Cartoonist John Callahan passed away on July 24th. He was 59-years-old.
Readers either loved his cartoons or thought they were written with bad taste. Callahan explained in an interview with the Miami Herald back in 1989: “I’m happiest when I’m offensive. I have a desire to tear people in half. I want to move people out of the suburbs of their mind. I want them to suffer, to feel something real. I have a lot of anger. I want to hurt people. At least a little.”
Callahan published several volumes of cartoon collections. The titles include Do Not Disturb Any Further, What Kind of a God Would Allow a Thing Like This to Happen?!!, and Freaks of Nature. In addition, he also published his autobiography, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, a fable picture book, The King of Things and the Cranberry Clown, and an alcoholism booklet, I Think I Was an Alcoholic.
The Washington Post offers two articles reporting on Callahan’s passing. One of them is written by T. Rees Shapiro and the other is from Gene Weingarten. The Shapiro piece tells readers that: “Hollywood comedian Robin Williams owns the movie rights to Mr. Callahan’s life. Should the film ever appear on screen, Mr. Callahan once said, he wanted Philip Seymour Hoffman to star.”