CBR's Top 50 Cartoonists - The List

[Ryan K]

The voting for the CBR Top 50 Cartoonists has ended. Time to unveil the results!

Standings were determined by the 72 ballots received in an open call between 8/19/07 and 9/2/07 by CBR members as detailed in this thread: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists. Voters ranked their Top 10 favorite comic cartoonists. Any creator who wrote AND illustrated at least a portion of their work in comics, whether that be comic books, manga, comic strips, editorial cartoons, etc, was eligible. Voters ranked their selections 1-10 and those votes were weighted. A number 1 selection received 10 points; a number 2 selection received 9 points, and so on. The number of first place votes a cartoonist received will be put in parenthesis next to their total number of points.

Over the course of the next week or two I’ll unveil the list, starting at #50 and working my way down and including short career biographies and photos of the cartoonists and a sample of their work (my source for the biographies basically consists of Wikipedia so if I've made a mistake or left anything significant out feel free to say something in the discussion thread and I'll be more than happy to amend). As we near the end I’ll unveil the other 120 cartoonists who received votes.

I ask that you PLEASE don’t post in this thread, but urge you to instead discuss in this one:

CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread

For comparison’s sake, here again are the results of Brian Cronin’s CBR Top 100 Writers and Artists project from about a year ago:

CBR All Time Writers 1-100
CBR All Time Writers 105-201
CBR All Time Artists 1-100
CBR All Time Artists 105-325

And without further ado . . .

[Ryan K]

50 (tie). Charles Addams - 16 points



http://www.charlesaddams.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Addams

Charles Addams (1/7/12 – 9/29/88) was an American cartoonists known primarily for the characters born of his macabre cartoons which included The Addams Family.

Addams’ work first appeared in The New Yorker in 1932 and from 1938 until his death he was a regular contributor creating over 1300 cartoons (some of which also appeared in Collier’s and TV Guide). In 1956 he also had a syndicated comic strip called Out of This World.

In the early 1960’s Addams was approached by a TV executive about an Addams Family TV show. Addams’ involvement was minimal; he created names and more characteristics for the characters.

[Ryan K]

50 (tie). David Lapham – 16 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lapham

David Lapham is an Eisner award winning American comic book artist, writer and cartoonist know primarily for his independent comic Stray Bullets published by his company El Capitan Books.

Stray Bullets is a comic dealing with criminal and tragic storylines revolving around a large cast of characters. Other cartoonist work of note includes a small run on Valiant Comics’ Harbinger series, the 9 issue miniseries Murder Me Dead (also published by El Capitan), the 6 issue miniseries Daredevil Vs. Punisher: Means And Ends from Marvel, and the recently released Silverfish graphic novel from Vertigo.

Lapham’s other comic work includes work on series such as Detective Comics, The Darkness, Warriors of Plasm, and Giant Size Wolverine #1.

[Ryan K]

46 (tie). Garry Trudeau – 17 points



http://www.doonesbury.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Trudeau

Garry Trudeau is an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Doonesbury.

Doonesbury is an often politically themed comic strip which revolves around several characters ranging from the title character to the President of the United States. The strip debuted on October 26, 1970 and continues to this day. In 1975 the strip won Trudeau a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.

I actually don’t know where to begin to condense information regarding the strip into a nice little paragraph here; just read the Wiki entry if you have no idea what Doonesbury is, then go over to the Doonesbury site and read some.

[Ryan K]

46 (tie). Harvey Kurtzman – 17 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Kurtzman

Harvey Kurtzman broke on to the comic scene while still a teenager in the 40s, working for a number of comic companies.

Eventually, in the late 40s (after serving in the military during World War II), Kurtzman ended up at EC, where he helped write some of the most memorable war stories of the time period in Two-Fisted Tales.

Soon after, he helped EC launch another title. You may have heard of it. It was called Mad.

After doing Mad for awhile (including the move to magazine format, in an attempt by publisher William Gaines to keep Kurtzman from leaving), Kurtzman left and for the rest of his notable career, he made due on magazines and comics all basically in keeping with the style he developed on Mad.

