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My thrilling bio (I know you’ll be impressed):
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When Drabble made its debut on March 5, 1979, my syndicate billed me as the youngest syndicated cartoonist to both write and draw a daily comic strip. I don’t know if that was true or not. I signed my syndicate contract at age 21 and was 22 when Drabble began. Anyway, maybe one day I’ll become the oldest syndicated cartoonist. I think I have the highest cholesterol of any cartoonist, so at least that’s something.
My career began at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA, and continued at Sacramento State University, where I drew cartoons for the student newspapers. I made the decision in college to avoid political humor, which is what all the other cartoonists were submitting, and stick to comedy. That’s where the Drabble family was born. While in Sacramento, the Sacramento Union contacted me and asked if they could run my cartoons on
a freelance basis for $5 each. What a thrill that was! I was a professional cartoonist. I worked up the courage to send samples of my work to the great Charles M. Schulz and ask if he had any advice. He wrote back stating that he hesitated to comment on art which is sent to him, as it wasn't him that I needed to impress, it was a syndicate editor somewhere. Along with his letter, he sent me a list of newspaper syndicates and their contact info. That's where I got the address of United Feature Syndicate, which signed me to a contract!
Norman Drabble was basically me as college student (only I was even more pathetic). Over the years, I became more like Norman's dad, Ralph. Ralph was the original Mall Cop, beginning back in the early 80's. If fact, I think the term "mall cop" originated in the strip. At least I had never heard it before. Other characters in the strip are Honeybunch (Norman's mom), Patrick and Penny (the younger siblings), Oogie the cat, Wally the wiener dog, and Bob the duck.
Since Drabble began, I have only missed two weeks at the drawing board. One week when my mother died in '83, and one week in 2008 when I landed in the hospital. So only 12 repeats in all. That means I've drawn a lot of original strips over the years. I'm not sure how many. Let's see, Drabble began in 1979, there are 365 days in a year, a new strip every day, minus 12... well, I'll let you figure it out if you want!
Drabble can be seen every day in finer newspapers everywhere.
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