Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Brian Hoag on Bill Mauldin and Charles Schulz


In the aftermath of the 65th annual Reuben Awards, held over Memorial Day weekend, it's fitting to talk about awards and their meaning.

I'm enough of a realist to feel that awards are all fine and good -- but, in the cold, cruel world -- they do not give you any career protection. An editor won't hire you because of or in spite of an award. They'll hire you because they think you're right for the job.




When Charles Schulz was asked what award -- of the many awards he received during his life and career -- meant the most to him, he answered:

"The Combat Infantry Badge."

Brian Hoag writes about Bill Mauldin and Charles Schulz at the McCook Daily Gazette Blog:


"Schulz had a special appreciation for one of his fellow cartoonists ... Bill Mauldin. For years, Schulz would send Mauldin the original Veterans Day Peanuts cartoon (Here is an example... Snoopy, Willy, and Joe), and Mauldin finally got a chance to find out why. At a cartoonist convention, they ran into each other and Mauldin asked why? Schulz replied that he had been a machine gun squad sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in France and Germany in 1945. 'That's all he needed to say,' Mauldin was quoted as saying. He understood the rest."

And the rest is here.



Hat tip to Comics Reporter.

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