News Release

"Cul de Sac" Celebrates One Year of Syndication

Kansas City, MO  (09/10/2008)  Richard Thompson’s “Cul de Sac” celebrates one year of syndication today with Universal Press Syndicate. A comic strip about the life of a preschool girl named Alice Otterloop, “Cul de Sac” joined Universal Press Syndicate's family of comics in Sept. 2007. The comic strip appears in about 200 newspapers.

Thompson had been creating “Cul de Sac” for the Washington Post as a weekly feature since 2004; the strip went daily in that paper this June. Since 1997, he has created the weekly comic, “Richard’s Poor Almanac” also for the Washington Post.

Thompson was recently featured at the “Heroes Convention,” a comic convention in Charlotte, N.C., which hailed “Cul de Sac” as, “The first great newspaper comic strip of the 21st Century.”

“Cul de Sac” entered syndication with an endorsement from a famous fan. Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, stated: "Thompson has a sharp eye, a fun sense of language and a charmingly odd take on the world. Best of all, his drawings are wonderful – something one doesn’t often see in cartoons anymore. I have high hopes that Thompson will bring a much-needed jolt of energy to the daily newspaper. I'm delighted to see ‘Cul de Sac.’ We have a real talent here. "

Tom Shroder, editor of The Washington Post Magazine says that “Cul de Sac” is one of the magazine’s most popular features.

Thompson is a recipient of the National Cartoonists Society Magazine and Book Illustration Award and Newspaper Illustration Award. He also won a Gold and a Silver Funny Bone Award from the Society of Illustrators for humorous illustration. He also received the Milton F. "Sonny" Clogg Alumni of the Year award in 2004 from Montgomery College in Rockfield, Md.

Thompson’s first comic collection for “Cul de Sac” is schedule to hit book stores this month. To be published by Andrews McMeel Universal, the book is titled “Cul de Sac: This Exit” and features a coveted foreword by his famous fan, Bill Watterson.

When he's not at his drawing board, Thompson enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters at their home in Arlington, Virginia.

More on “Cul de Sac” can be found on his blog at http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/2008/09/somebodys-very-special-day.html

and www.gocomics.com.

Creator(s):

Contact(s): Kathie Kerr

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