Prince Valiant by Thomas Yeates and
Snuffy Smith by John Rose
BRIDGEWATER, Va. — Thomas Yeates, illustrator for Hal Foster’s
Prince Valiant, and John Rose, cartoonist for King Features’
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip, will talk about their work on Thursday, Feb. 8, in Cole Hall at
Bridgewater College.
Rose will present his
Snuffy Smith chalk talk at 4 p.m., and Yeates will speak at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.
In April 2012, Yeates became the illustrator for
Prince Valiant, a comic strip created by Foster in 1937.
Prince Valiant is printed every Sunday in newspapers and online at comicskingdom.com.
Yeates has drawn comics for more than 25 years. He worked for DC Comics on numerous series, including
Warlord, Mystery in Space and
Swamp Thing. He worked for Eclipse Comics on titles, including
Airboy, Scout, Lugar, the political documentary
Brought to Light, and
Aztec Ace. For T.S.R., he illustrated the
Dragonlance saga based on the Dungeons and Dragons game.
In the early 1990s, Yeates illustrated 15 Tarzan comics, many for Dark Horse. “The Return of Tarzan” featured his adaptation into comics of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ second Tarzan novel. He also illustrated
Dracula vs. Zorro for Topps comics. During 2007-08, he illustrated seven novels in the graphic myths series for Lerner publishing, including
King Arthur, Odysseus, Atalanta, Lancelot and
Robin Hood. In 2011 he began work on a western graphic novel based on Louis L’Amour’s
Law of the Desert Born. The graphic novel won five awards and was nominated for the 2014 Eisner Award. Yeates was a member of the first class at
Joe Kubert’s School, a trade program for aspiring comic artists. You can view Thomas Yeates' website
here.
Rose has worked on the
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip since 1998. He began as an inking assistant to cartoon legend Fred Lasswell, before becoming the strip’s full-time cartoonist following Lasswell’s death in March 2001. He has had two
Snuffy Smith comic strip book collections published,
The Bodacious Best Of Snuffy Smith (2013) and
Balls Of Fire! More Snuffy Smith Comics (2016) and is currently working on a third. In 2015, he was awarded The Lum and Abner Memorial Award for his contributions to rural humor. In 2017, Rose was given an award for his contributions to cartooning at
Walt Disney's Hometown Toonfest in Marceline, Missouri.
A native of Virginia, Rose earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from
James Madison University. In addition to drawing Snuffy Smith, he creates editorial cartoons for Byrd Newspapers of Virginia and is based at the Harrisonburg
Daily News-Record. You can view John Rose's website
here.
Both
Prince Valiant and
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith can be found in print and digital outlets worldwide, as well as online at
Comics Kingdom.
Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to more than 1,900 undergraduate students.
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