| Gary Panter | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-12-01)December 1, 1950 (age 75) Durant, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Area | Cartoonist, Writer, Artist |
| Pseudonym | Gars Panter[1] |
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| garypanter | |
Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end ofArcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation ofRAW, one of the main instigators of Americanalternative comics.The Comics Journal has called Panter the "Greatest Living Cartoonist".[3]
While designing for television, he remained active in comics and illustration.
WithWinsor McCay,Lyonel Feininger,George Herriman,Elzie Segar,Frank King,Chester Gould,Milton Caniff,Charles Schulz,Will Eisner,Jack Kirby,Harvey Kurtzman,Robert Crumb,Art Spiegelman andChris Ware, Panter was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at theJewish Museum in New York City, from September 16, 2006, to January 28, 2007.[4][5]
Panter has published his work in various magazines and newspapers, includingTime andRolling Stone, and in notable comics anthologies such asRaw,BLAB!,Zero Zero,Anarchy Comics,Weirdo,Kramers Ergot, andYoung Lust. He has exhibited widely, and won twoDaytime Emmy Awards for his set designs forPee-wee's Playhouse.[6] His most notable works includeJimbo: Adventures in Paradise,Jimbo's Inferno, andFacetasm, the latter of which was created together withCharles Burns (and which won aFirecracker Alternative Book Award).[7]
In 2010, the French publisher United Dead Artists released two volumes of his work:The Wrong Box[8] andThe Land Unknown.[9]
In 1979,[10] Panter'sRozz Tox Manifesto was published in theRalph Records catalog, advocating for artists to engage the capitalist system.[11] He also collaborated with Jay Cotton onPee-Dog: The Shit Generation for theChurch of the SubGenius.
Panter's good friendMatt Groening[12] said of Jimbo, "He and his friends are always up against systems of control... Jimbo is a wild combo-platter of brilliant drawing and stuff you didn't know could be done with mere pen and ink."[13] Groening has also stated that Jimbo's spiky hair inspired the design ofBart Simpson.[14]
Panter was the recipient of the 2012Klein Award, which was given by theMuseum of Comic and Cartoon Art at their annualMoCCA Art Festival in New York.
2 wins & 3 nominations
{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Jimbo in Purgatory (Fantagraphics, 2004) andJimbo's Inferno (Fantagraphics, 2006) are graphic novels combining classical literature, particularlyDante'sDivine Comedy, with pop and punk culture sensibilities.Jimbo's Inferno received anAmerican Book Award in 2007.[1]
Panter was influenced by, among others,Frank Zappa's art directorCal Schenkel.[2] His comics are fast and hard, drawn in an expressionistic style. His work spans painting, commercial art, illustration, cartoons, alternative comix, and music.[3]
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Warner Bros. Records commissioned Panter to paint the album covers for the unauthorized releases ofFrank Zappa's albumsStudio Tan (1978),Sleep Dirt andOrchestral Favorites (1979).
Incomplete archive of flash components
An exhibition of originals of Gary Panter's drawings and paintings was shown at thePhoenix Art Museum from April 21 through August 19, 2007. An exhibition of paintings was at the Dunn and Brown Contemporary Gallery in Dallas in October 2007.[4]
In 2006, one of Panter's paintings was used as the cover art forYo La Tengo's albumI Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.
From 1978 to 1986, Panter was married to writer Nicole Panter, who was the manager of Los Angeles punk rock band theGerms. He later married art director Helene Silverman.[5]
In 2025,Desert Island’s Eisner-nominated comics and art tabloid Smoke Signal published a solo issue of original work entitled “Flycatcher”. It was the first time in the publication’s 44-issue history than an artist drew an entire issue cover-to-cover.[7]
In 2008,PictureBox publishedGary Panter, a two-volume, 700-page retrospective including sketches and previously unpublished material.
Panter continued to publish alternative comics and graphic novels, includingCola Madnes and contributions to the avant-garde magazineRAW.
As an early participant in the Los Angelespunk scene in the 1970s, Panter defined the grungy style of the era with his drawings for the punkfanzineSlash and numerous record covers.
In the 1980s, Panter became the set designer for the children's television showPee-wee's Playhouse. His visual approach diverged sharply from prevailing trends in children's media, eschewing simplified, pastel visuals for densely layered, chaotic sets. He won twoDaytime Emmy Awards for his work on the show.
Panter created the online seriesPink Donkey forCartoon Network.[8]
Panter createdJimbo, his punkeveryman, in 1974.[9] Jimbo embodies elements ofJack Kirby andPicasso.[9] The character was a regular feature inSlash,Raw, and has been featured in his own comic book series and several graphic novels.
Panter was born inDurant, Oklahoma, and grew up inBrownsville, Texas, andSulphur Springs, Texas.[5] He attendedEast Texas State University, where he studied underJack Unruh and Lee Baxter Davis, and became part of the group of artists known as "The Lizard Cult."[10]
NYT2021 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).NYT2017 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).Panter and his wild college cohort became known as the Lizard Cult...