RIP Cartoon Pioneer Jules Pfeiffer

Goodbye To A Comics Original

The very sad news reached us that comics veteran Jules Pfeiffer has died at the age of 95 years old and our senior editor Andrew Colman marks his passing…

Jules Feiffer was a unique example of the overlooked genius in comics – a writer / artist who began his career in the early 1940s during the protean years of the industry, who then went on, rather like his mentor Will Eisner, to other pursuits, mainly in cartooning rather than comic books. Yet he exuded the medium like few others, his academic approach to cartoons and comic art allowing him to see the endless possibilities within the form. He was also highly successful in other media, working as a screenwriter, satirist, playwright and novelist. Rarely if ever mentioned in the same breath as his golden age peers, Feiffer carved out a broad niche that barely intersected with four color floppies, but nevertheless was a key sideshow to the main event, while being a forebear to biographical comic artists who arrived in the ensuing decades.

After serving his apprenticeship under Eisner, who commended his work ethic and ear for nuance and dialogue, Feiffer moved to the Village Voice in 1956 where he remained a contributor for the next four decades. By 1959 his work was syndicated nationally as well as in England, for the Observer. Originally titled Sick, Sick, Sick, the series was eventually simply called Feiffer – his strips exploring the inner dialogue, neurosis, fear and desire of his characters and by extension the mid-20^th century American mindset, his sketchy, minimalist artwork evoking the angsty, disordered psychology and mores of the age. Feiffer would go on to publish many collections of his work that satirized the post-war era from the 50s to the 70s.

In 1965 he produced the first history of the comic medium, that predated Jim Steranko’s effort by several years – The Great Comic Book Heroes. In 1979 he was the writer / artist on one of the earliest graphic novels, Tantrum, but it made little impression in comic book stores. The thinking man’s cartoonist, Feiffer would eventually write his memoir, Backing into Forward, about his early hothouse days in the industry, that would prove to be the benchmark for such comic-related autobiographies. He would also continue to publish more graphic novels well into his eighties.

Despite his prodigious work rate and his ability to pitch ideas as well as ghost on Will Eisner’s Spirit strips, Jules Feiffer is considerably less well-known in current fandom than his distinguished colleague, having spent his career after his stint with him on political cartoons and in other media, notably writing the script for Mike Nichols’s Carnal Knowledge and Robert Altman’s Popeye. One of the few comic strip artists to win a Pulitzer prize and be inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame, Feiffer deserves to be better remembered, primarily for what he brought to the table as an artist and more importantly as a writer of cerebral, cutting-edge and thought-provoking strips that heavily informed the work of celebrated satirical cartoonists such as Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury) and Berke Breathed (Bloom County). Despite all his achievements he never quite acquired legend status in the mainstream, but his influence, knowledge and life investment in comics and graphic art should certainly be acknowledged.