Richard Church Thompson (October 8, 1957 – July 27, 2016) was an American illustrator and cartoonist best known for his syndicated comic strip ''

Cul de Sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

'' and the illustrated poem " Make the Pie Higher". He was given the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2010.

''Cul de Sac''

In 1982 Thompson began working at the ''Washington Post'', and he was the newspaper's unofficial staff artist by 1985. Thompson provided illustrations for Joel Achenbach's ''Washington Post'' column and

Gene Weingarten Gene Norman Weingarten (born October 2, 1951) is an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist for ''The Washington Post.'' He is the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. Weingarten is known for bot ...

's column in ''The Washington Post Magazine''. The weekly, watercolored incarnation of his comic ''Cul de Sac'' launched in ''The Washington Post Magazine'' on February 14, 2004. The strip focuses on a four-year-old girl, Alice Otterloop, and her daily life at

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...

and at home. It was published in more than 70 newspapers by the fall of 2007. It was distributed nationally as both a daily and Sunday strip by

Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebe ...

. The first book collection of ''Cul de Sac'' strips, published in 2008 by Andrews McMeel, includes the pre-syndication ''Washington Post'' strips in color, as well as a foreword by

Bill Watterson William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is a retired American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes'', which was Print syndication, syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson stopped drawing ''Calvin and Hobbes'' at ...

, who praised Thompson's work: In 2009, Andrews McMeel published a second ''Cul de Sac'' collection, ''Children at Play'', featuring a foreword by

Mo Willems Mo Willems (born February 11, 1968) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series ''Sheep in the Big City'' for Cartoon Network, working on ''Sesame Street'' ...

''Richard's Poor Almanac''

Thompson's cartoon series ''

Richard's Poor Almanac ''Richard's Poor Almanac'' is a cartoon series by Richard Thompson which appeared weekly (usually on Saturdays) in ''The Washington Post'' Style section. It ran from 1997 to 2016. "Make the Pie Higher" The ''Richard's Poor Almanac'' cartoon ...

'' appeared weekly (usually on Saturdays) in the ''Washington Post'' Style section. A compendium of his ''Richard's Poor Almanac'' cartoons was published by Emmis Books in 2005. The ''Richard's Poor Almanac'' cartoon published the week of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's first inauguration included a mock inaugural poem, "Make the Pie Higher," composed of some of Bush's more incoherent quotations, or " Bushisms". When "Make the Pie Higher" was leaked onto the Internet, it spread rapidly and was eventually dissected and analyzed on Snopes.com, which did a lengthy review of its origins. The poem has been set to music at least five times in various styles, including Irish and choral music.

Illustrations

Thompson's illustrations have appeared in '' U.S. News & World Report'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Air & Space/Smithsonian ''Air & Space/Smithsonian'' is a quarterly magazine published by the National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the ...

'', '' National Geographic'' and ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''. In 2004, Thompson illustrated Francis Heaney's '' Holy Tango of Literature''. In 2010, he wrote and illustrated "Barney Google and the Bigfoot Style", the foreword for Craig Yoe's '' Barney Google: Gambling, Horse Races & High-Toned Women'' (Yoe Books/IDW, 2010). In 2010, the Pixar director Pete Docter hired Thompson to work on character sketches and development for his upcoming movie '' Inside Out''. In 2014, the

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library ...

at Ohio State University hosted an exhibition of Thompson's work: "The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object: A Richard Thompson Retrospective".

Awards

* 1989: A Gold and a Silver Funny Bone Award from the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

for humorous illustration * 1995: The National Cartoonists Society's awards for both the Magazine and Book Illustration division and for Newspaper Illustration * 2004: The Milton F. "Sonny" Clogg Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from

Montgomery College Montgomery College (MC) is a public community college in Montgomery County, Maryland. Founded officially in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College, its name comes from the county in which it is located. The earliest start date that can be contribute ...

