Thread by @DerfBackderf

Another blow from the Year That Won't Stop Sucking. The great Ron Cobb has left us, dead at age 83.

Cobb is one of the greatest political cartoonists of the late 20th century and on the short list for greatest ever. he worked exclusively in the underground press of the 60s and 70s. His cartoons were devastating, gut-wrenching and cut to the bone.

There were no gags-of-the-day with Cobb. When he took aim, the blow landed full force, right between the eyes.

His artistic abilities were surpassed by none. Each meticulously inked cartoon is a small masterpiece of composition and rendering. Stylistically, he was a complete original, in a genre that was rife with clones and hacks. Cobb stood head and shoulders above them all.

I first discovered Cobb in 1980, when I was at Ohio State. I had just arrived on campus, an art-school dropout fresh off the back of the garbage truck, and decided, on a whim, that political cartoons could be a fun thing to try. But how to make them?

perused the political cartoon section at Monkey’s Retreat, the legendary comics shop just north of campus. It was mostly dull, mainstream cartoonists on the shelves: Herblock, Oliphant and the like.

But there was one Cobb collection, published in Australia, as were most of his books (too hot for US publishers, I guess).

I pored over that book. I kept it next to my board throughout college until the pages fell out, although that was probably the cheap Aussie glue as much as repeated thumbing. Cobb was the biggest influence during my early career. I never came within light years of his brilliance.

In the mid-70s, Cobb, based in LA, started working more and more in the film industry as a concept artist. Had to pay the bills, and the early alt-press was infamous for stiffing contributors. He had a particular talent for conjuring up interesting machinery and sci-fi creatures.

It’s for this that you ALL know Cobb.

He designed the Catina scene in Star Wars. The Nostromo, the doomed space ship in Alien. All of the first Conan the Barbarian, a film he art directed. The space ship in Close Encounters. And the time-traveling DeLorean in Back to the Future. Just to name a few.

While working on his first film, he befriended young Steven Spielberg, a frequent lunch buddy in the studio cafeteria. Spielberg recognized his talent and recruited him to direct a sci-fi project he had in development. earth.

It was about a horror pic about an alien that became stranded on earth. But when the screenplay was reworked, Spielberg liked it so much, he decided to direct it himself. Feeling guilty, he gave Cobb a cut of the future profits.

That film was ET!

Now rich beyond his wildest dreams as a cartoonist, Cobb worked in film for a few more years, then moved to Australia. He vanished from sight. If he drew at all, he did so privately. Spielberg’s generosity cost us the greatest political cartoonist of his generation!

Cobb died of dementia. Just like another cartoon hero of mine, the great Bill Mauldin. What kind of cruel God would strip giants like these of their wonderful minds?

I have all his books. Here’s to Ron Cobb, a cartoonist who should be far, FAR better known.

From 1966. A visionary. This could run today. It's lost not an ounce of its power.

My copy! Like I said, I read it until the pages fell out.