Cartoonist Jim Lange: An appreciation
I hope you’ll see a major writeup about this in The Oklahoman tomorrow, but I wanted to share my take on one of the great Oklahoma cartoonists.
I saw the end of an era today. Jim Lange, editorial cartoonist since 1950 at The Oklahoman, turned in his final cartoon.
I’ve just returned from his retirement party, where Lange, still funny 58 years into his OPUBCO career, had the crowd rolling, and drew a standing ovation.
Lange was one of the inauguaral honorees of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection in 2005, and is a member of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame.
Comic-book writer and historian Michael Vance wrote of Lange, accurately: ”Lange’s minimalist style also features a master’s instinct on what is visually needed and not needed to make his point with each incredibly smooth and visually attractive line.”
Lange drew more than 17,000 cartoons over his career. As mentioned at Lange’s retirement, some of his frequent “victims” were his biggest fans, often calling Lange at the paper after a cartoon ran to see if they could acquire a copy, or the original drawing.
You can see the 2007 and 2008 cartoons of Jim Lange at the Voices page on NewsOK.com.
– Matt Price
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Comments
Link to The Oklahoman’s article by Ann DeFrange: http://www.newsok.com/newspaper-says-farewell-to-a-legend/article/3310218/
Though I’ve rarely agree with the political content of his work, I’ve always been a huge fan of Jim Lange’s talent and his old-school, Elzie Segar-esque style. 58 years is a crazy long time – kudos to Mr. Lange!