John Callahan, Cartoonist, dies at 59

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Source: New York Times

John Callahan, a quadriplegic, alcoholic cartoonist whose work in newspapers and magazines made irreverent, impolitic sport of people with disabilities and diseases and those who would pity and condescend to them, died Saturday in Portland, Ore. He was 59 and lived in Portland


Like his friend Gary Larson, the creator of “The Far Side,” Mr. Callahan made drawings with a gleeful appreciation of the macabre he found in everyday life. He was, however, a man who lived his life with disadvantages, some of them self-wrought, and he viewed the world through a dark and wicked lens.


Mr. Callahan’s cartoons are collected in a number of volumes, including “What Kind of a God Would Allow a Thing Like This to Happen?!!” and “Do What He Says!: He’s Crazy!!!” He also wrote a second memoir, “Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up?” His work was adapted for two animated television series: “Pelswick,” a family-appropriate show about a boy in a wheelchair determined to live a normal life, and “John Callahan’s Quads,” an adult show featuring a menagerie of characters with different disabilities, foul mouths and bad attitudes.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/arts/design/28callahan.html?hpw

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Although the article doesn't mention it, Callahan also did some clever political satire.

For example, when the Oregon Citizens' Alliance, led by Lon Mabon and Scott Lively, was at the height of its anti-gay crusade, Callahan drew a cartoon in which two masked men, one wearing fishnet stockings and holding a whip were in a motel room. The door was open, and a pizza delivery man was saying something like, "Oh, there must be some mistake. I have a pizza here for Mr. Mabon and Mr. Lively."

I used to see Callahan around my neighborhood in Portland, a big blond man in an electric wheelchair, always looking a bit grouchy.

Rest in peace.

[joeybee12]

1. Oh, I loved some of the greeting cards he did...wickedly rude....RIP...n/t

[Warpy]

4. I loved his stuff but never knew who he was

since I was a continent away. I'm in awe of what he accomplished during his life with handicaps so much greater than mine.

[joeybee12]

5. I know what you mean...makes me ashamed at times when I complain and

then recall what some people live with on a daily basis and how even the most ordinary tasks are a challenge.

[Champion Jack]

2. RIP

[Kolesar]

3. I just finished a road trip with a dick who always drives as fast as possible

I am glad to be back in the cyberworld with all of my nerves properly connected.

My brother wrapped a 'vette around a bridge pier in the 1980s and now he is a quad.

[cliffordu]

6. I got shitfaced with him a couple of times back in the day.

Great times.

He wrote extensively about what it takes to sober up.....



A (virtual) toast to you, my fine friend, and godspeed.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. He could make even bitter and despairing people laugh out loud with his humor. All of us,

but especially the disability community, have lost an insightful and irreverent voice.

Rest in peace, John Callahan.

[Oregone]

8. MLK tribute