Jim Siergey (4 October 1949, USA) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and animator. He is known for having created the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

strip 'Cultural Jetlag' together with Tom Roberts in the 1990s, which appeared in many alternative press publications, and from 1997 to 2001 in

TIME (magazine) ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published Weekly newspaper, weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New ...

and

USA Weekend ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the Gannett Company. Structured as a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, i ...

. As of 2019, he is a cartoonist for the Lansing Journal.

Early life and education

Jim Siergey has said that he was "brought up to be a polite boy" and that "music, writing, drawing, wordplay and humor were as much of a pastime while growing up as any physical activity." He grew up reading MAD comics by

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

and

Jack Davis (cartoonist) John Burton Davis Jr. (December 2, 1924 – July 27, 2016) was an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories. He was one of the founding car ...

. Siergey has stated that he has been drawing since he "could hold a pencil, for as long as I can remember". He attended Columbia College and began to draw "comix" in the 1970s. In his twenties, Siergey met

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

, a trailblazer of

, which he describes as a turning point in his life. Lynch introduced him to Berkley cartoonist

Clay Geerdes Clay Geerdes (May 25, 1934 – July 8, 1997) was a writer, photojournalist, publisher, and teacher, who covered various events from anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in Berkeley, to productions of Freestore and The Cockettes, to the underground comi ...

, who is considered the godfather of the mini-comix movement.

Career

In the early 1980s, Siergey started his career as a freelance

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

, working on commercials as well as educational and industrial films, which he continued into the 1990s. In the 1990s, he created the comic strip 'Cultural Jetlag' together with late writer Tom Roberts, which appeared in many alternative press publications, before

and

carried it from 1997 to 2001. As of 2019, he is a cartoonist for the Lansing Journal.

Personal life

Siergey is married to Cindy, with whom he attended

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

. They lived and worked in Chicago until 2018, when they moved to

Munster, Indiana Munster is a suburban town in North Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is in the Chicago metropolitan area, approximately southeast of the Chicago Loop, and shares municipal boundaries with Hammond to the north, Highland to th ...

Work

Siergey's illustrations are in black-and-white traditional cartoon style usually with "clever silliness or visual wordplay". He has called them edu-tainment, a term used by Walt Disney. His style has been influenced by the 1928 Walt Disney

Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celeb ...

and 1950s

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.The Far Side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siergey, Jim 1949 births Living people American animators American comics artists Underground cartoonists Columbia College Chicago alumni