Jules Feiffer, a stubborn pooch, and a children鈥檚 counting book
As a boy coming of age in the 1930s and 鈥�40s, Jules Feiffer had his head buried in the funny pages.
鈥淢y earliest ambition, my earliest dreams, and my earliest joy was in looking at, particularly, the Sunday supplements 鈥� the color supplements,鈥� says Mr. Feiffer, who in time became a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. 鈥淚t was pure and beautiful and innocent in a time when innocence was allowed.鈥�
Forging his own path in the field of cartooning, however, Mr. Feiffer often gravitated toward dark, biting satire. He maintained a weekly comic strip in The Village Voice from 1956 to 1997. The comic strips were collected into books, and the title of one such volume demonstrated his acidic take on politics and society: 鈥淪ick, Sick, Sick.鈥�
Comics historian Brian Walker situates Mr. Feiffer within a tradition of 1950s-era antiestablishmentarians, including comedian Lenny Bruce and the Beat writers. 鈥淭hey used to call it 鈥榮ick humor鈥� 鈥� that term was used almost in a derogatory way about this new, topical, confessional humor,鈥� Mr. Walker says.
In 1993, however, Mr. Feiffer decided to try a genre that would ultimately reconnect him with his beloved Sunday supplements: children鈥檚 literature. HarperCollins has just published 鈥淪mart George,鈥� a sequel to one of Mr. Feiffer鈥檚 most enduringly popular books, 鈥淏ark, George,鈥� from 1999. The original book, which focused on a canine named George who barks only after much prodding, has sold more than 300,000 copies.
The long-deferred sequel centers on the same stubborn pooch: This time, George, struggling with his addition, dreams that he is schooled in math by a cat, a gaggle of farm animals, and a mustachioed veterinarian who will be familiar from the earlier book. The concept sounds straightforward enough, but Mr. Feiffer had long struggled with a sequel.
Several years ago, as he was about to embark on a long car ride from his home outside New York City, he resolved to produce an outline before the trip was over. 鈥淚 fiddled and faddled and wrote notes in my head and jotted things down,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd, my God, by the time I got to the city, I had the sequel.鈥�
To longtime readers of his Village Voice strip, Mr. Feiffer鈥檚 late-career turn toward children鈥檚 literature might have come as a surprise. In the quarter-century since his debut in this genre, a young adult novel, 鈥淭he Man in the Ceiling,鈥� Mr. Feiffer has churned out a steady stream of works for younger readers. 鈥淐ombining visual and verbal storytelling from his very first Village Voice strip, doing picture books just seems like a natural outcome,鈥� says Michael di Capua, Mr. Feiffer鈥檚 editor.聽
At first, Mr. Feiffer resisted drawing animals. 鈥淏ut, somewhere along the line, it became fun,鈥� he says.聽
He says that he instructs young cartoonists to follow their instincts. 鈥淚鈥檓 not so much the author of these things,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 experiencing the book as it happens, and I just happen to be the guy pushing the pencil or pen or brush around,鈥� he says.
Mr. Feiffer 鈥� currently working on another sequel, 鈥淧ark George鈥� 鈥� has no plans to put away his drawing tools anytime soon. 鈥淚鈥檓 91 now,鈥澛� he says. 鈥淲hen I sit down at my drawing table, I can do anything that I鈥檝e ever done, it turns out.鈥�
