From 1987, here's an interview with gag cartoonist B. Kliban conducted by Heidi MacDonald (and it's copyright that year by her) from SPLAT! #3, SPLAT! sports a cover by Howard Cruse and was published bi-monthly by Mad Dog Graphics, a division of Strnad Publishing and Tom Mason.
What's amazing here is the backstory to his Cat book, which was and still is a big deal. It almost didin't happen at all. Kliban was just doing weird cat drawings and filing them away. One day Playboy cartoon editor Michelle Urry just happened to drop by his studio and open the drawer of cat drawings. She loved them. It was she who said these should be published.
Michelle was a great editor and much missed by Playboy cartoonists. Playboy was, after all, a premiere cartoon market that was very difficult to break in to. I remember getting a rejected cartoon from Playboy in the mail. (This was back in the day when submissions were mailed, natch.) There was a note from Michelle to me that she thought it was a good, funny cartoon and disagreed with Hef who had decided not to buy it. That's what is called a "good rejection" in the business.
Here's this terrific interview by Heidi MacDonald:
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