This week’s Beachcomber features the third political cartoon by Islander Bill Jarcho. We thought it was perhaps time to introduce him.
But before we do, we need to bid farewell to Syd Stibbard, a veteran cartoonist who, in his heyday, was creating his offbeat takes on rural life for some 18 papers. “It was crazy,” Stibbard recalls.
Stibbard, warm, friendly but also a bit bullheaded, declined to state his age when asked recently, but the resourceful journalists at The Beachcomber googled him and found a 1993 story about him from the Seattle Times that stated his age as then 65. He’s been cartooning, he said, since high school.
Asked what he liked about cartooning, he answered, “It started so long ago, I can’t tell you. I’ve always done it.”
His illustrations have captured somber moments on the Island. When the Island’s beloved “Doc” Eastly died nearly three years ago, he drew a sketch of his horses, their heads lowered in sadness. He’s also captured some of the Island’s biggest moments, such as the federal court ruling against Glacier, taken jabs at the state Legislature for its chronic underfunding of public education and chronicled the complex fate of the Vashon branch library.
He did this work without ever — or rarely — setting foot on Vashon. The editor would call him each week, describe a couple of newsworthy events and, a day or so later, his drawing would come in the mail. He didn’t e-mail, text, ichat, direct us to his homepage or use any other cyber-method. If he were in a jam, he’d walk to a nearby pharmacy and fax us a copy.
But The Beachcomber’s new format — it went to a tab last May — frustrated him. His drawings had to be smaller; space was a bit tighter. So a couple of months ago, Stibbard decided to let go of one of his last gigs. We miss him. He was a gracious voice on the other end of the phone and a bright, sometimes irreverent spot on our pages.
Then one day, while we were contemplating the near-complete absence of humor in the gray pages of The Beachcomber, Jarcho, out of the blue, e-mailed us a cartoon. We liked it, but it pertained to national politics. We asked if he might like to try something with a local flavor, something only Islanders could appreciate. He did so, offering up a wonderful take on the vast, empty K2 building, Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste storage. And thus began a new relationship.
Jarco, 53, is an animation and live-action director for educational and corporate clients around the Northwest — from Microsoft to the Committee for Children. But if that sounds too serious for a cartoonist, take heart: He also runs a puppet company called Zambini Brothers. Remember The Backbone Campaign’s Chain Gang? He designed and built it.
Like Stibbard, he’s been cartooning all his life, but The Beachcomber serves as his first publisher. We’re happy to provide him the medium, and he’s happy to be doing it. “I love cartooning,” he said. “I think it’s a very powerful medium.”
