Today, cartoonist Richard Thompson announced that because of his ongoing struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, he’ll be ending his newspaper comic strip Cul de Sac on September 23rd.

It’s no exaggeration to call Cul de Sac the finest comic strip of this generation. Thompson began the strip in the Washington Post in 2004, but its distribution remained regional until 2007, when Universal executive Lee Salem fell in love with the strip (and with Thompson’s work on another Post feature, Richard’s Poor Almanac) and offered Thompson national syndication.

Cul de Sac focuses on the Otterloop family: father Peter, mother Madeleine, and especially their two kids, world-class neurotic Petey and pre-school troublemaker Alice. Like many other comic strips, Cul de Sac is a domestic comedy, but Thompson’s artistry elevates it into the canon of great comics, cheek-to-jowl with Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. Thompson’s skills are many: he has an uncanny ability to milk endless gags out of Petey and Alice’s diametrically opposed personalities, and he stuffs the Cul de Sac neighborhood with a joyous cast of supporting players. If you haven’t read the strip, names like Dill, Nara, Big Shirley, Beni, Viola, Miss Bliss, Ernesto, Mr. Danders, Andre and the Uh-Oh Baby mean nothing to you, but if you’re already a fan, I bet every single one of those names made you smile.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Cul de Sac is Thompson’s art, a sublime hybrid of Schulz, Ronald Searle and Thompson’s own whimsy, expressed through jittery pen lines and bold, expressive lettering. In today’s newspapers, where comic strip are printed at the size of a postage stamp, Thompson still delivered his daily laugh and wry observation, and earned the praise of his peers: in 2011, he won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonists Society.

Richard is part of the Heroes family. He’s been to several HeroesCons, participating in panels about Cul de Sac, humor in comics, and other subjects. I became friends with Richard in 2008, when Ben Towle and I asked Richard (and Roger Langridge) to be on a panel where we’d collectively interview EC comics legend and Mad editor Al Feldstein. It turned out that Feldstein didn’t need our questions–without prompting from us, Al told one amazing story after another–but afterwards, Richard thanked me for the opportunity to meet Feldstein, I bought some original Cul de Sac art, and we became pals. It’s impossible to meet Richard and not become pals with him.

Me, Richard, Roger Langridge, Al Feldstein and Ben Towle, Heroes 2008. Photo by Mike Rhode.

Richard told his readers that he had Parkinson’s Disease in 2009, and in the years since has handled his increasing difficulties–with drawing, and with mobility in general–with heroic good humor. The last time I saw him in person, at last year’s Small Press Expo, he was frail and walking with a cane, but the first thing he said to me was a blue joke. His blog posts about his struggles with Parkinson’s are a study in grace under adversity. Read, for example, his farewell to Cul de Sac.

There are a couple of ways you can honor Richard and his strip. With Richard’s blessing, the tirelessly generous Chris Sparks has established Team Cul de Sac, a fundraising initiative (and division of the Michael J. Fox Foundation) that encourages the comics community to donate money to support Parkinson’s research. You can donate directly to Team Cul de Sac here. If you buy Chris’ lavish Team Cul de Sac art book (featuring contributions from Sergio Aragones, Evan Dorkin, Cathy Guisewite, Bill Watterson and literally dozens of other cartoonists), and/or Favorites, a home-grown zine of comics criticism I assembled last year, money will again funnel into Team Cul de Sac. Order these goodies here.

Most importantly: if you haven’t already, please read one of the Cul de Sac strip collections. A good place to start is The Cul de Sac Golden Treasury: A Keepsake Garland of Classics (2010), a fat sample of the first two years of the strip. It’s beautiful, charming–and, I think, a blast of Cartoon Nirvana, one for the Ages.

BRENT’S PICK :: UNWRITTEN #40: Unwritten has been my favorite series on the racks since it debuted. Easy to pigeonhole as a “Harry Potter” spoof, this thoughtful book left that (admittedly great) jumping off point 30 issues ago. Carey and Gross are crafting a compelling and thoughtful work examining concepts of reality, fiction, history, zeitgeist, and belief. This issue concludes an arc that has seen much of the status quo change for our protagonists. Anything could happen next….!

DOUG’S PICK ::  Mind MGMT #4: Mind MGMT is not your typical comic book- it’s so good even the paper stock is amazing. Shadowy groups, ambiguous allies and even a flight 815 draw many comparisons to TV’s Lost. This sci-fi mystery is moving at breakneck speed with each issue demanding multiple readings.  The main story is of a writer who is investigating a flight where everyone, save one, lost their memories. Writer /artist Matt Kindt uses everything available to immerse you in the story, including the inside covers and margins which give background to the title organization.

SETH’S PICK :: ROCKETEER: CARGO OF DOOM #1: The best Rocketeer stories will always be ones by his creator, Dave Stevens.  I am, however, really pleased with not only both volumes of Rocketeer Adventures, but also this new four issue mini series from IDW.  Mark Waid is tasked with the writing duties, and he’s made a career out writing characters with a clear and respectful understanding of their place in comics history.  On Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Captain America and Bucky, artist Chris Samnee showed he could tackle innocent adventure stories and period pieces.  More than anything, IDW’s new Rocketeer stories remind us that even if we’ll never be able to see any new art from the late, great Dave Stevens, we can continue to celebrate his legacy with books like this.

