(Note: This is one of a series of cartoonist profiles I did in 2003 for the Post-Star of Glens Falls, NY)
In an earlier "At the Drawing board," we called Jerry Scott "the cartoonist who never gets to draw."
That would make his partner, Jim Borgman, "the cartoonist who never gets to write."
Together, they're the team that produces the comic strip "Zits," but here's their dirty little secret:
Jerry, who writes the strip, gets to do a lot of drawing, and Jim, who draws the strip, gets to do a lot of writing.
"We both think visually, and we're both capable of writing," says Borgman. "It's really more of a holistic approach, I guess you could call it."
This only makes sense, considering the credentials each brings to the partnership.
Scott wrote and drew "Nancy" for 12 years, while Borgman has been writing and drawing editorial cartoons for the Cincinnati Enquirer since 1974; they met when they were each serving onthe board of the National Cartoonists Society.
Their friendship wasn't supposed to come together as a strip, but when Scott asked Borgman to look at a strip he was developing, Borgman's hastily sketched suggestion quickly turned into Jeremy, the lanky teenager at the center of "Zits."
Then, as the conversation progressed by faxes between Arizona and Ohio, the project gradually morphed into Borgman and Scott working together on one of the most successful comic strips in syndication.
THe key to their working relationship is that they understand each other's strengths.
Borgman won a Pulitzer prize in 1991 for his editorial cartoons, so there's little doubt he can write. And Scott has won natinal and and international awards for his cartooning as well.
"You'd expect there to be a lot of head-butting, but there's not," Borgman says. "We respect each other, and the times when I suspect the writing might need to be a little different, I trust Jerry and invariably he proves to be right."
Similarly, Scott sketches his ideas for the strip but defers to his partner in artistic matters, And Jerry Scott is not the only cartoonist who respects Borgman.
The Enquirer's Web site includes praise for him from artists including "Garfield's" Jim Davis and "For Better or For Worse" creator Lynn Johnston. In addition, when interviewed for this series of profiles, Luann cartoonist Greg Evans dismissed his own artistic abilities with a casual, "I'm not the world's greatest draftsman. I mean, I'm no Jim Borgman."
Borgman's contribution to the strip may best be seen in the contrast between the frenetic action of "Baby Blues" and the more reflective pace of "Zits," in which an entire panel may be devoted to silent reactions.
That's not to say "Zits" has moments when nothing is happening. Coming from Borgman's pen, a character thinking is a character acting.
"We try really hard to make expressions, gestures and boddy language tell the story as much as we can," Borgman says. "Neither of us has much appreciation for static-looking comic strips."
If it seems Borgman's own writing is devoted to the more weighty matters of the editorial page, don't count on it.
"It seems that you can't count on people knowing the news as thoroughly as they might have before," he says, of a public that appears to be getting their news from Jay Leno's monologue rather than from Tom Brokaw or the newspapers. Add to that the smaller space allotted to editorial cartoons and it's difficult for an editorial cartoonist to address complex issues.
Still, Borgman says, reaction to "Zits" lets him know people are still out there, reading the comics and thinking about them.
"When I open my e-mail.It's not just, 'Hey, that was a funny one,'" he says. "People feel we're really reflecting their lives, and so it's more like, 'Thank you for helping me through a rough time,' and 'Your strip is the only thing we're able to really laugh and talk about.' Sometimes it almost makes me feel like we're on a larger mission here."
I like Zits, but...It's getting just a wee bit boring. Over and over the same territory time and time again...I wish they'd bring some new ideas to refresh the strip. It's become too predictable, don't you think?
Posted by: Gilda | 07/19/2010 at 10:43 PM