Brian Basset is an American comic strip artist (''
Red and Rover''). Previously, he worked as an editorial cartoonist for the ''
Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
'' from 1978 to 1994, as well as being the creator and artist behind the syndicated comic strip ''
Adam
Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam).
According to Christianity, Adam ...
'', later changed to ''
Adam@home'' (1984–2009).
Early years
Basset was born in
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The city, part of the New York metropolitan area, New York Metropolitan Area, is the List of municipalities of Connecticut by population, sixth-most populous city in Connecticut ...
on November 30, 1957. His father. Gene Basset, was a sports, theatrical and political cartoonist for over 40 years, retiring in 1993. His mother was a mental health administrator. He has one brother and one sister.
Basset attended
Langley High School in
McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population of the community was 50,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is ...
where he was a political cartoonist for the schoolpaper ''The Saxon Scope'' from 1974 to 1975.
In 1975, Basset enrolled at the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
where he drew editorial cartoons for the school newspaper, ''
The Lantern
''The Lantern'' is an independent daily newspaper in Columbus, Ohio, published by students at Ohio State University. It is one of the largest campus newspapers in the United States, reaching a circulation of 15,000.
Copies of the paper are fre ...
'', from 1975 to 1978. There, he attended the Fine Arts program.
The Seattle Times Years
After university, he landed a 16-year stint at the
Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
, where he drew editorial cartoons for the newspaper. It was during this career when he developed the comic strip ''"Adam"'' (later known as ''Adam@Home'' or ''Adam at Home''). It was first syndicated in 1984 and focused on the life of Adam Newman, who Basset has admitted has eerie resemblances to his real-life self.
In 1994, Basset was laid off by the Seattle Times during a period of downsizing.
Adam@Home
Following his layoff at the Seattle Times, Basset became a full-time Work-From-Home Dad and his comic strip reflected this changing reality as Adam Newman went from Stay-At-Home Dad to harried home-office worker.
In 1995, this change was noticeable as the comic's name became ''"Adam@Home"''.
Beginning with the February 23, 2009 strip, Basset handed over responsibilities for ''Adam@home'' to
Rob Harrell, former comic strip artist of ''
Big Top''. Basset drew almost a month's worth of Sunday strips after that, with Harrell's first Sunday strip appearing on March 22, 2009.
Red and Rover
In 1998, Basset began thinking about producing a second comic strip that had a more childlike quality to it. On Sunday May 7, 2000, ''
Red and Rover'' appeared in newspapers for the first time. ''Red and Rover'' is a retro-feel comic strip about the unconditional love between a dog and his boy that captures the spirit and flavor of the early-1960s-to-mid-1970s. It is auto-biographical in nature. Originally distributed for the first ten years by
The Washington Post Writers Group
''The Washington Post'' Writers Group (WPWG), a division of The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate, is a press syndication service distributing opinion columnists, breaking news, podcasts and video journalism, lifestyle content, and graphi ...
, ''Red and Rover'' is currently syndicated to over 200 papers by
Universal Uclick
Andrews McMeel Syndication (formerly Universal Uclick) is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and various oth ...
. In March, 2013, Brian Basset and ''Red and Rover'' were nominated for the third time (2003 and 2010 previously) for work done in 2012 by the National Cartoonists Society for Best Newspaper Comic Strip of the Year. On 25.May 2013, ''Red and Rover'' received the
Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip by the
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 ...
at the 67th Annual Reuben Awards held in Pittsburgh, PA.
NASA
In February, 2005, an exhibition of Basset's ''Red and Rover'' space-themed strips was held at
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
headquarters in Washington, D.C. - the first comic strip artist so honored.
On July 26, 2005, an original drawing Basset had done for NASA celebrating the "Return to Flight" was carried aboard
STS-114 Discovery following the
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it Atmospheric entry, re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second List of Spa ...
29 months earlier.
In early 2011, Basset was asked by NASA to design and draw a poster commemorating 30-years of the
Space Shuttle program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
, which came to an end with the safe
predawn landing of Shuttle
Atlantis
Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...
on July 21, 2011.
Film and Television
In 2021, Basset joined forces with author and filmmaker
William Holmgren to establish
Rocket Hound Films, a film production company where he and Holmgren are creators, writers and producers. Together they also serve as executives and co-founders.
Personal life
Basset lives and works in
Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located ...
.
Besides cartooning, Basset is actively engaged in animal shelter charity work.
He is married to Bobbi Robinson and is the father of two grown sons, two grown step-daughters, and one grown step-son.
References
External links
The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basset, Brian
American comic strip cartoonists
American comics artists
American humorists
American editorial cartoonists
American political artists
Living people
1957 births