Darby Conley is an Americancartoonist best known for the newspapercomic stripGet Fuzzy.
Conley was born inConcord, Massachusetts, in 1970, and grew up inKnoxville, Tennessee.[1]
While in high school in 1986, he won a student cartooning competition. During his senior year at Doyle High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, Conley was voted 'Most Talented' by his graduating class.Conley was a member ofAmherst College'sa cappella group, the Zumbyes.[2]
Conley cited theTintin books as the strongest visual inspiration for his work.[3]
Comics syndicateUnited Media agreed in 1999 to publish Conley's new stripGet Fuzzy about an anthropomorphic cat, Bucky, and dog, Satchel, living with their single young-male owner, Rob Wilco, which premiered on September 6, 1999.[4] The idea for Bucky's character came from a friend'sSiamese cat.[5]
Without explanation, Conley stopped drawing dailyGet Fuzzy strips in 2013. For some time after he drew Sunday strips only,[6] though the last known new Sunday installment was on February 3, 2019. Repeats of the strip are still offered to newspapers today.
On October 30, 2003, the city ofPittsburgh served as thepunch line of a strip abouttourism destinations based on smells. Offended residents of the area deluged the author with negative feedback that included death threats.[8][9][10]
A May 13, 2005, strip portrayed Boston-area sports reporterBob Lobel as a drunk, prompting Lobel to filelibel lawsuits against Conley and his syndicate.[11][12] The parties announced in November 2005 that they had reached a settlement, although terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Due to this controversy, that particular strip was removed from the collectionTake Our Cat, Please! and the treasuryThe Potpourrific Great Big Grab Bag of Get Fuzzy.
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