Brant Parker, the artist for the daily comic strip, “The Wizard of Id,” passed away on Sunday, eight days after the strip’s writer, Johnny Hart died. He was 86. Tom has a nice obit of him here.
Parker won the Reuben in 1984 and the National Cartoonist Society divisional award for Humor Comic Strip in 1971, 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1983. He also collaborated on the strips Crock and Out of Bounds. Wizard of Id was also cited as a contributing part of Johnny Hart’s 1968 Reuben win.
Parker had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for a number of years and had turned over the “Id” art reins over to his son Jeff, in 1997. You can read more memorials to the artist here and here.
In related news, Heidi found this nice story on Hart’s funeral:
Lifelong friend and comic strip collaborator Jack Caprio read a letter he wrote to Hart in February, in anticipation of Hart’s 76th birthday. The note reminisced about the shenanigans the two were often embroiled in, from pillow fights to getting into their parents’ homemade wine for the first time.
“Thanks for being Johnny,” Caprio said.
