Gary David Leib (October 29, 1955 – March 19, 2021) was an American underground

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 ...

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

, and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

. Best known for the

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

'' Idiotland'' (a two-man anthology produced with Leib's long-time collaborator, Doug Allen), Leib's work also appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''The New York Times'', ''Musician Magazine'', ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...

'', '' RAW'', '' BLAB!'' and as weekly features in ''

New York Press ''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...

'' for many years. His animation work was featured in films like '' American Ultra'', ''

American Splendor ''American Splendor'' is a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the last one in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular interv ...

'', and ''

Happiness Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

''.Dean, Michael
"Gary Leib: 1955 – 2021,"
''The Comics Journal'' (March 23, 2021). Leib was a founding member of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-nominated band

Rubber Rodeo Rubber Rodeo was an American, Rhode Island–based band active in the 1980s. The band fused Roxy Music-influenced new wave music with country and western influences, and dressed in 1950s-vintage country and western clothing. Their 1984 release ...

, which recorded two

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. He created original music for independent and feature films, including the critically acclaimed '' Ironweed''.

Biography

Leib was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, the eldest of four children, and grew up in Lincolnwood."Gary David Leib, October 29, 1955 - March 19, 2021,"
Farewelling. Retrieved March 28, 2021. His influences growing up included

EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...

, '' MAD'', and ''

Zap Comix ''Zap Comix'' is an underground comix series which was originally part of the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the late 1960s. While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, ''Zap' ...

''. He went to

Niles North High School Niles North High School, officially Niles Township High School North, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a North Shore suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High Sch ...

and the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

(RISD), graduating in 1977. Leib was a founding member of

in 1980 with RISD friends Doug Allen, Bob Holmes, Barc Holmes, and Trish Milliken. Leib played keyboards. Leib and Allen's ''Idiotland'', which ran for seven issues in 1993–1994, was nominated for a 1994

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

for Best New Series. In addition to ''Idiotland'', Leib and Allen collaborated on a number of stories in the fund-raising anthology comic ''

Legal Action Comics ''Legal Action Comics'' is a series of comics anthology, comics anthologies edited by illustrator Danny Hellman which features work from many alternative comics artists. The first volume in the series was published in 2001,Hellman, Danny, editor. ...

'' volume 1, published in 2001. Leib also contributed to David Greenberger's '' Duplex Planet Illustrated'' and the 1995 award-winning comic jam, '' The Narrative Corpse''. Leib created his animation studio Twinkle in 1993;Rettig, James
"Gary Leib Dead At 65,"
''Stereogum'' (March 22, 2021). Twinkle has produced animation and titles for film, TV series, music videos, and websites.
New York Times website. From 1993 until his death, Leib created a series of short animations, accompanied by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, about

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which were hosted on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' website, a network ID for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and a documentary for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. He created the animated sequences in the film ''

'',De Wit, Alex Dudok
"RIP Gary Leib, New York Filmmaker, Animator, And Cartoonist, 65,"
''Cartoon Brew'' (April 21, 2021). often working in collaboration with his old partner Doug Allen. (''American Splendor'' won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.) Leib made the animated end closing credits for the film '' American Ultra''. Leib also designed a popular line of promotional toys for

The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...

. Leib taught in the graduate computer animation program at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

and the

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. He was the 2016–2017 artist-in-residence at

Fairmont State University Fairmont State University is a public university in Fairmont, West Virginia. History Fairmont State University’s roots reach back to the formation of public education in the state of West Virginia. The first private normal school in West Vi ...

. Former Rubber Rodeo bandmates Leib and Bob Holmes performed in a new music project named SUSS, which has been referred to as "ambient country" music. SUSS released three albums, the most recent in December 2020. Leib died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on March 19, 2021, aged 65. He was survived by his wife, the painter Judy Glantzman, their daughter Lila, and his three siblings Beth, Alan, and Joel.

Bibliography

* ''The Art of Cartooning with FLASH'' (with Daniel Gray and John Kuramoto) (Sybex, 2001)

References

External links

GaryLeib.com archived on the Wayback Machine

— ''Concrete Jumble'' episode #1
Gary Leib's animations on Vimeo

Gary Leib podcast interview (2019)

Tribute to Leib by Peter Catapano, ''Los Angeles Review of Books''Tributes on Farewelling.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leib, Gary 1955 births 2021 deaths Artists from Chicago American animators American comics writers American comics artists American humorists American country keyboardists American rock keyboardists The New Yorker cartoonists Underground cartoonists Rhode Island School of Design alumni Parsons School of Design faculty Rhode Island School of Design alumni in music