Flo & Friends, Comic Art from Cleveland

Flo & Friends, Comic Art from Cleveland
Aging with Attitude by Jenny Campbell

Reading the cartoon strip Flo & Friends, co-created by John Gibel and Jenny Campbell (pictured) and distributed by Creator’s Syndicate guarantees a chuckle or a smile.

The zany cast of characters focuses on a small group of silver-haired seniors leading active lives. Flo, star of the ensemble, works as a radio talk show host. Treggie, her hip, young granddaughter adds youthful contrast. Flo’s friend, Winnie, with a beehive hairdo has an opinion about everything. Her other pals, Larry and Ruthie, fill in with neighborly gossip while tackling the foibles and folly of daily life. And they all show us how to “age with attitude.” This strip was born in Cleveland, and is continuing to be produced right here.

Back in the late 90s, John Gibel was volunteering with seniors at non-profit organizations in Cleveland when he had the nugget of an idea to create a comic strip about them. Gibel admitted to being in a quandary because the seniors had good stories to tell, however he knew he wasn’t funny or artistic.

Through a mutual friend, Gibel was introduced to the freelance illustrator, Jenny Campbell, and they forged a working partnership. “He was really a nice fellow,” said Campbell relating a story aptly describing the comic strip’s creator. “Gibel was active in his community church and he wanted to help the seniors to attend. However, he drove an old, beat up clunker. So when the weather turned cold, it is rumored that he rented a new car every Sunday to ferry the seniors so that they would have heat on their way to church.”

In the quest for a comic syndicate contract, Gibel, Campbell, and another friend, John Murtha, who lent his humor to the cause in those early years, submitted the new comic strip concept, characters, and artwork to the five major syndicate companies. Amazingly, out of the 12,000 strip queries sent to Creator’s in 2000, the company only accepted two ideas, Flo & Friends being one of them. Unfortunately, Gibel has since passed away from a sudden stroke. Flo and her friends now come to life on the comic page through the clear drawing skill and poignant dialogue of Jenny Campbell.

“There must be something in the drinking water here,” said Campbell (54) with a smile as she described the unusually high number of cartoonists in Northeast Ohio. “This place is thick with them.” She was referring to Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes, Tom Batiuk – Funky Winkerbean, Chip Sansom – Born Loser, Peter Guren – Ask Shagg, and Terri Libenson – Pajama Diaries. Ziggy creator Tom Wilson senior and his son, Tom Wilson junior, also have Ohio roots.

Syndicated cartoonist Jenny Campbell is in good company. She is the woman behind Flo & Friends, a funny cartoon strip portraying spirited seniors as they grow older, and contrasts them with characters from younger generations.

Growing up in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, she lays claim to always having a pencil in hand for doodling, maybe an influence from her artist mother. Starting out in college in fine arts, Campbell changed over to journalism before graduating from Arizona State University in 1979. Coming from a long line of journalists, she started her career at the Arizona Republic while still in college, then the Pasadena Star-News. She worked in the art department and then moved on to writing a local weekly column, features stories, and the police beat. Following that was a three-year stint at the Orange County Register.

This Arizona transplant landed in Chagrin Falls in 1996 by way of a few stops in-between. Campbell enjoys the small town feel of Chagrin Falls and has recently moved her mother from Arizona to be housemates. After 14 years here, Campbell has warmed up to Northeast Ohio happily adopting her new location as home. As a strong supporter of animal welfare, she contributes her work in support of Rescue Village, the Geauga County animal welfare organization.

While developing a freelance illustration business, Campbell has written and illustrated 18 children’s books along the way. “I like both ends of the age spectrum,” she said. “I have always enjoyed older people, and believe in the Native American tradition of honoring our elders. But then I get a kick out of kids, too.”

According to Campbell, a day in the life of a cartoonist is absolute insanity. She carries a notebook wherever she goes to gather ideas, gags, and descriptive wording. “My deadline is Monday,” she said. “I have to submit six black and white comic strips for the dailies every Monday. And I submit a Photoshop colorized strip for the Sunday issues. For the dailies, I have to work four weeks ahead, for the Sunday papers, six weeks ahead. During the week, I stockpile punch lines and storylines,” she added. Just the drawing part for a whole week’s worth of strips can take 12-15 hours.

Campbell expressed concern about the future of cartoon strips. With the growth of the Internet, newspapers and comic strips have had difficulty responding in a profitable manner. As a result, comic strips now are smaller taking up less space. “Even though cartoonists feel a bit like dinosaurs, we are working to become smarter about online distribution.” Seniors write to thank her for the large block printed words in the strips so they can easily read the dialogue.

Where does she get her ideas? “When it comes right down to it,” said Campbell, “these older adults are the sharpest tacks in the drawer. This society tends to marginalize them and that is not right, we have to take the time to listen.” The senior audience is responsive to her message. She personally responds to emails and calls from across the country. “Several years ago, I gave a presentation to a large group of seniors at Lakeland Community College. When I was leaving, I saw a woman standing with her walker waiting at a bus stop. She was yelling for me, trying to get my attention. When I turned around to look, she had her walker raised over her head pumping it up and down cheering me on. I love that spirit,” exclaimed Campbell.

Flo & Friends can be read locally in the comic pages of the Sunday Plain Dealer. For more information, visit http://www.creators.com/comics/flo-and-friends.html.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul, who says the act of writing is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The challenge lies in getting the pieces to fit together and make sense.

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