Bob Burden is an American comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''

Flaming Carrot Comics ''Flaming Carrot Comics'' was an American superhero comic book created by Bob Burden, featuring the absurd, surreal adventure of the Flaming Carrot. The series first appeared in ''Visions'' #1, a magazine-size comic book publication. Flaming Carr ...

'' and the ''

Mystery Men ''Mystery Men'' is a 1999 American superhero comedy film directed by Kinka Usher (in his feature-length directorial debut) and written by Neil Cuthbert, loosely based on Bob Burden's ''Flaming Carrot Comics'', and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azari ...

''.

Early life

Burden was born the eldest of three siblings in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. His father worked at

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

and moved the family often, to cities like

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. Burden graduated with a degree in journalism from the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. After graduation, he worked as a collectible and antique salesman.

Career

Burden's best-known creation is the Flaming Carrot which first appeared in 1979 direct market magazine. He worked as writer and editor with

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to d ...

by Roxanne Starr. It has received some scholarly recognition: a cover story and interview in Atlanta's prestigious ''

Art Papers ''ART PAPERS'' is an Atlanta-based bimonthly art magazine and non-profit organization dedicated to the examination of art and culture in the world today. Its mission is to provide an independent and accessible forum for the exchange of perspectiv ...

''; an original cover drawing in Sotheby's art auction; and reviews in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' literary supplement. Burden's ''Mystery Men'' was the subject of a 1999

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

, directed by

Kinka Usher Kinka Usher is a director of television commercials. He also directed the 1999 feature film ''Mystery Men''. Early life Kinka Usher was born in Nice France, one of five children. His mother, an Italian by birth, owned a ballet production company ...

and starring

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as ...

and

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy ...

. Besides ''Flaming Carrot Comics'' and ''Mysterymen'', Burden wrote a

Gumby ''Gumby'' is an American clay animation franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other media. He im ...

story, a two-part Cholly & Flytrap story with

Arthur Suydam Arthur Suydam (born May 18, 1953) is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including '' Heavy Metal'', '' Epic Illustrated'' and '' Nationa ...

, and ''Robot Comics'', a series which was reprised as the "Robot Crime" story for the 20th anniversary of '' Heavy Metal''. Burden has also produced some prose work, including a short story called "You've Got Your Troubles, I've Got Mine", and an anthology of short stories by various writers, including

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, called '' Dark Love'', from Penguin Books. Though he has drawn a number of comics, Burden has said that he considers himself solely a writer: "I'm a writer, okay? The fact that I draw art is purely coincidental to that, but I'm not really what you'd call a competent illustrator."

Awards

Burden's works have won numerous awards including the

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...

for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts, the

ACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

, and perhaps the most prestigious award in comics, the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for the Best Single Issue (''Gumby's Summer Fun Special''). Burden also has two 1998 Eisner Award Nominations, for ''Invincible Man'' and ''Flaming Carrot's Greatest Hits Volume Three''.

References

External links

* Artists from Buffalo, New York University of Georgia alumni Living people American cartoonists American comics artists 1952 births Inkpot Award winners {{US-comics-creator-stub