Kim Deitch

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Kim Deitch
Deitch in 2004
Born (1944-05-21) May 21, 1944 (age 79)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Area(s)Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)Fowlton Means
Notable works
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Alias the Cat!
AwardsEisner Award, 2003
Inkpot Award, 2008[1]
Partner(s)Trina Robbins (1969–1970)[2]
Spouse(s)Sally Cruikshank (common-law, 1971–c. 1982)[3]
Pam Butler (m. 1994–present)
Children1 daughter (with Robbins)

Kim Deitch (born May 21, 1944[4] in Los Angeles, California)[5] is an American cartoonist who was an important figure in the underground comix movement of the 1960s, remaining active in the decades that followed with a variety of books and comics, sometimes using the pseudonym Fowlton Means.

Much of Kim Deitch's work deals with the animation industry and characters from the world of cartoons.[6] His best-known character is a mysterious cat named Waldo, who appears variously as a famous cartoon character of the 1930s, as an actual character in the "reality" of the strips, as the hallucination of a hopeless alcoholic surnamed Mishkin (a victim of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams), as the demonic reincarnation of Judas Iscariot; and who, occasionally, is claimed to have overcome Deitch and written the comics himself. Waldo's appearance is reminiscent of such black cat characters as Felix the Cat, Julius the Cat, and Krazy Kat.

The son of illustrator and animator Gene Deitch, Kim Deitch has sometimes worked with his brothers Simon Deitch and Seth Deitch.[6]

Biography[edit]

Deitch's influences include Winsor McCay, Chester Gould, Jack Cole, and Will Eisner; he attended the Pratt Institute.[4] Before deciding to become a professional cartoonist, Deitch worked odd jobs and did manual labor, including with the merchant marine. Searching for a path, he at one point joined the Republican Party; at another point he became devotee of Hatha yoga.[5]

Deitch regularly contributed comical, psychedelia-tinged comic strips (featuring the flower child "Sunshine Girl" and "Uncle Ed, The India Rubber Man") to New York City's premier underground newspaper, the East Village Other, beginning in 1967. He joined Bhob Stewart as an editor of EVO's all-comics spin-off, Gothic Blimp Works, in 1969. During this period, he lived with fellow cartoonist Spain Rodriguez in a sixth-floor walk-up apartment in New York's East Village.[5]

Deitch was also a publisher, as co-founder of the Cartoonists Co-Op Press, a publishing venture by Deitch, Jay Lynch, Bill Griffith, Jerry Lane, Willy Murphy, Diane Noomin, and Art Spiegelman that operated in 1973–1974.

Deitch's The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was chosen by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the 100 best English-language graphic novels ever written.[7] In 2008, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art featured a retrospective exhibition of his work.[8]

Personal life[edit]

From his first relationship, to cartoonist and author Trina Robbins, Deitch has a daughter, Casey.[9] Through most of the 1970s, Deitch was in an 11-year relationship with animator Sally Cruikshank.[3][4] He met Pam Butler in 1994 and they subsequently married.[9]

Awards[edit]

Deitch won the 2003 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue for The Stuff of Dreams (Fantagraphics)[10] and in 2008 he was awarded an Inkpot Award. In 2014, he was nominated for the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel for The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley.[11]

Bibliography[edit]

Creator series and books[edit]

Books arranged in order by original published date (publication date shown first, then title, publisher, number of pages, date drawn, and availability). OOP = Out Of Print.[12]
  • 2019 Reincarnation Stories (Fantagraphics, 260 pg) Hardback
  • 2013 The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley! (Fantagraphics, 176 pg) Hardback
  • 2010 The Search for Smilin' Ed (Fantagraphics, 162 pg) — serialized in Zero Zero beginning in 1999
  • 2007 Deitch's Pictorama (Fantagraphics, 184 pg) — co-authored with Simon Deitch and Seth Kallen Deitch; includes 78-pg "Sunshine Girl"
  • 2006 Shadowland (Fantagraphics, 182 pg) — 10 stories (OOP)
  • 2002 The Stuff of Dreams (Fantagraphics, 136 pg) — original OOP; re-released by Pantheon as a hardback in 2007 as Alias the Cat!
  • 1993 The Mishkin File! (Fantagraphics, 32 pg) original OOP; reprinted in The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Pantheon 2002)
  • 1992 All Waldo Comics (Fantagraphics, 60 pg) — 5 Waldo stories published from 1969-1988 (OOP)
  • 1991 The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (original published in Raw [OOP]; re-released by Pantheon as a hardback in 2002, 160 pg) — with Simon Deitch
  • 1990 A Shroud for Waldo (Fantagraphics, 158 pg)
  • 1989 Beyond the Pale (Fantagraphics, 136 pg) — 22 stories produced from 1969-1984 (OOP)
  • 1988 Hollywoodland (Fantagraphics, 76 pg) — 1984 story (OOP)
  • 1988 No Business Like Show Business (3-D Zone)
  • 1972–1973 Corn Fed Comics (Honeywell & Todd and Cartoonists Co-Op Press, 2 issues)

Publications appeared in[edit]

Lean Years (1974), a Cartoonists Co-op Press one-shot with cover art by Deitch.
  • Apex Treasury of Underground Comics, Links Books/Quick Fox, 1974, ISBN 0-8256-3042-8
  • Arcade
  • Bijou Funnies — issues #2, 3, and 8
  • Corporate Crime Comics
  • East Village Other
  • Gothic Blimp Works
  • Heavy Metal
  • High Times
  • Laugh in the Dark
  • LA Weekly
  • Lean Years
  • Mineshaft Magazine
  • Pictopia
  • Prime Cuts
  • Raw
  • Swift Comics (Bantam Books, April 1971) — with Art Spiegelman, Allan Shenker and Trina Robbins
  • Southern Fried Fugitives
  • Tales of Sex and Death
  • Get Stupid
  • Webcomic Hurricane Relief Telethon
  • Weirdo
  • Young Lust
  • Zero Zero

Animation[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Inkpot Award
  2. ^ Perkins, Lucas W. "Oral history interview with Kim Deitch, 2007-2009" (Oct. 7, 2007 and June 28, 2009). Archived at Columbia University.
  3. ^ a b Deitch, Kim. "Mad About Music: My Life in Records: Part 10: Cartoon Tunes," The Comics Journal (SEP. 9, 2011).
  4. ^ a b c Bails, Jerry; Hames Ware. "Kim Deitch". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c Donahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127.
  6. ^ a b Kim Deitch at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved on November 12, 2013. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013.
  7. ^ Kelly, James; Lev Grossman; Richard Lacayo (October 16, 2005). "Time's List of the 100 Best Novels (1923–2005)". Time.
  8. ^ Beck, Jerry. "Kim Deitch at MoCCA," Cartoon Brew (Sept. 2, 2008).
  9. ^ a b Murphyao, Amanda, in Booker, M. Keith, ed. (2014). "Deitch, Kim (1944- )". Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0313397509. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "2003 Eisner Awards For works published in 2002". San Diego Comic-Con International. Archived from the original on 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  11. ^ Canva, Michael (August 18, 2014). "SMALL PRESS EXPO: Here are your nominees for the 2014 SPX Ignatz Awards…". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  12. ^ Fantagraphics list, last page of Smilin' Ed

External links[edit]

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