Sam Henderson (born October 18, 1969) 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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, writer, and expert on American comedy history. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series ''Magic Whistle''. He was a contributor to the animated television series ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' and ''

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pim ...

''. Henderson has contributed work to '' Duplex Planet Illustrated'', '' Zero Zero'', '' 9-11: Artists Respond, Volume One'', ''Mega- Pyton'', '' Maakies'', '' Nib-Lit'', ''

Legal Action Comics ''Legal Action Comics'' is a series of comics anthology, comics anthologies edited by illustrator Danny Hellman which features work from many alternative comics artists. The first volume in the series was published in 2001,Hellman, Danny, editor. ...

'', and the animated shorts compilation '' God Hates Cartoons''. He has also been a past participant in Robert Sikoryak's ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'' multimedia slideshow series.

Biography

Henderson was born in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

. He attended Boiceville, New York's Onteora High School, graduating in 1987, and the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York City, where he graduated in 1991. Henderson has been self-publishing xeroxed

minicomic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...

s since 1980. In the mid-to-late 1980s he drew and published a comic called ''Captain Spaz'' with his friend Bobby Weiss. The series ended in 1988 as he was busy in college. In college, he drew a series of minicomics featuring a character known as Monroe Simmons. In 1993 he began self-publishing his best-known title, ''The Magic Whistle'', now published by

Alternative Comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comic book, American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alterna ...

. Also in 1993 he began the wordless comic strip ''Scene but Not Heard'', starring a pink man and a red bear, in '' Nickelodeon Magazine''. It was the magazine's longest-running comic strip. A collection was released in 2013. In its review of ''Magic Whistle: Bigger, Larger and Bigger!'' the ''San Antonio Express-News'' wrote that Henderson's "crude, blobby little scratchings are some of the funniest junk being turned out." Henderson was nominated for 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 a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

's Special Award for Humor every year from 1999 to 2004. Henderson also served on the

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

jury in 2001. Henderson also worked on the third season of ''

'' as a writer and storyboard director. He teamed up with Jay Lender on all episodes except " The Camping Episode," on which Lender and Dan Povenmire served as storyboard directors. In 2003, Henderson's writing and storyboard directing work on ''

'' earned him a nomination for Best Animated Program (for programming less than one hour) in the 55th

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. Henderson compiled '' Behind Closed Doors''. In 2005, Henderson worked as writer and storyboard director of "Parents Day," a season-two episode of ''

''. Henderson currently lives in his hometown of Woodstock, New York.

Awards

* 1997 (nomination)

for Outstanding Minicomic for ''Magic Whistle'' #9 * 1999 (nomination)

Special Award for Humor * 2000 (nomination) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor * 2001: ** Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Poetry for ''Little Book of Ass'' (with writer Shappy) ** (nomination) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor ** (nomination) Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series for ''Magic Whistle'' * 2002: ** (nomination) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor ** (nomination) Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series for ''Magic Whistle'' * 2003: ** (nomination) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for ''

'' ** (nomination) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor * 2004 (nomination) Harvey Award Special Award for Humor

Bibliography

* ''Magic Whistle'' minicomic (self-published, 10 issues, 1993–1997) * ''Oh That Monroe: The Complete Adventures of Monroe Simmons'' (Wow Cool, 1995) — some material previously appeared in Kar-Tunz, ''Hyena'', ''Cruel and Unusual Punishment'', and ''Destroy All Comics'', as well as several self-published works from 1989 to 1993 * ''The Magic Whistle'' (

, 15 issues, 1998–2016) ** ''Magic Whistle: Bigger, Larger, and Bigger!'' (''Magic Whistle'' #9) (Alternative Comics, 2004) "MAGIC WHISTLE: Bigger, Larger, and Bigger!"
''Publishers Weekly'' (April 26, 2004). *'' Behind Closed Doors: Horrible, Filthy, Vile, Disgusting, Inappropriate, Off-Model Drawings by the Crew of a Popular Cartoon Show'' (early 2000s) * ''Humor Can Be Funny'' (

, 2005) * (illustrator) ''Well Defined: Vocabulary in Rhyme'', by Michael Salinger (Boyd's Mills Press, 2009) * ''Scene But Not Heard'' (Alternative Comics, 2013) * ''Magic Whistle 3.0'' (Alternative Comics, 3 issues, 2015–2016)

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

* Barrett, Michael (August 15, 2004). "'Peanuts' among winners for comic industry's top award". ''San Antonio Express-News'', p. 2J.

External links

*
Sam Henderson & Magic Whistle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Sam Artists from Woodstock, New York School of Visual Arts alumni Alternative cartoonists Living people 1969 births American comics artists American comics writers American storyboard artists