Guest Speaker KFOC 2016 John Hambrock

John first discovered his love for cartooning in 1991 while working for a Chicago Graphic Design firm. That year he and his wife Anne decided to collaborate on a comic strip titled "Second Nature. Although it was never syndicated, Second Nature reached a long list of loyal readers through their privately run subscription service.

John continued experimenting with other comic strip ideas until one day a little boy named Edison arrived uninvited in his imagination. The precocious little ten year old refused to leave, so John eventually awarded him a starring role in the comic strip "The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee," picked up for syndication in 2006 by King Features. The strip, now entering its tenth year, appears in over 200 digital and print newspapers worldwide.

“The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee” was nominated for the Reuben Division Award “Best Newspaper Comic Strip” in 2010 by the National Cartoonists Society. That same year John was a featured speaker at “Toonfest”, the annual Walt Disney hometown festival in Marceline, Missouri. In 2011 he was one of the inaugural speakers at the first annual Kenosha Festival of Cartooning. For the 2015 KFOC he amazed the audience with a one take video in which he drew all the characters of the festival guests.

In addition to Edison Lee, John has been illustrating children’s books and serving on the board of the National Cartoonists Society. Plans for 2016 include creating a series of small Edison Lee books.

John lives in Wisconsin with his wife, daughter, an ancient cat, a passel of comic strip characters and two herding dogs who keep everyone in line.

Kenosha Public Museum Show of Iconic Comic Art to Open June 7th!

Panoramic photo of the exhibit....

It is with great excitement that we announce the opening of the first gallery show of comic art for the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning 2014!!

The show opens Saturday, June 7th 2014 and will run until Saturday September 27th 2014 at the Kenosha Public Museum. 5500 1st Avenue Kenosha WI. (click the link for museum hours)

We are tremendously excited to be able to offer comic fans in the greater Milwaukee and Chicago area the opportunity to see, not only original comic artwork from some of the most popular cartoonists working today, but a glimpse of the genius of iconic artists from Comic Books, Newspaper Comics, and MAD Magazine from years gone by. (Be sure to scroll through the whole list - it's a great line-up!!)

Featured will be the work of festival guest speakers:

• Jeff Keane (Family Circus)
• Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate)
• Todd Clark (Lola) 
• Scott Stantis (Prickly City, Editorial Cartoons) 
• Terri Libenson (The Pajama Diaries) 
• Rick Stromoski (Soup To Nutz) 
• Denis Kitchen (Kitchen Sink Press and Underground Comic Artist)

Also featured will be work by living artists with ties to Wisconsin:

• Tom Richmond (MAD Magazine) 
• Ed Steckley (Humorous Illustrator) 
• Joe Martin (Mr. Boffo, Willy and Ethel, Porterfield, Cats With Hands) 
• John Hambrock (Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee)
• Phil Hands (Editorial Cartoons) 
• Dan Pavelich (Just Say Uncle and Kenosha County)

And historic artists with ties to Wisconsin (On Loan From The George Hagenauer Collection):

• Carl Anderson (Henry)
• Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka)
• Mike Grell (Jon Sable)
• Frank O King (Gasoline Alley)
• Steve Rude (Nexus)
• Sidney Smith (The Gumps)
• Erwin Hess (Big Little Book - Roy Rodgers)
• Trina Robbins (Last Human)
• Jules Feiffer (Hold Up)

AND iconic comic book artists: (On Loan From The George Hagenauer Collection)

• Frank Frazetta (Planet - Comic Book Interior) This is a trial page never published
• Jack Kirby (Human Torch)
• Joe Kubert (Hawkman, Tarzan)
• Frank Robbins (Johhny Hazard)
• Jerry Robinson (Green Hornet)
• Joe Shuster (Superman)
• Joe Simon (Phantom)
• Bill Sienkewicz (Hulk)

As well as MAD magazine's:

• Sergio Aragones (Groo) (On Loan From The George Hagenauer Collection)
• Dave Berg
• Jack Davis
• Mort Drucker
• Will Elder
• Wally Wood

And FINALLY Newspaper greats from days gone by: (On Loan From The George Hagenauer Collection)

• Ernie Bushmiller (Nancy)
• Gus Arriola (Gordo)
• Milton Caniff (Steve Canyon, Terry and the Pirates)
• Roy Crane (Captain Easy)
• Billy DeBeck (Barney Google and Snuffy Smith)
• Bud Fisher (Mutt and Jeff)
• Hal Foster (Prince Valiant)
• Chester Gould (Dick Tracy)
• Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie)
• George Herriman (Krazy Kat)
• Walt Kelly (Pogo)
• Winsor McCay (Buster Brown) This is a strip ghosted by McCay after the departure of Outcault
• George McManus (Bringing Up Father)
• Virgil Partch (Big George)
• Chic Young (Blondie)

A huge thank you to Comic Collector George Hagenauer who gave us access to his overwhelming collection of magnificent comic art!! And to Gina Radandt and Rachel Klees Anderson of the Kenosha Public Museum for not only having the vision to mount this show but who drove to Madison with Festival Director Anne Morse Hambrock to personally pick up the artwork. Thanks also for their countless hours of cataloging, framing and hanging this show!!!