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Non Sequitur, his
wry look at the absurdities of everyday life, has accomplished that and more: A
hit with fans of all ages, the Universal Press Syndicate strip is distributed
to more than 700 newspapers. Wiley became the first cartoonist to be presented
a coveted National Cartoonists Society divisional award after only one year of
syndicating Non Sequitur. He's the only one ever to win in both the comic strip and comic panel categories.
"Innovation" is a constant in Wiley's approach
to cartooning, and his ongoing quest to stretch the medium has been integral
to Non Sequitur's success. While the strip's sardonic humor
and distinctive art have given Non Sequitur an impassioned following
among readers, Wiley's technical innovations have earned admiration from
newspaper editors and comics connoisseurs. In addition to developing a
unique drawing method that allows the cartoon to be used in either a strip
or panel format, Wiley also pioneered a cost-effective way to produce
the strip using process color, which gives it a depth and richness of
color not seen previously on the comics page.
Wiley studied art at Virginia Commonwealth University
and worked for several educational film studios in Los Angeles before
joining the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record as staff artist/editorial
cartoonist in 1976. After a stint at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
in California, he created his first syndicated strip, "Fenton,"
in 1982. He returned to editorial cartooning three years later, joining
the staff of the San Francisco Examiner.
In 1988, Wiley was named Best Editorial Cartoonist
by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He won the prestigious
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for editorial cartooning in 1991.
Wiley's gift-sized book collection of he-said, she-said
themed cartoons, "Why WeÕll Never Understand Each Other" was released in April
2003 and is selling well. He has published four other books: "The Non Sequitur
Survival Guide for the Nineties," "Non Sequitur's Beastly Things," and "The
Legal Lampoon," a humorous stab at lawyers and the legal profession in general.
His next book, "Homer, the Reluctant Soul: The Halo Tours" is a cartoon-style
graphic novel that will be released in fall 2004.
A native of California, Wiley lives in Santa Barbara
with his wife, Victoria, and two daughters.
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