There's Life After Editorial Cartooning

By: Dave Astor Work has been plentiful for John Kovalic since giving up one of those not-so-plentiful editorial cartoonist jobs. He does a comic strip and comic books, co-owns a games company, and has a hand in other projects. "It's been kind of crazy since I left the State Journal," says Kovalic, referring to the Madison, Wis., newspaper for which he did both freelance and staff cartoons from 1988 to 2000. But "crazy" in a successful way.

For instance, Kovalic's "Dork Tower" comic strip appears in magazines and on Web sites (including DorkTower.com), and his "Dork Tower" comic books have sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. Kovalic, 43, says he enjoys creating both versions of "Tower," which has also spawned eight book collections: "I love coming up with a solid gag for the comic strip, but I also love the longer story arcs of the comic books."

"Dork Tower" is aimed at readers who are "fanatics" ? whether it be for Star Trek, movies, games, or other things. "It's a look at geekdom," explains Kovalic, whose cartoon creation has six recurrent characters.

The self-syndicated "Dork Tower" comic dates back to 1996, and the comic books (self-published via Dork Storm Press) to 1998. Around 1997, Kovalic and three others co-founded Out of the Box Games, for which he serves as the art director in charge of design, illustrations, and more. The company's biggest hit is "Apples to Apples," a game of "hilarious comparisons" that has players select a card they think is best described by a card held by the judge.

Kovalic also maintains a blog, and is collaborating on two other cartoon projects. He writes and Christopher Jones draws the "Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink" comic books. Meanwhile, Kovalic and artist Liz Rathke are developing the "Newbies" comic strip, which has a cast that includes a technology reporter on a fictional daily newspaper. Rathke and Kovalic, who are also doing a children's book, hope to get "Newbies" signed by a major syndicate.

Kovalic ? creator of "The Wild Life" comic syndicated in the 1980s by Chronicle Features ? is no stranger to juggling several projects at once. During the time he worked as a cartoonist for the State Journal, Kovalic also wrote music reviews and other pop-culture pieces for the Wisconsin newspaper.

Kovalic says one major reason why he left the State Journal in 2000 was his disgust with that year's disputed presidential election. "I was burned out on politics," he recalls. "Luckily, my other endeavors were starting to take off at that point."

But the urge to draw editorial cartoons did not vanish forever. About two years ago, the Madison, Wis.-based artist started contributing a weekly cartoon to The Daily Reporter business newspaper in Milwaukee.

"A lot of what I do for them is Wisconsin stuff," says Kovalic. "I really love local cartoons. They're the ones that get the most reaction."

The artist also occasionally does editorial cartoons for Madison's Isthmus alternative weekly. And, in 2004, Kovalic's Dork Storm Press published the Attack of the Political Cartoonists book for the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

"I miss the people and the atmosphere in a newsroom," says Kovalic. But he adds that "there's just too much else to do" these days to try to become a staff editorial cartoonist again.