Today we mourn the loss of Ted Stearn, a beloved member of the Fantagraphics family. Ted’s unique sense of humor and biting wit will never be forgotten. An accomplished cartoonist, animator, and artist, he brought laughter to all who knew him either personally or through his art.

Ted Stearn in his studio, 1990. Photo by Sharon Jandik.

A note from our Associate Publisher, Eric Reynolds:

“In addition to working with him for over 20 years, my wife and I considered Ted a genuine friend. He was wonderfully prickly, often morose, but always in a way that was laden with a whipsmart, deadpan sense of humor. I loved talking comics and film with him. He was a great, passionate kibbitzer about comics and film and art. We had a lot of conversations over the years about fatherhood, in between deep dives into films like Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy and comics like Krazy Kat. As a cartoonist, he was sui generis, a wonderful talent who never received as much widespread recognition as he should, although the cartoonists who read his Fuzz & Pluck books knew: he was the real deal, a cartoonist’s cartoonist. I’m just grateful he has left us with such wonderful work to remember him by. “

Read the 2017 TCJ interview with Ted here.