| Rick Altergott | |
|---|---|
 Altergott photographed at a gallery show in 2004. | |
| Born | 1961 (age 61–62) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Penciller, Inker |
Notable works | Doofus Raisin Pie |
| Spouse(s) | Ariel Bordeaux |
Rick Altergott (born 1961) [1] is an American alternative cartoonist and illustrator. Altergott is best known for Doofus , a long-running low-brow, scatological series of strips which chronicle the misadventures of two small-town weirdos, Doofus and Henry Hotchkiss.
Altergott got his BFA in film from the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, New York. He met and befriended fellow cartoonist and Pratt student Daniel Clowes during his college years. [1] During this period, Altergott and Clowes formed the small press comics publisher Look Mom Comics (inspired by Look Mom Carrots). [1]
Altergott's first published work was in the early 1980s, but he didn't really settle into the comics world until late in the decade, when he contributed regularly to the humor magazine Cracked . Throughout the 1990s Altergott published the small-press comic Douche Bag Dougan (the titular hero of which later made an appearance in Fantagraphics Books' Zero Zero anthology.) [2] Altergott's work has also appeared in Fantagraphics' Duplex Planet Illustrated and Hate , where Doofus was a long-running backup feature repeatedly promoted by Peter Bagge.
Altergott resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, [3] with his wife, fellow cartoonist Ariel Bordeaux. Their collaborative comic book Raisin Pie was published by Fantagraphics Books from 2002 to 2007.
In September 2006, Altergott released a serious biblical minicomic based on the life of Saint Matthias. In 2008, Altergott and Bordeaux contributed to the anthology Kramers Ergot 7.
In April 2014, Altergott began work on a weekly comic for Vice named "Flowertown USA." [4] (the home town of Doofus). The series lasted through the year.
Altergott lived in Chicago for a period when Daniel Clowes also lived there. [5] Due to the similarities in their drawing styles, some observers[ who? ] have suggested that Altergott is a pseudonym for Clowes, allowing Clowes to draw in a different, Wally Wood-inspired style. This is untrue.
Altergott is also friends with Jaime Hernandez. [6]
Rick Altergott is the unsung genius of American comedy. [3]
Just when you think the inspired madman has deserted our culture for good, along came the king of them all to show us how it's done. [3]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
Fantagraphics is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
Doofus is an American alternative comic book character created by Rick Altergott. In the low-brow, scatological strip, Doofus and his sidekick/pal Henry Hotchkiss are two foolish creeps who have adventures in the fictional Flowertown, USA. Fantagraphics Books published two issues of the series from 1994 to 1997.
Kim Deitch 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.
James William Woodring is an American cartoonist, fine artist, writer and toy designer. He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine Jim, and as the creator of the anthropomorphic cartoon character Frank, who has appeared in a number of short comics and graphic novels.
Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in Eightball, a solo anthology comic book series. An Eightball issue typically contained several short pieces and a chapter of a longer narrative that was later collected and published as a graphic novel, such as Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (1993), Ghost World (1997), David Boring (2000) and Patience (2016). Clowes's illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Vogue, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. With filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, Clowes adapted Ghost World into a 2001 film and another Eightball story into the 2006 film, Art School Confidential. Clowes's comics, graphic novels, and films have received numerous awards, including a Pen Award for Outstanding Work in Graphic Literature, over a dozen Harvey and Eisner Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.
The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.
William Henry Jackson Griffith is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip Zippy. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited to Griffith.
Mort Todd is an American writer and media entrepreneur, best known as an editor-in-chief of Cracked magazine, and later, Marvel Music. He is owner of Comicfix, a media company that has developed licensed properties.
Carol Tyler is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studio Prize, the Ohio Arts Council Excellence Award, and was declared a Master Cartoonist at the 2016 Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Festival at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
Richard Sala was an American cartoonist, illustrator, and comic book creator with a unique expressionistic style whose books often combined elements of mystery, horror and whimsy.
Jesse Reklaw is an American cartoonist and painter, author of the syndicated dream-based comic strip Slow Wave.
Dennis P. Eichhorn was an American writer, best known for his adult-oriented autobiographical comic book series Real Stuff. His stories, often involving, sex, drugs, and alcohol, have been compared to those of Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and Charles Bukowski.
Sabrina Jones is an American painter and comic book artist, writer, illustrator, and editor. In addition to her own graphic novels, she is associated with artist/activist collectives such as Carnival Knowledge and underground comics such as GirlTalk and World War 3 Illustrated.
Eric Reynolds is a Seattle-based cartoonist, critic and comics editor who is the Vice-President and Associate Publisher for Fantagraphics Books. His work has appeared in The Stranger, The Comics Journal, The New York Times, The New York Press and other publications. He has edited or co-edited The Complete Crumb Comics, Angry Youth Comics, Dirty Stories and MOME, and has inked some of Peter Bagge's comics.
Raisin Pie is an American alternative comics series by husband-and-wife duo Rick Altergott and Ariel Bordeaux. Fantagraphics, which marketed the series as "gosh-darned good comics by the domesticated duo of ... Bordeaux [and] Altergott", published five issues of the series between October 2002 and July 2007. The series was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best New Comic of 2002.
J. R. Williams is an American cartoonist, animator, and fine artist best known for his late 1980s/early 1990s work in alternative comics. Known for his manic, exaggerated cartooning style, Williams brought an underground comix edge to his work during this period. Williams' characters Skinboy and the Bad Boys made recurring appearances in many of his stories.
Young Lust was an underground comix anthology published sporadically from 1970 to 1993. The title, which parodied 1950s romance comics such as Young Love, was noted for its explicit depictions of sex. Unlike many other sex-fueled underground comix, Young Lust was generally not perceived as misogynistic. Founding editors Bill Griffith and Jay Kinney gradually morphed the title into a satire of societal mores. According to Kinney, Young Lust "became one of the top three best-selling underground comix, along with Zap Comix and The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers".
William "Willy" Murphy was an American underground cartoonist and editor. Murphy's humor focused on hippies and the counterculture. His signature character was Arnold Peck the Human Wreck, "a mid-30s beanpole with wry observations about his own life and the community around him." Murphy's solo title was called Flamed-Out Funnies; in addition, he contributed to such seminal underground anthologies as Arcade, Bijou Funnies, and San Francisco Comic Book, as well as the National Lampoon.
Ariel Bordeaux is an American alternative cartoonist, painter, and writer. She is known for the confessional autobiographical minicomics series Deep Girl and the two-person title Raisin Pie.
