Cartoonists honor Seattle artist Rick Hoberg
by John Lustig
March 19, 2005
The Northwest's best cartoonists were honored March 19 with Seattle artist Rick Hoberg receiving a Golden Toonie and the induction of legendary cartoonists Carl Barks and Gary Larson into a Hall of Fame.
Honorees were selected by members of Cartoonists Northwest during its annual Toonie Award Banquet.
Hoberg received Cartoonists Northwest's highest yearly honor, the Golden Toonie, for a wide-ranging career that's included comic books (Batman, Green Arrow, Roger Rabbit); animation (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); merchandising-licensing & comic strips (Star Wars); and video games (Microsoft.)
This is the 14th year that a Golden Toonie has been awarded. Past winners include some of the Northwest's finest and most celebrated artists: Brian Basset, Berkeley Breathed, Steve Greenberg, Dave Horsey, Lynn Johnston, John Lustig, Roberta Gregory and Jim Woodring.
This is the first year that Hall of Fame honors have been awarded. The late Carl Barks was honored for a career that stretched back to the early years of Disney animation when he wrote and storyboarded Donald Duck cartoons.
Barks is best known, though, for his decades of work as writer/artist of Donald Duck comic books and as the creator of Donald's fabulously rich Uncle Scrooge McDuck. Barks, who 
was born in Merrill, Oregon in 1901, died in Grants Pass, Oregon in 2000 at the age of 99.
The other Hall of Fame honoree, Gary Larson, is the creator of THE FAR SIDE--one of the most famous and successful newspaper cartoons of all time. Larson, a Tacoma native, began his comics career selling cartoons to Northwest publications and in 1979 launched a weekly single-panel cartoon series, called "Nature's Way", in The Seattle Times. Soon after, the series was picked up for syndication and rechristened, "The Far Side." Before he retired in 1995, Larson's series was syndicated in 1,900 newspapers.
During the Toonies, awards were also presented to Northwest cartoonists Georgia & Scott Ball for best online comic strip 
(SCOOTER AND FERRET); Phil & Kaja Foglio for best comic book series (GIRL GENIUS); and Mark Monlux for best illustration (THE COMIC CRITIC).
Cartoonists Northwest is a group of local cartoonists which has been meeting every month in Seattle for over 20 years. In 2003, the group received the National Joseph Werner American Spirit Award.
Contact: John Lustig
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