Our Cartoonist Friend
We've known Phil Yeh for years. I had bought his graphic novels in the late 80s and when J and I went to the American Booksellers Convention in 1989 we came across Phil painting a mural. He had started a literacy campaign ("I realized if people couldn't read, they couldn't read my comics!"). A year later, we found ourselves living in LA and ran into him at another booksellers convention and became involved in his Cartoonists Across America campaign, attending events with him and helping paint the literacy murals that he was creating to raise awareness (in fact, it was the only time I ever met a celebrity when I was living in Los Angeles; Alan Alda took five minutes to pick up a paintbrush and have a photograph taken of him helping with a mural).
We've met up with him off and on since then. Years would go by and then, from out of the blue, Phil would call or write and say, "Hey, I'm doing an event in your area. Want to help?" We became the Washington, DC office of Cartoonists Across America one year, handling the distribution of the free comic he was giving out at the National Book Festival, as well as working the booth all day.
Unfortunately, literacy campaigns have gotten the short end of the funding stick in the recent administration and overall economic climate, and in the last couple of trips to DC, Phil's been unable to get hotel sponsors. We gladly provided sleeping space for him (especially now that we actually have the extra space). He's in town this week to do some events for the Arlington and Baltimore library systems, as well as be a guest at the Baltimore Book Festival. He also had to finish an eight-page comic for San Bernadino's Operation Phoenix, which we had the pleasure to see being created from scratch on our kitchen table.
Phil's a fountain of tall tales. I used to joke about this crazy cartoonist friend I had who seemed to know everyone, at least according to him, until I discovered that all those stories were true! Come to think of it, I might have a Kevin Bacon number of two now, given that Phil probably knows the guy. [Unfortunately, not, although his wife's first boyfriend may have been in a scene with Kevin Bacon.]
Leave a comment