Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the main instigators of American alternative comics. The Comics Journal has called Panter the "Greatest Living Cartoonist."[3]
As an early participant in the Los Angeles punk scene in the 1970s, Panter defined the grungy style of the era with his drawings for the punk fanzineSlash and numerous record covers.
Panter created Jimbo, his punk everyman, in 1974.[8] Jimbo embodies elements of Jack Kirby and Picasso.[8] The character was a regular feature in Slash, Raw, and has been featured in his own comic book series and a number of graphic novels. Panter's good friend Matt Groening[9] said of Jimbo, "He and his friends are always up against systems of control... Jimbo is a wild combo-platter of brilliant drawing and stuff you didn’t know could be done with mere pen and ink."[8] (Groening has also admitted that Jimbo's spiky hairdo inspired the look of Bart Simpson.)[10]Jimbo in Purgatory (Fantagraphics, 2004) and Jimbo's Inferno (Fantagraphics, 2006) are lavishly produced graphic novels that incorporate classic literature elements (most prominently Dante's Divine Comedy) with pop and punk culture sensibilities. Jimbo's Inferno was given an American Book Award in 2007.[11]
In the 1980s, he was the set designer for Pee-wee's Playhouse, where he won two Daytime Emmy Awards. Previously, children's shows had a more lulling aesthetic: everything was round, "cute", simplified, and pastel. The set of Pee-wee's Playhouse was the antithesis of pablum art: it was dense as a jungle and jam-packed with surprises, often loud and abrasive ones.
While doing illustration and set designs, Panter kept up an active career as a cartoonist. His work in comics includes contributions to the avant-garde comics magazine RAW and the graphic novelCola Madnes.
In 2008, PictureBox published Gary Panter, a two-volume 700-page comprehensive overview of his work, including never-before-published sketches.
In 2010, the French publishing company United Dead Artists, founded by Stéphane Blanquet, published two books on the work of Gary Panter: The Wrong Box[15] and The Land Unknown.[16]
From 1978 to 1986, Panter was married to writer Nicole Panter, who was the manager of Los Angeles punk rock band the Germs. He later married art director Helene Silverman.[6]
Style
Panter was influenced by, among others, Frank Zappa's art director Cal Schenkel.[17] His comics are fast and hard and are drawn in an expressionistic manner. His works balance the worlds of painting, commercial art, illustration, cartoons, alternative comix, and music. Panter undertakes all of his projects with imaginative punk flair.[18]
An exhibition of originals of Gary Panter's drawings and paintings was shown at the Phoenix Art Museum from April 21 through August 19, 2007. An exhibition of paintings was at the Dunn and Brown Contemporary Gallery in Dallas in October 2007.[21]