Bye-Bye Binky

The very last one from Friday, June 15th

   What a bummer: one of my all-time favorite features is folding. After more than thirty years as the reigning alternative cartoon, creator Matt Groening is retiring his "Life In Hell" series. All along enduring in the shadow of his more famous and better-known series "The Simpsons" and "Futurama," Akbar & Jeff will disappear from the funny pages where they carved out a name for themselves in Groening's distinctive style and with his signature sense of humor. Given the slate of recent deaths of so damn many giants in the industry I suppose it's a relief that he's still alive, but seeing as how I don't watch television it means there's quite an empty space left behind. I can remember when my cartoons started running in a newspaper on the same page as "Life In Hell," and as far as I was concerned, that was what made me officially legit. The fact that he maintained the feature, and - presumably - drew it himself (as opposed to the animated cash-cows being "outsourced" i.e. made in Korea), and for so long, is testament to his devotion to the craft.
Update: The Daily Cartoonist links to an interview USA Today did with Groening here.