Everett Lee Peck (October 9, 1950 – June 14, 2022) was an American illustrator, cartoonist, and animator. He is best known as the creator of '' Duckman'' and '' Squirrel Boy''.

Early life

Everett Lee Peck was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, on October 9, 1950, and later earned a degree in illustration at

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

. He then took over the illustration program at the

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

in 1984.

Career

Peck's drawings have appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', and ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', as well as numerous books, comics and movie posters. He participated in gallery shows in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and Washington, D.C., and wrote animated cartoons for ''

Rugrats ''Rugrats'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently— Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and twins Phil and Lil, a ...

'', '' The Critic'', and a series based on one of his own cartoon characters: '' Duckman''. Originally created as a comic book that was first published by

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

in 1990, ''Duckman'' was turned into an animated series in 1994 for the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

. During its four-year run, it won the

CableACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Am ...

, and was nominated for four

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. At the same time, various comic books were published by Topps Comics based on the TV series. These were largely written and drawn by others, including

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

, Scott Shaw! and Craig Yoe. Topps also reprinted Peck's original 1990 ''Duckman'' comic. Peck also created the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

series '' Squirrel Boy'', which ran from 2006 to 2007. Other work by Peck included character design for four animated TV series from

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

, ''

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first ...

'', ''

Extreme Ghostbusters ''Extreme Ghostbusters'' is an American animated television series based on the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. It is a spin-off to the animated series '' The Real Ghostbusters''. The series originally aired on the syndicated Bohbot Kids Network's ...

'', '' Men in Black: The Series'', and '' Godzilla: The Series'', a slew of print ads for Nike and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

, as well as a promotional comic strip for

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and desse ...

and several station IDs for UPN. Samples of Peck's personal sketches appear in the book ''It's Not My Fault'', a companion piece to his 2011 solo exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Personal life and death

At the time of his death, he resided in

Oceanside, California Oceanside is a city on the South Coast of California, located in San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 census. The city is a popular tourist destination, owing to its historic landmarks, beaches, and architecture. ...

, with his wife Helen Vita. Peck died on June 14, 2022, and his death was announced two days afterwards via his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

page. His wife stated that he had died from a long battle with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of pancr ...

. Peck is survived by his wife, two children and a granddaughter. He was 71.

References

External links

Official site

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Everett 1950 births 2022 deaths American animators American comics artists American cartoonists American satirists American television directors American animated film directors People from Oceanside, California Artists from San Diego Cartoon Network Studios people Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in California California State University, Long Beach alumni