Craig Yoe (born February 23, 1951) is an author, editor, art director, graphic designer, cartoonist and comics historian, best known for his Yoe! Studio creations and his line of Yoe! Books.

Early life

Craig Yoe was born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. He attended

Firestone High School Firestone Community Learning Center (Firestone CLC), previously known as Harvey S. Firestone High School, is a public high school located on the northwest side of Akron, Ohio. It is one of seven high schools in the Akron Public Schools. The high s ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

and the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

before dropping out to concentrate on counter-cultural activities and the

anti-war movement An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to ...

Career

In the early 70's Yoe was a leader in the Akron

Jesus People The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it subsided in the la ...

movement, creating a newspaper/Christian comic first called ''The Acorn'' and, later, ''Jesus Loves You''. In 1970, Yoe commissioned legendary surf artist and friend

Rick Griffin Richard Alden "Rick" Griffin (June 18, 1944 – August 18, 1991) was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in ...

to do the painting ''Rock of Ages'' which became the cover for ''Jesus Loves You'' (published by Zondervan). Early in his career, Yoe was senior designer at

Marvin Glass and Associates Marvin Glass and Associates (MGA) was a toy design and engineering firm based in Chicago. Marvin Glass (1914–1974) and his employees created some of the most successful toys and games of the twentieth century such as Mr. Machine, Rock 'Em Sock ...

, where he worked on

Cabbage Patch Kids Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage ...

and ''

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature c ...

'' toys. Recruited by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

, Yoe became the creative director and general manager of the Muppets, working on everything from theme parks to television shows. After Henson's death, Yoe opened his own company, Yoe! Studio, working in the entertainment and licensing fields and creating publications, style guides, packaging, press kits, logos, and toys. Yoe! Studio client list includes Kellogg’s, Disney,

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, Marvel,

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, and even

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

. Clizia Gussoni is Yoe's wife, business partner and the co-creative director of Yoe! Studio. Yoe also handled

Big Boy Restaurants Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Warren, Michigan. Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Big Boy name, design aesthetic, and menu were pre ...

' promotional comic book ''Big Boy Magazine'' – the successor to the '' Adventures of the Big Boy'' comic book – as he discussed with Steven Heller:

We produce everything from start to finish. We interview celebrities from
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...
(when she was more wholesome, remember?) to
SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...
. We produce the comic stories that are still the heart of the publication.
Luke McDonnell Luke McDonnell (born July 19, 1959) is an American artist whose early career was spent specialising in comic books. Career Comic books Luke McDonnell began his career as a comics artist in 1980 and illustrated a wide variety of comics including ...
, another Marvel graduate, is our staff artist at Yoe! Studio. Luke is an incredible visual storyteller who gives Big Boy and friends a delightful modern flair. We get freelance writers Craig Boldman and Bob Supina to do the scripts. When she has time, my business partner, Clizia Gussoni, pens some of the stories with her own magic. It goes from our printer right to the warehouse that houses all the food and napkins, then is trucked to the individual restaurants across the country. The kids love ’em. We get many enthusiastic letters and incredible drawings of Big Boy that we include in each issue.

As of 2010 Yoe is an Adjunct Professor of Art at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Books

Yoe followed ''The Art of Mickey Mouse'' (co-author Janet Yoe-Morra, Rizzoli, 1991) with books for several different publishers: ''The Mighty Big Book of Optical Illusions'' (Price Stern Sloan, 2002), ''Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings'' (Last Gasp, 2007), ''Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster'' (Abrams, 2009), ''The Great Anti-War Cartoons'' (Fantagraphics, 2009), ''Boody'' (Fantagraphics, 2009) and ''Krazy Kat & the Art of George Herriman: A Celebration'' (Abrams, 2011). In 2012, Yoe co-edited IDW's ''Popeye'' comic book miniseries, illustrated by

Bruce Ozella Bruce Ozella (born November 10, 1958) is an American cartoonist, best known for his revival of ''Popeye'' in 2012. After study at Boston's New England School of Art & Design, Ozella worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in Boston for more ...

Yoe! Books/IDW

In 2010, Yoe launched his own imprint, Yoe! Books, with IDW. *'' The Art of Ditko'' (January 2010) *'' The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story'' (February 2010) *'' Dan DeCarlo's Jetta'' (March 2010) *''The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics'' (April 2010) *'' Felix the Cat’s Greatest Comic Book Tails'' (August 2010) *'' Dick Briefer's Frankenstein'' (October 2010) *'' Barney Google: Gambling, Horse Races & High-Toned Women'' (October 2010) *''The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories'' (November 2010) *'' Popeye: The Great Comic Book Tales by Bud Sagendorf'' (February 2011) *'' Krazy & Ignatz in Tiger Tea'' (April 2011) *'' Archie: A Celebration of America's Favorite Teenagers'' (May 2011) *''

Archie's Madhouse ''Archie's Mad House'' (sometimes rendered as ''Archie's Madhouse'') was a comic book magazine published by Archie Comics from 1959 to 1982. The series went through a number of overhauls and name changes. Classic stories have occasionally appeared ...

'' (August 2011) *'' Amazing 3-D Comics!'' (August 2011) *'' Barks' Bear Book'' (September 2011) *'' Bob Powell's Terror: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (November 2011) *'' Frazetta Funny Stuff'' (May 2012) *''Zombies: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (with Steve Banes) (June 2012) *'' The Creativity of Ditko'' (August 2012) *''Comics About Cartoonists: Stories About The World's Oddest Profession'' (January 2013) *'' Ditko Monsters: GORGO!'' (March 2013) *'' Jack Cole's Deadly Horror: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (October 2013) *''Haunted Horror: Banned Comics from the 1950s: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (with Steve Banes and Clizia Gussoni) (November 2013) *'' Felix the Cat Paintings'' (April 2014) *''Alice in Comicland'' (with Mark Burstein) (May 2014) *'' The Worst of Eerie Publications: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (Mike Howlett) (November 2014) *''Haunted Horror: Comics Your Mother Warned You About: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (with Steve Banes and Clizia Gussoni) (November 2014) *'' Ditko's Shorts'' (with Fester Faceplant) (December 2014) *'' Howard Nostrand's Nightmares: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (December 2014) *'' Tom Sutton's Creepy Things: The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics'' (Michael Ambrose and Donnie Pitchford) (January 2015)

Children's Books for Mango Publishing

In 2020, Craig Yoe and

Mango Publishing Mango Publishing is an American book publisher founded in 2014. Company history Mango Publishing was founded by Christopher McKenney in 2014 as an independent book publisher in Miami, Florida. In both 2019 and 2020, Mango was named the fastest gro ...

launched a series of four children's books titled "Squeaky Clean, Super Funny." *''Squeaky Clean Super Funny: Jokes! For Kidz'' (June 2020) *''Squeaky Clean Super Funny: Knock Knock Jokes! For Kidz'' (June 2020) *''Squeaky Clean Super Funny: Riddles! For Kidz'' (July 2020) *''Squeaky Clean Super Funny: School Jokes! For Kidz'' (August 2020)

Awards

*Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators *Addy Award (for his MTV station ID) *

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

*4th Annual Jerry Bails Award For Excellence in Fandom, at 2013 Detroit Fanfare *

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 ...

Personal life

Yoe is married to Clizia Gussoni, who is also his creative partner.

References

External links

Yoe Books
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoe, Craig American editors 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American publishers (people) 1951 births Living people Comics scholars American male non-fiction writers