I’m sad to report that Paul Combs is retiring from editorial cartooning. Paul did some great work and had a burst of notoriety when we won the job at the Tampa Tribune. Paul chose to leave the job in Tampa because his family preferred living in their old home in Ohio. The Tribune, which had Wayne Stayskal as their long time cartoonist before Paul, announed a big search for a new cartoonist and interviewed many contenders, but hasn’t hired a new cartoonist and now isn’t expected to.
I’ve had Paul on the site for a long time, since before his time in Tampa and before his syndication with Tribune Media Services (TMS). A couple of days ago I heard from TMS that Paul was retiring from syndication and would go to work as an illustrator. I wrote to Paul and got this response:
Hi, Daryl – it’s true, I’m walking off into the sunset – again. The market is just saturated with too many talented cartoonists and financial realities being what they are, it’s a sound business decision for me to walk away and place more focus on illustration. I’ve enjoyed my meteoric ride through the biz and have made some very good friends along the way. Most important, I’m extremely proud of the work that I’ve created and can say that I did it my way, right or wrong. You can’t ask for more than that!
Take care my friend,
Paul
Paul’s last cartoon will be dated May 2nd. Here’s a sample of Paul’s work below. Click here to see Paul’s archive. E-mail Paul a fond goodbye here.
