Jan Eliot (born 1950 in San Jose, California) is an American cartoonist. [1]
Before becoming a full-time cartoonist, Jan worked as a waitress, car salesperson, bookmobile driver, advertising copywriter, graphic designer, and greeting card writer. In her cartoonist career, she initially worked as a graphic designer in the daytime, while doing cartoons at night. Some independent papers published her work, and after 16 years, she achieved syndication, [2] and became a full-time cartoonist. [3] Prior to Eliot's syndication, she was mentored by cartoonist Lynn Johnston, who proofed the cartoon strips. [2]
She chose the name Eliot after her divorce, in honor of George Eliot. [4] She lives in Eugene, Oregon [5] and is married to Ted Lay. [3]
Eliot wrote and illustrated the comic strip Stone Soup . She created a previous strip known as Patience and Sarah, which enjoyed a run of five years in 10 publications.
Her next comic strip was called Sister City. This weekly strip appeared in the Eugene, Oregon, The Register-Guard for five years before the name was changed to Stone Soup in November 1995, when it became nationally syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick. Stone Soup is syndicated to more than 300 newspapers, mostly in America but also across the world. [3]
The strip's characters, widowed single mom Val and her children Alix and Holly, were based on Eliot's life and the lives of those around her, [6] but she also considers each character a reflection of herself. [2] Val's sister, Joan is also a working mom, who lives across the fence from her. Other characters include Joan's husband, Wally and Val's new husband, Phil. [7]
Stone Soup featured as a daily strip for 20 years [8] until October 2015, when Eliot decided she no longer wanted to draw a daily comic, to devote more time to travel, socialize and focus on other creative projects. [9] She continued to create a Sunday cartoon strip.
After reader outcry at the family-oriented strip's cessation in the Montreal Gazette , [10] the weekend version of Stone Soup was reintroduced to the Montreal Gazette in January 2016. [6]
On June 15, 2020, she announced that she was retiring. [11] The last Stone Soup strip was published on July 26, 2020. [12]
In addition to eleven Stone Soup compilations, Eliot's work has appeared in:
2011 Timely and Timeless, Library of Congress (September 2011) [13]
2016 Comic City, USA, Oregon Historical Society (December 2016 - January 2017) [14]
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises, like The Cuphead Show!, which it produced with Netflix, and licenses its classic characters and properties.
Noreen Stevens is a Canadian cartoonist, who illustrated and wrote the lesbian comic strip The Chosen Family. Her work in the field of comics began in 1984. The Chosen Family is featured in the ensemble comic book Dyke Strippers: Lesbian Cartoonists from A to Z alongside the likes of Diane DiMassa and Alison Bechdel.
The comic strip switcheroo was conducted on April 1, 1997, in which several cartoonists, without the foreknowledge of their editors, worked on the other's comic strip for that date, in commemoration of April Fools' Day.
United Media was a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core businesses were the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
Stone Soup is an American newspaper comic strip. It was created by cartoonist Jan Eliot as Sister City, and was renamed after being syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate in 1995. The strip originally ran daily until 2015, when it switched to Sunday strips only before ending in 2020. The strip centers on a single mother named Valerie Stone, and her struggles to raise her daughters Alix and Holly.
Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird. Founded in 1970, it was merged in July 2009 with Uclick to form Universal Uclick.
Frances Edwina Dumm was a writer-artist who drew the comic strip Cap Stubbs and Tippie for nearly five decades; she is also notable as America's first full-time female editorial cartoonist. She used her middle name for the signature on her comic strip, signed simply Edwina.
Jane's World was a comic strip by cartoonist Paige Braddock that ran from March 1998 to October 2018. Featuring lesbian and bisexual women characters, the strip stars Jane Wyatt, a young lesbian living in a trailer in Northern California with her straight male roommate, Ethan, and follows her life with her circle of friends, romances, and exes. Shortly after celebrating its 20th anniversary, publication ended with Jane marrying Dorothy.
Animal Crackers is the title of several syndicated newspaper comics over the years. The first was a 1930 comic strip signed by an artist known simply as Lane.
A comic strip syndicate functions as an agent for cartoonists and comic strip creators, placing the cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions, from which only two or three might be selected for representation. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. The Guinness World Record for the world's most syndicated strip belongs to Jim Davis' Garfield, which at that point (2002) appeared in 2,570 newspapers, with 263 million readers worldwide.
The Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG), a division of The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate, is a press syndication service distributing opinion columnists, breaking news, podcasts and video journalism, lifestyle content, and graphics and data visualizations. The service is operated by The Washington Post.
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library & Museum, it holds the world's largest and most comprehensive academic research facility documenting and displaying original and printed comic strips, editorial cartoons, and cartoon art. The museum is named after the Ohio cartoonist Billy Ireland.
What a Guy! is an American comic strip created by Bill Hoest and Bunny Hoest, the team responsible for The Lockhorns and Agatha Crumm. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988.
Andrews McMeel Syndication is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and various other content. Some of its best-known products include Dear Abby, Doonesbury, Ziggy, Garfield, Ann Coulter, Richard Roeper and News of the Weird. A subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, it is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. It was formed in 2009 and renamed in January 2017.
Cartoonists Remember 9/11 is a series of comic strips run on the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. It included cartoonists from King Features Syndicate, Creators Syndicate, Tribune Media Services, Universal Press Syndicate, and Washington Post Writers Group.
Barbara Brandon-Croft is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip Where I'm Coming From, and for being the first nationally syndicated African-American female cartoonist.
Isabella Bannerman is an American cartoonist known for her role as one of the contributors to the syndicated comic strip Six Chix.
Hilary B. Price is an American cartoonist. She is known for creating the comic strip Rhymes with Orange, which is published digitally on her website and in over one hundred newspapers across the United States. At the age of 25 she became the youngest cartoonist to ever be nationally syndicated. She won the Silver Reuben for "Best Newspaper Panel Cartoon" from the National Cartoonists Society four times, in 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2014.
Cath Jackson is a British lesbian cartoonist who was primarily active in the 1980s and 1990s. The subject of her cartoons were of a socio-political nature and accompanied articles and other artistic works that spoke for women's health and rights.
Nicole Ferentz is an American cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and teacher. Her works cover feminist themes, lesbian themes, and themes of illness. Her comics have been featured in prominent queer comics like Gay Comics.