Non Sequitur s Beastly Things

by Wiley Miller

If a cartoonist successfully captures life's humorous and ironic moments in three short panels, readers applaud. When Wiley does the same in his single-scene format, they roll on the carpet laughing. Seven years ago, Wiley exited the editorial pages of the San Francisco Examiner with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in his pocket and began a career as the preeminent solo panel creator working today. Non Sequitur readers were ready for his wild and unpredictable takes on an untamed world. Non Sequitur not only breaks the three-panel mold, it succeeds without regular characters, standard settings, or repeat situations to fall back on. Each piece, in other words, hangs out there as Wiley's snapshot of the worlds of work, leisure, and life's many crossroads. Following the solid success of his last collection, The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties, Wiley's newest collection is destined to continue his sardonic tradition. Non Sequitur's Beastly Things, as guided by Rolf the dog, promises to keep readers howling, growling, and scratching for more. They will delight, for instance, in crocodiles luring fishermen with dollar bills, Randy the science lab kid who announces that his homework ate his dog, and the desert dweller who celebrates the change of season by raking needles beneath his cacti.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

I began my career in art illustrating educational films. But my interest was always in print and cartooning, so in 1977 I moved from film in Southern California to work as a staff artist and editorial cartoonist for the Greensboro Daily News and the Greensboro Record (they were the morning and evening papers at the time and have since merged into one).

In 1979 I moved on to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Ca.), as doing the staff art for one paper instead of two gave me more time to do editorial cartoons.

My editorial cartoons then went into syndication with Copley News Service in 1980.

Unfortunately, I was laid off in the recession of 1981, which, fortunately, led me to create my first comic strip, "Fenton", which was syndicated by Field Syndicate. It had moderate success, but my love was still with editorial cartooning.

When the position came open at the San Francisco Examiner in 1984, I went for it and somehow got it. I enjoyed a good run there until the recession of 1991 hit in the wake of the Gulf War.

Learning from my previous experience with recessions and the lack of job security for anyone in art, I decided to make my way out before the ax fell and created Non Sequitur, which went into syndication with the Washington Post Writers Group in 1992. It was met with immediate success, but it's growth with a small syndicate was limited.

When I reached that limit, I moved over to Universal Press Syndicate in 2000, where the strip now appears in 800 papers world wide.

Now, of course, I taken a new turn in my career, taking a story I did in the Sunday editions in 2005 called "Ordinary Basil" and made it into my first children's book with Blue Sky Press (a Scholastic imprint).

The second book in the series, "Attack of the Volcano Monkeys", came out a year later, with a third book now in the works.

Reviews

[Harold Citron · Rating 5 out of 5]

20 years after it was first published, Wiley's humorous commentary still strikes a chord.

There is still plenty of zip and zing in the strips that mark his observations of human frailties and foibles.

Well worth the read.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Satire anyone?

I like these comics from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. There was just so much to take in and ponder about. The satire in this book is well worth reading. It is just reading what can I say.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stress remover. Entertaining.