Here Cullen talks about working with Foster, about partying with dozens of famous creators, about growing up in a world of comic strips in an era when they were still kings of the papers, celebrated as celebrities and often paid fabulous salaries–“in the Golden Age of Make-Believe.”Ĭhapters recount the Connecticut School where his father studied under Norman Rockwell Home Away from Home, The Art of War recounting drawing in the service in World War II, Conduct Unbecoming recounts all the shennanigans the various artists were engaged in during those wild and heady days of the 1950s and 60s. “It hadn’t been my plan, but I worked with my father on Prince Valiant for nearly three decades.” Then the author took over writing Val for his father’s illustrations as it became a family affair. Profusely illustrated with rare photographs, drawings and artwork, dating back to some of the artists’ wartime service.įoster continued to write Val for ten years after turning over the art chores to Murphy. Cartoon County gives us a glimpse into a very special community-and of an America that used to be.

Illustrated with never-before-seen photographs, cartoons, and drawings, Cartoon County brings the postwar American era alive, told through the relationship of a son to his father, a talented and generous man who had been trained by Norman Rockwell.

Anarchic and deeply creative, the cartoonists were independent spirits whose artistic talents had mainly been forged during service in World War II. Cartoonists and their art were a pop-cultural force in a way that few today remember. Son Cullen Murphy and his dad John were at the heart of this artistic milieu. Written by John Cullen Murphy’s son, who grew up in this amazing era as his father first drew Big Ben Bolt and then was tapped by Hal Foster to take over Prince Valiant. Here lived a tight-knit group of creators responsible for Superman, Beetle Bailey, Snuffy Smith, Rip Kirby, Hagar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, Nancy, The Wizard of Id, The Heart of Juliet Jones, and Joe Palooka, among others. For a period of about fifty years, many of the nation’s top comic-strip cartoonists, gag cartoonists, and magazine illustrators lived within a stone’s throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Now on sale, as heard on NPR’s Fresh Air.

Pin-Up & Adult –You must be 18 or older.

Cartoon County by Cullen Murphy