Darby Conley is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

best known for the newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

Get Fuzzy ''Get Fuzzy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip written and drawn by Darby Conley. It features Boston advertising executive Rob Wilco and his two anthropomorphic pets, a dog, Satchel Pooch, and a cat, Bucky Katt. While there have been no ne ...

''.

Biography

Conley was born in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is n ...

, in 1970, and grew up in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. While in high school in 1986, he won a student cartooning competition. During his senior year at Doyle High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, Conley was voted 'Most Talented' by his graduating class. Conley was a member of

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group, the Zumbyes. Conley cited the

Tintin Tintin usually refers to: * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to: Material related to ''The A ...

books as the strongest visual inspiration for his work.

''Get Fuzzy''

Comics syndicate

United Media United Media was a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. ...

agreed in 1999 to publish Conley's new strip ''

'' about an anthropomorphic cat, Bucky, and dog, Satchel, living with their single young-male owner, Rob Wilco, which premiered on September 6, 1999. The idea for Bucky's character came from a friend's

Siamese cat The Siamese cat (; แมวสยาม, Maeo Sayam; แมววิเชียรมาศ, Maeo Wichien Maat) is one of the first distinctly recognised breeds of Asian cat. It derives from the Wichianmat landrace. The Siamese cat is one ...

. Without explanation, Conley stopped drawing daily ''Get Fuzzy'' strips in 2013. For some time after he drew Sunday strips only, though the last known new Sunday installment was on February 3, 2019. Repeats of the strip are still offered to newspapers today.

Awards

* 2002,

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Award for Newspaper Comic Strip.

Controversies

On October 30, 2003, the city of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

served as the

punch line A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...

of a strip about

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

destinations based on smells. Offended residents of the area deluged the author with negative feedback that included death threats. A May 13, 2005, strip portrayed Boston-area sports reporter Bob Lobel as a drunk, prompting Lobel to file

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuits against Conley and his syndicate. The parties announced in November 2005 that they had reached a settlement, although terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Due to this controversy, that particular strip was removed from the collection ''Take Our Cat, Please!'' and the treasury ''The Potpourrific Great Big Grab Bag of Get Fuzzy''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conley, Darby American comic strip cartoonists American comics writers American comics artists Amherst College alumni Artists from Knoxville, Tennessee People from Concord, Massachusetts 1970 births Living people Artists from Massachusetts