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 animatorGene Deitch, Kim Deitch has sometimes worked with his brothers Simon Deitch and Seth Deitch.[6]
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'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
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
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
Creator series and books
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]
^Perkins, Lucas W. "Oral history interview with Kim Deitch, 2007-2009" (Oct. 7, 2007 and June 28, 2009). Archived at Columbia University.
^ a bDeitch, Kim. "Mad About Music: My Life in Records: Part 10: Cartoon Tunes," The Comics Journal (SEP. 9, 2011).
^ a b cBails, 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.
^ a b cDonahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127.
^ a bKim Deitch at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved on November 12, 2013. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013.
^Kelly, James; Lev Grossman; Richard Lacayo (October 16, 2005). "Time's List of the 100 Best Novels (1923–2005)". Time.
^ a bMurphyao, 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)
^"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.
^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.
Kim Deitch at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
Ford, Jeffrey. "An Interview with Kim Deitch", Fantastic Metropolis (Oct. 9, 2002)
Heller, Steven. AIGA.com: "Underground Comix Come of Age: An Interview with Kim Deitch" (March 27, 2007). Archived May 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
Kim Deitch's entry in the Webcomic Hurricane Relief Telethon Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
"The Ship That Never Came In!," an animated cartoon based on a Waldo strip that Deitch originally wrote for Pictopia in 1992. Archived 2018-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
Rogers, Sean (2011-05-02). "Filing Kim Deitch". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2011-05-05.