Chad Carpenter (born ) is an American cartoonist, best known for his comic panel ''

Tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

''. Carpenter launched the strip in the ''

Anchorage Daily News The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska. The newspaper is headquartered in Anchorage, ...

'' in his home state of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

in 1991. Since then, he has self-syndicated it to over 600 newspapers, an unusually high amount for strips in self-syndication.

Early life

Chad Carpenter was born in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

before moving to

with his family at age two, where his father began a career with the

Alaska State Troopers The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The AST is a full-service law enforcem ...

. As that job entailed being transferred to different posts across the state, the family lived in a wide variety of communities, which provided him an opportunity to be immersed in nature as he grew up starting at an early age. In a 2015 interview, he gave a characteristically

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

account of his early life, explaining that he came to Alaska "because of all the restraining orders", and that on the eve of entering the Alaska State Trooper Academy to follow in his father's footsteps, he decided against it because "I knew that I was too goofy to carry a gun". In 1988, while in his early 20s, he left Alaska and moved to

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

, Florida. While in Sarasota, he met

Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Early life and education Dik Browne was born on August 11, 1917, in Manhat ...

, the creator of ''

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared on February 4, 1973 (in Sunday papers) and the next day in daily ne ...

'', and Mike Peters, the creator of ''

Mother Goose and Grimm ''Mother Goose and Grimm'' (a.k.a. ''Mother Goose & Grimm'') is an internationally syndicated comic strip by cartoonist Mike Peters of the '' Dayton Daily News''. It was first syndicated starting October 1, 1984, and is distributed by King Fea ...

''. Both cartoonists advised him; Peters told him to draw what he knew. This inspired Carpenter to create a comic about the nature and wildlife he had come to know so well back in Alaska.

''Tundra''

Created in 1991, ''Tundra'' is published on a daily basis, always in one of two formats: either a single-panel gag comic or a three-panel strip with regular characters and more complex humor. This alternation is similar to that used in ''Mother Goose and Grimm'' and '' Non Sequitur''. Unlike those strips, ''Tundra'' tends to deal with wildlife and the outdoors; its humor appeals to all demographics, young & old. Tundra also occasionally uses reader-submitted ideas. Carpenter still self-syndicates the strip within the United States, and currently appears in over 600 newspapers as a result. Since 2007, the strip has been syndicated internationally by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

. It now appears in newspapers in the United States, Canada, Jamaica, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. He has published and sold 20 ''Tundra'' books and has also produced extensive amounts of other ''Tundra''-branded merchandise. In May 2008, ''Tundra'' was named the best newspaper panel of 2007 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 ...

. In August 2008, Carpenter was presented with a legislative citation honoring him as Alaska's Cartoon Laureate. It was presented to him by Wes Keller, a member of the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people pe ...

Other art contracts

Carpenter's artistic talents have led to his being contracted for projects with the National Association of Search and Rescue, the

, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, and other companies.

Other work

Carpenter both wrote and produced the 2015

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

comedy thriller Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, ...

film '' Moose the Movie'' together with his brother Darin Carpenter. He additionally wrote the 2018 western comedy film ''Sudsy Slim Rides Again'' with his brother.

References

External links

* of ''Tundra'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Chad 1960s births Artists from Alaska American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American humorists Living people People from Sarasota, Florida People from Wasilla, Alaska Year of birth missing (living people)