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]
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]
^ abcBails, 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.
^ abcDonahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127.
^ abMurphyao, Amanda, in Booker, M. Keith, ed. (2014). "Deitch, Kim (1944- )". Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas. Greenwood. ISBN978-0313397509. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