Kurtzman passed away in 1993.



Source: CBR's All-Time Top 100 Artists and Writers! - Top 50 Writers by Brian Cronin (I figure he phrased it better than I could).

[Ryan K]

46 (tie). Rick Geary – 17 points



http://www.rickgeary.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Geary

Rick Geary is an American cartoonist known for his comic A Treasury of Victorian Murder published by NBM.

Volumes in that series include The Bloody Benders, The Case of Madeline Smith, The Borden Tragedy, The Mystery of Mary Rogers, The Beast of Chicago, and The Murder of Abraham Lincoln.

Throughout his career, Geary has been a comic contributor to The National Lampoon, Heavy Metal, The New York Times Book Review, MAD Magazine, Spy, Rolling Stone, and The Los Angeles Times,



(Above) A Treasury of Victorian Murder, Vol. 6: The Beast of Chicago.

[Ryan K]

46 (tie). Kim Deitch – 17 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Deitch
http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/deitch/deitch.html
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/a...547796,00.html

Kim Deitch is an American Cartoonist who played a large role in the underground comics revolution of the 1960’s contributing to work to the East Village Other and comics such as Raw, Weirdo, and Heavy Metal.

Collections of his work and graphic novels include the books The Stuff of Dreams, Beyond the Pale, A Shroud for Waldo, Shadowland, and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which in 2003, Time magazine named one of the 25 greatest graphic novels of the last 25 years.



(Above) Deitch's The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

[Ryan K]

41 (tie). Frank Cho – 18 points



http://www.libertymeadows.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Cho

Frank Cho is an award winning American cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his comic strip Liberty Meadows and his ability to draw . . . full figured women.

Started in 1997 as an evolution of his strip University2 (University Squarred), Liberty Meadows follows the misadventures of a group of anthropomorphic animals and their caretakers at an animal sanctuary/rehabilitation center. The strip ceased being syndicated in 2001 due to editorial interference and since then Cho has published the strip in comic book format (published by Image Comics). Cho’s other work as a cartoonist includes the 7 issue miniseries Shanna the She- Devil from Marvel Comics.

Cho has recently been working as an artist on Marvel Comics’ New Avengers and Mighty Avengers as well as providing covers for some of their more ample female characters’ titles (yes its the word titles - dirty minded fanboy).




(Above) Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho.

Discuss Monkey Boy and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

41 (tie). Matt Groening – 18 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Groening

Matt Groening and the multiple Emmy Award winning cartoonist who created the comic strip Life in Hell. And some cartoon.

Life in Hell a strip usually alternatively featuring anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers named Jeff and Akbar started in 1977 in the magazine Wet.

In 1985, a Hollywood type by the name of James L. Brooks approached Groening about doing Life in Hell animated cartoons for a TV show called The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing he would lose rights to his Life in Hell characters, Groening decided to create The Simpsons instead.

It worked out OK.

Groening’s television and film work has taken over his creative output but he insists he will never completely abandon Life in Hell.



Discuss Groening and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

41 (tie). Bill Mauldin – 18 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mauldin

Bill Maudlin (10/29/1921 – 1/22/2003) was an American, 2 time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist.

During World War II while in the 45th Infantry Division, Maudlin began creating cartoons about the average American GI (including creating his two famous characters – Willie and Joe. His work caught on and he began cartooning for Stars and Stripes magazine. Maudlin received the Purple Heart for his efforts in the war and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his cartoons.

After the war Maudlin’s cartoons turned more political and his work appeared in Life, The St. Louis Dispatch, and The Chicago Sun Times until his retirement in 1991 (with a short break in the late 1950’s where he just lounged around and ran for Congress).



Discuss Maudlin and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

41 (tie). E. C. Segar – 18 points



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elzie_Crisler_Segar

Elzie Crisler Segar (12/8/1894 – 10/13/1938) was an American cartoonist best known for his newspaper comic strip Thimble Theater and the character it spawned, Popeye.

