More Bil Keane

Regarding Bil Keane‘s passing… they say you measure your life by how many other people’s lives you influence. If so, Bil led as influential a life as one can. Yesterday I was called and interviewed by both the New York Times and NPR about Bil (in my capacity as current president of the National Cartoonists Society), and have heard and read about his passing in at least two dozen places in the last 24 hours. He was certainly one of the most beloved cartoonists both by the public and within the industry, ever.

The image above is an original Family Circus Sunday that was given me recently by Jeff Keane, who has been doing the strip for a long time now. Jeff agonized over finding a strip that I’d like the subject of, and when he came across this one with Billy dressed as Batman, he stopped agonizing. It’s one of my favorite originals I own. Thank. Jeff… and thanks Bil for the decades of smiles. Want an example of the power of great cartooning? As a parent, there was never a time when I asked my kids who was responsible for leaving the TV on or messing up the living room and they responded “Not Me!” that I didn’t look around for that ghostly scapegoat.