* 2011: The

Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, presented by the National Cartoonists Society * 2012: The

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...

for Best Syndicated Comic Strip * 2012: The first ever Ignatz "Golden Brick Award" for lifetime achievement * 2015: The Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication for ''The Complete Cul de Sac''

Personal life

Thompson was a long-time resident of

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

. On July 16, 2009, Thompson announced that he had been diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, a problem he described as "a pain in the fundament", which slowed him down but did not affect his drawing hand.

Stephan Pastis Stephan Thomas Pastis (; born January 16, 1968) is an American cartoonist and former lawyer who is the creator of the comic strip ''Pearls Before Swine''. He also writes children's chapter books, commencing with the release of ''Timmy Failure: ...

, creator of '' Pearls Before Swine'', described Thompson as "probably the most talented all-around syndicated cartoonist working today" and praised the courage and optimism he showed in revealing his illness. The children's book illustrator

Stacy Curtis Stacy Curtis (born 1971) is an American cartoonist, illustrator and printmaker, who is also the inker of Richard Thompson's comic strip ''Cul de Sac''. Curtis and his twin brother grew up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the young Stacy dreame ...

became the inker of ''Cul de Sac'' on March 26, 2012; but by August the effects of Parkinson's were progressing, and Thompson announced that he would be ending ''Cul de Sac'': "Parkinson's disease is horribly selfish and demanding. A daily comic strip is too and I can only deal with one at a time. So it was a long, gradual, sudden decision." In 2012, the book ''Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's'' was published. It was created by his close friend Chris Sparks to honor Richard. It features the work of

and other cartoonists, who rallied together to raise money to benefit

Team Fox The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease (PD) established in 2000 by Michael J. Fox. It concentrates on funding research and ensuring the development of improved therapies for ...

, the fundraising arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation that is working to find a cure for Parkinson's disease. In 2014, Watterson,

Nick Galifianakis Nick Galifianakis may refer to: *Nick Galifianakis (politician) (1928–2023), American congressman *Nick Galifianakis (cartoonist) Nick Galifianakis () is an American cartoonist and artist. Since 1997, he has drawn the cartoons for the national ...

and David Apatoff published a collection of Thompson's artwork and illustrations: ''The Art of Richard Thompson''. A short documentary of the same name, profiling Thompson and his work, was also produced that year, directed by Bob Burnett. In June 2016 Encore Stage & Studios in Arlington, Virginia, premiered the play ''Cul de Sac'' by Amy Thompson — Richard's wife — based on his comic strip. Thompson died on July 27, 2016, from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Bibliography

*''Richard's Poor Almanac: 12 Months of Misinformation in Handy Cartoon Form'' (2004) *''Holy Tango of Literature'' (2004) *''Cul de Sac'' (2008) *''Children at Play: A Cul de Sac Collection'' (2009) *''Cul de Sac Golden Treasury: A Keepsake Garland of Classics'' (2010) *''Shapes & Colors: A Cul de Sac Collection'' (2010) *''The Mighty Alice: A Cul de Sac Collection'' (2012) *''The Complete Cul de Sac'' (2014) *''The Art of Richard Thompson'' (2014) *''The Incomplete Art of Why Things Are (The Richard Thompson Library) (Volume 1)'' (2017)

References

External links

''Cul de Sac'' archive at GoComics"Richard's Poor Almanac:"
the Blog of Richard Thompson
"Richard Thompson, 1957-2016"
The Comics Journal ;Interviews

''The Washington Post'', September 11, 2006
"A Short Interview With Richard Thompson"
''Comics Reporter'', January 25, 2008

''NewsaRama'', October 16, 2008
"Episode 42 - Comic Con Syndication Panel"
''Tall Tale Radio'', Tom Racine, August 10, 2009
"Episode 60 - Richard Thompson"
''Tall Tale Radio'', Tom Racine, November 16, 2009
"Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Richard Thompson"
''Washington City Paper'', Mike Rhode, December 9, 2010

''The Washington Post'', May 19, 2011
"Richard Thompson On Ending His Beloved Comic Strip 'Cul de Sac"
''Editor & Publisher'', October 16, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Richard 1957 births 2016 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American illustrators People from Arlington County, Virginia People with Parkinson's disease