gladden and her husband John Miller all ready for the evening’s festivities.Yours truly (I waited to be in the pictures once I was all fancy) and Simpsons artist Bill Morrison who was about to run all the technical elements to the awards show.There were plenty of places where cartoonists could get some refreshing Arrowhead water such as this scene with Karen O’Connell, Brian Walker (“Hi & Lois”), and King Features’ Brendan Burford.I don’t know who this cartoonist is, but I like the cut of his jib.Animation guy Gary Goldstein and his wife Jayme enjoying the cocktail hour.Tom Gammill with his compact Cathy Guisewite accessory.Here I am with Wiley Miller (“Non Sequitur”) who was kneeling to get into the frame with me.After the cocktail hour, it was time to enter the Omni’s ballroom for dinner.After an opening film, NCS President Tom Richmond had some welcoming remarks for the audience.Master of Ceremonies Tom Gammill (writer for “The Simpsons”) opened with an enthusiastic, and rather long song about how the show was not going to go long.Having been dormant for a number of years, the NCS presented the A.C.E. (Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinaire) Award once again to a celebrity who had wanted to be a cartoonist. Former “MAD” editor Nick Meglin made the presentation to……Weird Al Yankovic who gave a heartfelt, and semi-sincere speech in a suit that was surprisingly NOT made of Hawaiian shirt patterns. (Wiley Miller must have bought the only one.)The next acceptance speech came from John Reiner & Bunny Hoest (“The Lockhorns”) who were bestowed the Gold Key Award which inducted them into the NCS Hall of Fame.Sergio Aragonès presented the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award to the legendary Russ Heath, who was having trouble keeping his rented tuxedo pants up due to suspenders being errantly absent from his rental package.I was next to Russ for dinner, and we snagged a nice shot together with his award at the beginning of the intermission.Disney Imagineering Legend Tony Baxter was in attendance along with Karen Evans who helps her father, Greg Evans, with the writing of his “Luann” comic strip.During intermission, Bunny Hoest put her hands in the air like she just didn’t care.Terri Libenson (“The Pajama Diaries”) engaging in some calisthenics.Jerry Van Amerongen (“Ballard Street”) wearing some inconspicuous vision correction lenses.When the awards were once again underway, Dave Whamond won the Silver Reuben for Magazine Illustration.Last year’s co-Reuben Award winners Rick Kirkman (“Baby Blues”) and Brian Crane (“Pickles”) presented the Silver Reuben for Greeting Cards to……Mark Parisi who also draws the “Off the Mark” comic strip.The Advertising Illustration Silver Reuben went to the very giddy and very talented Rich Powell.Patrick McDonnell (“Mutts”) presented the Silver Reuben for Book Illustration to William Joyce who was not on hand to accept. The plaque will look very nice next to Joyce’s Oscar.Brian Walker entertained the crowd with his rendition of “My Way”, after which he handed the Silver Reuben for Magazine Gag Cartoon to……Matt Diffee who draws for “The New Yorker.” Interestingly, Matt contemplated out loud how it was odd for him to be winning the award when his parents had never subscribed to the magazine while he was growing up “because they were not Communists.”Have you ever seen Mark Evanier in a tuxedo? We all did when he presented the Silver Reuben for best Comic Book.Sergio Aragonès was only happy to accept the Comic Book award from his old pal and frequent collaborator for his work on “Sergio Aragonès Funnies”.Jerry Scott (“Zits” & “Baby Blues” writer) made it to the stage in time to mug for the camera with a cut-out of Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the “Nancy” comic strip that Jerry had a turn at drawing back in the 1980s.Ryan Pagelow seemed stunned to win for On-Line Comics – Short Form for “Buni”. Either that or he was contemplating becoming a dad for the first time as his pregnant wife Nicky looked on.The many faces of Australian native Jason Chatfield. Can you believe they gave this guy a Green Card?They also let Chatfield present the Newspaper Panel Cartoon Silver Reuben to Dave Coverly (“Speed Bump”).Michael Ramirez (“Investor’s Business Daily”) won the Silver Reuben for Editorial Cartoons giving his speech next to presenter and fellow editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich (“The Atlanta Journal Constitution”).In the shadow of Tom Gammill’s Dean Doozie, Lynn Johnston (“For Better Or For Worse”) presented the award for Newspaper Comic Strip.Isabella Bannerman happily accepted the Newspaper Comic Strip Silver Reuben for her work on “Six Chix”.Then the moment all were waiting for. With four nominees this year, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year was presented by Mell Lazarus (“Momma”) to Wiley Miller for his work on “Non Sequitur”.And thus was the end of a long, but shorter than last year, show. (Stephen & Heidi Silver)
To see a list of all the winners in this year’s Reuben Awards, CLICK HERE to go to the NCS website!
There are more photos yet to come from the Reuben Awards weekend’s last day!
