Posted by Hemant Mehta in Don Addis, the cartoonist whose works appeared in Free Inquiry, Freethought Today, and a number of mainstream publications, died of lung cancer a few days ago.
Even if his name doesn’t ring a bell, his work is probably very familiar. His cartoons have been making the rounds on the Internet for several years. Every now and then, I would see his old cartoons show up on social bookmarking sites. They would get a second life as new readers saw them, laughed, and spread his work to their friends. That’s the sort of thing that doesn’t happen unless you’ve produced material with timeless humor, and Don Addis did that constantly.
Here are a few of my favorite cartoons by him:
There aren’t many cartoonists with his unique sense of humor when it comes to matters of religion.
It’s (unfortunately) safe to say his work will be relevant for years to come and that’s a rarity in his field.
(via Council for Secular Humanism)
Awww… The first one was a particular fav of mine.
He’ll be missed.
awesome cartoons!
Yes, that top one was a favorite of mine too. I’ll definitely miss Don.
I’ve never heard of him but I’ve seen his work everywhere. He will surely be missed by many.
Makes me so sad to lose such a real and honest voice of Atheism.
the first one is the cartoon that A.C. Grayling was referring to in the intelligence squared debate last week.
Wonderful cartoons and the first one sums it all up rather nicely…
I’d like to see the first cartoon on the side of a bus.
I loved his work. RIP
OH NO! He used to do all the ‘doodle’ cartoons in MAD Magazine! He was awesome and will be missed.
He could be so concise, so bull’s eye accurate with the issues. His work and positive influence will continue for a long time to come. May we all take his seeds of wisdom and plant them everywhere we go.
I agree with everyone else, the first one is so profound
I always like to imagine that the Christian in the first panel is Bill Donohue.
[...] Mehta, fromThe Friendly Atheist blog has some more images from Mr. Addis on his site. Bookmark [...]
So sad that I never knew the name of such a great cartoonist until he died. I’ve seen some of his cartoons before but had never heard of the man behind it. Well, now I have a reason to look up him and his work to see what I’ve missed. There must be lots of amazing strips I’ve yet to see if the ones I have seen so far are any indication of the overall quality of his work.
He used to work for MAD? I knew I recognized that style from somewhere other than those online atheist cartoons! That fact just makes him so much greater in my oppinion!
Sorry folks, but he did not work for MAD. The artist you are referring to is Sergio Aragones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Aragon%C3%A9s
This is a loss! I enjoy his cartoons in Freethought Today.
There are a lot of artists that make up Mad Magazine. I thought I remembered Don Addis’ name among them but alas can’t seem to verify this on-line so I could be wrong.
Anyone got any further info? Unfortunatley, although I’ve been reading Mad since I was 10, I don’t keep back issues. (Must put that CD-rom collection on my wish list.)
I was a comics dealer for over a decade and used to run and promote my own shows in Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit. Mr. Addis did no work whatsoever for MAD magazine. Really.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Addis