Meet with John Callahan the Cartoonist
There's absolutely nothing funny about a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. Unless, of course, that person is John Callahan. For nearly a decade, this irreverent cartoonist has been shocking America with his own special brand of wicked humor. In the world of Callahan, nothing is sacred, nothing is taboo and nothing is funnier!
Callahan became a quadriplegic in a car accident at 21. The accident happened in Callahan's car after a day of drinking. His car was being driven by a man with whom he was bar hopping.
Following his accident, he became a cartoonist, drawing by clutching a pen between both hands. His visual artistic style was simplistic and often rough, although still legible. It has been likened to that of William Steig, James Thurber, Richard Condie, and Ben Wicks. Callahan's cartoons dealt with subjects often considered taboo. His black humor may be exemplified by the title of his "quasi-memoir", Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up?. The subject matter and treatment of his cartoons shares something with the work of Charles Addams, Gahan Wilson, and especially Charles Rodrigues, although it is much more aggressive than even the Playboy cartoons by these cartoonists.
For 27 years until his death, Callahan's work appeared in Willamette Week, whose cartoons occasionally led to boycotts and protests against the newspaper.
Callahan scoffed at the reactions of critics who labeled his work politically incorrect, while he delighted in the positive reactions he received from fans with disabilities. “My only compass for whether I’ve gone too far is the reaction I get from people in wheelchairs, or with hooks for hands,” Callahan said. “Like me, they are fed up with people who presume to speak for the disabled. All the pity and the patronizing. That’s what is truly detestable.”
Two animated cartoon series have been based on Callahan's cartoons: Pelswick, a children's show on Nickelodeon; and Quads, a Canadian-Australian co-production, which retains the violence, joie de vivre, and political incorrectness of his cartoons. The main character, who "walked out of a bar and into a car," as the theme song relates, is a quadriplegic who won a large settlement from the rich driver who ran over him, and lives in a mansion with his buxom girlfriend, gay Australian physical therapist, and a cast of fellow handicapees. Their outrageous adventures infuriate the neighbours, which include an angry nun, the milquetoast millionaire who originally ran over the main character, and his domineering, Joan Riversesque wife.
Friends said Callahan realized that his cartooning was a form of counseling, which led to him pursuing a master's degree in counseling at Portland State University. However, his deteriorating health prevented him from finishing his first term.
In 2005 Dutch film maker Simone de Vries made a documentary on Callahan, 'Raak me waar ik voelen kan' ('Touch me someplace I can feel').
Callahan died on July 24, 2010, following surgery for chronic bed sores, although his brother stated the causes of his death were complications of quadriplegia and respiratory problems.
John Callahan's books
- The Best of Callahan
- Digesting the Child Within and Other Cartoons to Live By
- Do Not Disturb Any Further
- Do What He Says! He's Crazy!!!
- Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: The Autobiography of a Dangerous Man
- Freaks of Nature
- Get Down!! : Dog Cartoons
- I Think I was an Alcoholic
- The King of Things and the Cranberry Clown (a children's book quite unlike the adult-oriented cartoons in his cartoon collections)
- Levels of Insanity : Cartoons by Callahan
- The Night, They Say, Was Made for Love : Plus, My Sexual Scrapbook
- What Kind of God Would Allow a Thing Like This to Happen?!!
- Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up? Lurid Revelations, Shocking Rejections, Irate Letters, With an Introduction by Robin Williams
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Callahan_(cartoonist)