Thimble Theater began appearing in newspapers December 19, 1919. The strip revolved around the adventures of a theater troup including Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl, and Ham Gravy. It wasn’t until January of 1929 that a sailor man by the name of Popeye was introduced in the strip and took the comic and the country by storm.

Last year, Fantagraphics began a project to reprint all of Segar’s Popeye strips in 6 volumes.



Discuss Segar and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

41 (tie). Andi Watson – 18 points



http://www.andiwatson.biz/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andi_Watson

Andi Watson is a British cartoonist and illustrator known for a variety of independent comics and graphic novels.

A partial list of his cartoonist work included Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day, Love Fights, Skeleton Key, Geisha, and Dumped.

Watson has also served as writer for the new DC/Minx graphic novel Clubbing (with artist Josh Howard), co-writer of Marvel’s Tsunami imprint title Namor, and as writer of a run on Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book.



(Above) Dumped by Andi Watson.

Discuss Watson and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

39 (tie). Frank Springer - 19 points (1)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Springer

Frank Springer is an American comic book writer, artist, and sometime cartoonist best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ Dazzler.

Springer was a staple of the comic adventures of Allison Blaire through her 42 issues. Mostly credited only as the artist, he also wrote two of the scripts and co-wrote a third. Other cartoonist output included work in Games Magazine, Muppets Magazine, Playboy, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and the New York Daily News.

The majority of Springer’s other comic work was either as an artist or writer on such titles as Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Secret Six, Dial H for Hero, The Savage She Hulk, and Transformers. He also served as the illustrator for the comic strips The Incredible Hulk, The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-geist, Frank Fleet, and Rex Morgan M.D. Early in his career he was an assistant to George Wunder on Terry and the Pirates (Wunder had succeeded Milton Caniff).



(Above) As I could find no examples of Mr. Springer’s work as a cartoonist, I present one of the covers he produced for Marvel Comics’ Dazzler.

Discuss Springer and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

39 (tie). Jessica Hickman - 19 points (1)

http://deadplayground.com/

Jessica Hickman is a cartoonist and illustrator known for her website www.deadplayground.com.

Hickman’s cartoonist work includes the 4 page comic Visiting Day found on her website.

The vast majority of Hickman’s comic work is pencils and pin ups for titles such as Oddly Norman, Fignation Times, 3 Days the Devil Danced, Tales From the Inner Sanctum Vol. 1, Dial M for Monster, and Decoy: Storm of the Century. She also works as an illustrator for several projects including Lord of the Rings and Star Wars trading cards.



(Above) A sample of Hickman’s pencils from 3 Days the Devil Danced.

Discuss Hickman and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.

[Ryan K]

38. Milton Caniff - 20 points (1)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Caniff

Milton Caniff (2/28/1907 – 5/3/1988)was an American cartoonist known for his comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon.

Caniff’s first comic strip work was to take over Al Capp’s Mister Gilfeather in 1932. He followed this with a strip called the Gay Thirties in 1933, and an adventure strip called Dickie Dare later that year.

In 1934 Caniff was hired by The New York Daily News to produce the adventure strip Terry and the Pirates, which would make him famous. Terry and the Pirates followed the adventures of a boy named Terry and his adventures with various “pirates” around the world. Caniff left the strip in 1946 to create Steve Canyon, a strip he would completely own the rights to (a big deal at the time). Canyon was another adventure strip, this time following the adventures of a pilot (who would eventually join the Air Force). Caniff produced Steve Canyon until his death in 1988.

Checker Books has been publishing year by year reprints of Caniff’s Steve Canyon and IDW has kicked of their Library of American Comics line with the first volume of a planned six reprinting the Complete Terry and the Pirates this month. Also recently released by Fantagraphics was a 800 plus page biography by R. C. Harvey entitled Meanwhile . . . A Biography of Milton Caniff.



Discuss Caniff and all the other cartoonists here: CBR Top 50 Cartoonists – Discussion Thread.