Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Jerry Dumas, R. I. P.

Greenwich’s Jerry Dumas, comic artist extraordinaire, dies at 86 - GreenwichTime: Jerry Dumas, a story-teller in words and pictures who reached millions of readers through his adept observations of the foibles and flaws of human nature, died Saturday at his home in Greenwich from neuroendocrine cancer. 

He was 86. 

His spare drawings and punchy quips for “Beetle Bailey” helped make it the second most popular comic strip in the world. His handiwork extended far beyond the funny pages: as a writer, poet, raconteur, painter, athlete and essayist, Dumas reached the pinnacle of success in a number of fields.

Hat tip to Steven Levine.

1 comment:

Gary R. said...

I was a big fan of "Sam's Strip," an ahead-of-its-time meta comic that Dumas did with Mort Walker in 1961-63; the entire run was collected in book form several years ago. "Sam and Silo" was a continuation of the characters from that strip; its format was more traditional, which probably was a big part of its greater success.