NCS Cartoonist’s Backyard Party

From left to right: The Lovely Anna, me, Cedric Hohnstadt, Anne and John Hambrock,
Jerry Van Amerongen and Linda Houden, Nicole and Kelly McNutt,
Mike Edholm, Roxanne Prichard and Jim Horwitz.

The Lovely Anna and I were fortunate to find our humble abode graced by the company of a bunch of cartoonists and their families from Minnesota and elsewhere around the mid-west as we hosted an official unofficial Grill-Out Party of members of the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

The occasion was that new NCS member John Hambrock, creator of the syndicated strip “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee” and his family were in town from Kenosha, WI to register their oldest son Alex at the University of Minnesota. Having “met” John online and getting to meet he and his charming wife Anne in person at the Reuben Awards this year in Los Angeles, we planned on getting together when they came up to the U of M. So, we threw a party!

Enjoying our backyard fire pit

Attending were the Hambrocks with their three children, NCC chairman Mike Edholm (all the way from Lincoln, NE), freelance illustrator Cedric Hohnstadt, Jerry Van Amerongen (creator of Ballard Street) and his wife Linda Houden, animator Kelly McNutt and his wife Nicole, illustrator Jim Horwitz and his wife Roxanne Prichard. we even had a surprise guest… one of my mentors Steve Fasen and his wife Wendy were in town from Orlando and stopped in for a while to visit. Back in 1985 Steve and his brother Gary hired me ,a young college kid at the time, to draw caricatures at their theme park location in Gurnee, IL and taught me not only how to draw them but to love the art form.

It’s always fun to get together with other cartoonists, and everybody had a great time. Of course it helps that The Lovely Anna is not only an excellent cook but a total “hostess with the mostess” and puts on some great parties

The cupcake version of The Lovely Anna’s famous dark chocolate raspberry liqueur
layer cake. These are filled with whipped raspberry cream frosting. !!!!

We cartoonists spend too much time cooped up in our little studios with the single light burning above our heads… so it’s good for us to get out even if it is just into my backyard. Sorry I don’t have more pictures but I was busy making Tom’s famous marvelous mojitos.