Image courtesy of Michael Cavna/Washington Post.
When I was interviewing to join the GoComics team, my second meeting was with Lee Salem, president of Universal Uclick (GoComics' parent company). I remember sitting across the table from him, offering to show my portfolio of work, my thoughts on the brand and how I may be able to contribute to this great line of work. Lee listened and spoke with measure, then expressed that he was equally (if not more) interested in me as a person. I left the meeting impressed with the man and the company that he had helped to build over the past 40 years. I also left knowing that this was a man who would be beyond a worthy adversary at a negotiating table.
I've had the pleasure of learning from the man who signed Bill Watterson, Richard Thompson, Garry Trudeau, Aaron McGruder and countless other talented creators. This is the man who was the editor of Calvin and Hobbes. This bears repeating: This is the man who was the editor of Calvin and Hobbes. As Lee enters the stage of transition where he is now the president emeritus, the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) will acknowledge him at this year's Reuben Awards with one of its highest honors: the Silver T-Square Award. The prize, according to the NCS, "is awarded, by unanimous vote of the NCS Board of Directors, to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession." Lee joins Universal Uclick founder John McMeel as GoComics family members who have received this prestigious prize.
Read the words of Watterson, Thompson, Trudeau and others in the story on the NCS website: http://www.reuben.org/2013/02/lee-salem-to-receive-silver-t-square/
If you appreciate the work of GoComics and of its newspaper "funny pages" partners over the past 40 years, then it's highly likely that you've appreciated Lee's work. Feel free to leave notes below and we'll share them with him.
A tip of the hat to you, sir. Well-deserved praise.
