Who, What, When, Where & Wiandt

Warm wishes to you, too, Mr. Borgman. Thanks for signing my book at Wooster Book Fair. (That’s more than Mr. Watterson did when I met him in Columbus.)

Jim Borgman recently retired from disturbing the peace. Does that make him a disturbing retiree or a retired disturbance? However you want to look at it, I thought the cover art from his 1995 collection of his editorial cartoons was pretty cool. In his introduction, Bill Watterson, creator of “Calvin and Hobbes,” wrote he went to Kenyon College just after Jim graduated from there. Bill said he was inspired by Jim’s collegiate and professional work and decided he wanted to be an editorial cartoonist like him. Jim encouraged Bill while he was in college. “This flattered me into pursuing a career for which I had neither the brains nor the talent,” Bill wrote. “That ruined several years of my life, and I still hold Jim responsible for it.”

What does Borgman really look like? Click here to see the photo that appeared on the back cover of “Disturbing the Peace.”

I just found out that Jim Borgman is quitting his job as an editorial cartoonist after 32 years to concentrate on his other job drawing the comic strip “Zits.” You can click here to read Borgman’s blog. I met Jim at the Wooster Book Fair a number of years ago. At that time he wasn’t doing Zits yet and he told me he would like to do a daily comic strip. He got his wish, and I think Zits, which is written by Jerry Scott, is one of the best modern strips since “Calvin and Hobbes.”