| Ted Richards | |
|---|---|
| Born | Theodore Richards (1946-10-20)October 20, 1946 Fort Bragg, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 2023(2023-04-21) (aged 76) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Notable works | E.Z. Wolf,Mellow Cat,Dopin' Dan,The Forty Year Old Hippie. |
Theodore Richards (October 20, 1946 – April 21, 2023) was an American web designer and cartoonist, best known for hisunderground comix.[1]
Born inFort Bragg, North Carolina, Richards developed his fascination for creating cartoons when five years old. His father was in theGreen Berets, and assignments kept the family living in different locations.
After serving in theUnited States Air Force, Richards moved in 1969 toSan Francisco when he was 23, (the same yearRip Off Press was launched). He became friends withGilbert Shelton and contributed to some issues of Shelton'sThe Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Over a decade, he worked full-time as a cartoonist on the titlesDopin' Dan,E.Z. Wolf, andMellow Cat.[1][2] Richards recalled, "For me, the whole explosion, and the opportunities that this presented, is hard to describe. You could do about anything. It was an incredible, eclectic vision of art, design, storytelling, writing, color."[3]
Beginning in 1971, Richards was a member of theAir Pirates collective, one of the key contributors toAir Pirates Funnies, an underground comix title that led to a lawsuit byWalt Disney Productions.[4] The nucleus of theAir Pirates collective began to form in 1969–1970 whenBobby London met Richards at the office of theBerkeley Tribe, an underground newspaper where both were staff cartoonists. As a member of the collective, Richards lived together with founderDan O'Neill, London,Gary Hallgren, andShary Flenniken in a warehouse on Harrison Street in San Francisco.[5] Richards'Dopin' Dan comics, produced during this period and published byLast Gasp in 1972–1973, imitated the art style (and military theme) ofMort Walker'sBeetle Bailey.[6]
The Rip Off Press website details Richards' career in the mid-to-late 1970s:
By 1975 Ted was ensconced in the penthouse studio at Rip Off's south-of-Market facility (1250 17th Street . . .). In addition to his own characters, he was working closely with Gilbert andWilly Murphy . . . on Rip Off Press' entry into the Bicentennial hoopla,Give Me Liberty (this is a quasi-historical comic about the American Revolution . . . ). When theGive Me Liberty project was completed, Ted went to work drawing the adventures ofThe Forty Year Old Hippie for the Rip Off Comics Syndicate. The strips appeared in dozens of weekly papers across the nation, and struck a responsive chord with aging freaks and ex-freaks. Two comic collections eventually appeared and sold out, with a major hiatus in between the two as a year of Ted's working life went down the tubes while he and fellow Air Pirates defended themselves against a massive lawsuit byDisney Corporation (the suit alleged copyright infringement asAir Pirates Funnies depicted Disney-esque characters having sex and taking illicit drugs).[2]
In 1976, Richards'The Forty Year Old Hippie was published in college newspapers and as a syndicated feature in weekly alternative tabloids. The feature had two collections from Rip Off Press.[1][2]
In 1977, Richards graduated fromSan Francisco State University, where he studied philosophy, creative writing, anthropology and industrial design.
As described on the Rip Off Press website, in 1981, "tired of living in poverty, Ted left comix . . . for a high-paying job in the computer division ofAtari.[2]
In 1984, Richards returned to comics with the eight-page "The Forty Year Old Hippie Brings the Computer Age Home" forThe Computer Deli (Workman Press).[2]
In 1987, he founded AdWare, providing software products and design services for computer clients, includingApple andMicrosoft. In the 1990s, he became a web site developer, offering enterprise-level development services, consulting, web design and information architecture.[2]
Richards died of lung cancer on April 21, 2023, at the age of 76.[7]
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