We lost one comics’ greatest creators this past Sunday. Joe Kubert not only touched the lives of those who saw his beautiful work on books like Sgt. Rock, Tarzan and Enemy Ace but one that will continue to shape young comic artists by founding the Kubert School in 1976. RIP and thank you Mr. Kubert for all you did in your amazing time with us. We extend our condolences to his family, friends, students and countless fans.

What follows are a few remembrances of the man and his work.

Andy Smith:

STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES #148 (December 1969-January 1970).

Craig Fischer:

I read the story when I was a child, and found it unutterably sad. The “hero” was Baron Hans Von Hammer, a World War I German fighter pilot, and I was surprised that American comics could be published about an honorable German warrior. Von Hammer was noble, troubled, and–because of his reputation as an emotionless killing machine–isolated from his fellow aviators. In the story, however, Von Hammer befriends a hapless, wounded puppy he names Schatzi, taking the dog in his plane on bombing raids as a good luck charm. At the conclusion of the story, Schatzi barks to warn Von Hammer of the imminent attack of a UK Sopwith Camel, and in the process of dodging the British plane, Von Hammer tilts his own aircraft enough to spill Schatzi out of the cockpit. The little dog falls to his death. Von Hammer channels his grief into a murderous rampage.

The story is “Luck is a Puppy Named Schatzi!” from Star Spangled War Stories #148 (December 1969-January 1970), written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Joe Kubert. On the occasion of Kubert’s passing, I’ve re-read “Luck” and discovered, predictably, that the story has less of an impact on me now. Because Kanigher yanks at our heartstrings so ferociously, the entire tale threatens to tip into self-parody. In fact, J. Caleb Mozzocco has posted a hilarious retelling of “Luck” on his Every Day is Like Wednesday blog, here.

Despite my misgivings with Kanigher’s script, I love Kubert’s art. His cartooning brings grace and ingenuity to perfect and imperfect scripts. Consider the moment in “Luck” when Schatzi tumbles out of Von Hammer’s plane.

On the most basic level, the verticality of the panel’s shape emphasizes Schatzi’s fall, and Kubert uses line width to establish the vast distance between Von Hammer in the air and the buildings and rivers on the ground. The shapes at the top of the panel, including Von Hammer and the plane firing behind him, are rendered with spot blacks and thick brush strokes, while the checkerboards on the earth below are delineated with slight, wispy pen lines. Between high and low is Schatzi, weightier–more present–than the ground, but descending into white space, swallowed up by the rapid fall. Von Hammer’s hand desperately reaches out to Schatzi; his index finger is bending at the first joint in an attempt to hook the dog into his grasp. (Like Ditko, Kubert is a master at drawing hands that express character emotion.) Kubert transmutes Kanigher’s scene into an example of graphic virtuosity. Kubert was this good all the time.

For Schatzi’s fall and for a thousand other moments: Thank you, Joe.

The Creep #0 collects a story from John Arcudi and Jonathan Case that was serialized in three issues of Dark Horse Presents.  For those who don’t like spending $7.99 for a comic, this is a fine way of readings some of the serials for the more affordable price of $2.99.  The issue also acts as a lead in to the upcoming The Creep four issue mini series.  While Arcudi is mostly known for his work on B.P.R.D., The Creep has little in common with that world of monsters and supernatural activity.

In fact, it’s very much rooted in a normal, everyday world.  That said, the main character Oxel Karnhus does have a genetic condition called acromegaly, where the human growth hormone is produced in excess and can cause physical deformities.  Oxel looks a bit like he could’ve been an old Dick Tracy villain, but the twist in this story is that he’s the protagonist.  Not only is he our hero, but he’s a private investigator.  It’s a clever reversal of archetypes, but that’s not the most notable aspect of this book.

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KARLA’S PICK :: ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #38: Are you a fan of iconic illustration art? If so, then it’s time to get acquainted with Illustration Magazine and issue #38 is just about to hit the shelves! Each issue features full color photos and reproductions of some of the great illustration art from America’s past. Think Don Draper and Mad Men without the long wait between seasons. It also serves as an educational tool for fans of illustration and commercial art and design, as well as for fans of publishing history, comic books, pulp magazines and art collectors. Plus, it looks pretty darn classy sitting on your coffee table, and is a great conversation starter!

[ed.-This issue features the gorgeous work of Jon Whitcomb, see below.]

JUSTIN’S PICK :: DAREDEVIL #17: While I’ll be the first to admit that a rotating cast of artists can be frustrating on any book, it also works out sometimes, offering a wealth of stylistic diversity in one handy series. And if Mark Waid wasn’t already a big enough draw to get you to peek at Marvel’s new-ish Daredevil reboot, how ’bout an issue drawn by the one, the only, Madman Mike Allred! Plus: Stilt-Man! Who doesn’t love Stilt-Man?