What was your favorite comic strip as a kid?
My parents tell me I started reading and drawing the comics at age 2, not that I could understand them. I grew up with Dick Tracy, Blondie, Peanuts and Li'l Abner. Later my tastes turned to editorial cartoonists such as Pat Oliphant and, naturally, Jeff MacNelly.
What other comic strips have influenced you?
When I was in 4th grade my dad brought home a Mad Magazine and I just loved their humor. Mad cartoonists like Paul Coker Jr., Don Martin, Mort Drucker and Jack Davis were all guys that I grew up admiring a lot. Later it was Russell Myers (Broom-Hilda); he has wonderful landscapes that were great for his characters, especially early on.
I wasn't really into editorial cartoons at first. Our newspaper was behind the times. There were the typical political cartoons with Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves looking into the sunrise with the caption, "Hope." It wasn't until 1975 when they started running Jeff MacNelly that I really got into it. Jeff's work really caught my eye. It was so fabulous with his whimsical drawings, and the humor was so neat. Later, cartoonists like Mike Peters and Don Wright were my favorites.
Which character is your favorite to draw?
Andy Bear. I really identify with him. People have said to me, "That bear is starting to look like you," and I suppose he does look like me. I certainly dress like him. Unless I'm going to work, I wear jeans and a checked or plaid shirt just like he does. Because the sun isn't good for my bald head, I wear a baseball hat.
Which particular Plugger panel is your favorite?
My all time favorite is the panel where there are two guys riding in a car with sunglasses on. One man is saying "my investor says that with my portfolio, I can retire at age 50" and the caption readers, 'The only air bag in a Pluggers car is his brother in law.' I opened that letter up and just started laughing out loud it was great!
Did you go to school to be a cartoonist?
Initially I went to school as a studio art major for printmaking, drawing and painting. I chose the University of West Florida in Pensacola because of the small art department. But while I was there I became interested in the fine arts and I graduated with a Fine Arts degree. I like to paint, and I have a serious side that likes to do portraits of my wife and children. I'm not really sure how, but I got back into cartooning. I don't have any regrets - painting is a nice Sunday occupation, but it's not really something I could make a living at. I have a number of projects that I'd like to work on in the next few years.
If you were a cartoon character, who would you like to be?
Daddy Warbucks (from Annie) because he has a great life and a lot of money and he smokes cigars and all that - not that I'd like to smoke cigars. I would not like to be Charlie Brown, because he's just so unhappy.
The best advice my mother or father ever gave me…
Do what makes you happy. I think my parents had aspirations of me being a lawyer. They quickly realized that was a lost cause, so they simply said, just do whatever makes you happy, and I did.
If you weren't a cartoonist, what other career would you like to try?
In an ideal world I would probably live on the beach and paint pictures of lighthouses.
Have you ever had to wear a disguise, what for or why?
No, I'm not that famous.
What is your prized possession?
My family.
What is your least favorite vegetable?
The one vegetable I absolutely refuse to eat is a rutabaga. My mom used to cook them when I was a kid. They just smell and look really bad.
If Batman and Robin were to duel - who would win?
I would say that Robin would win these days. Batman is on the punchy side. Although Robin doesn't have the tools that Batman does, he has that bat boomerang thing. In the old days, Batman would win, but given his age I would say that today Robin would probably beat him out.
Who is your hero?
My dad really was a wonderful person. Nobody ever said a bad thing about him and he was really outgoing. I'm kind of an introvert and I really have to work at it, but he was wonderful - a total extrovert.
What's your favorite part of doing the strip?
Reading the mail and seeing the appreciation the fans have for the panel. My least favorite part of doing Pluggers is opening all of the mail, simply because there's just so much of it.
Any recommendations to cartoonists looking to get started?
Go into the computer software business. It is easier to become an actor these days than a cartoonist. I don't know if I would recommend it or encourage someone who was just getting started, especially if they were trying to find a job in editorial cartooning. I would give them the realities of the business. There are simply not that many jobs. For a while, there were a lot of musical chairs in the newspaper business with cartoonists trying to find a spot. Some newspapers have pretty much stopped hiring cartoonists, and that fact has made it very difficult for new people to get into the business. Comic strips are a hard sell because of the limited space on the comics pages.
