'Jimbo'.
A painter, a commercial artist, a designer and a comic artist are all rolled up in one package called Gary Panter. Panter is part of the group that made RAW magazine and is of the second (punk) generation in American underground comix. His comics are fast and hard and are drawn in an expressionistic manner.
Gary Panter was born in 1950 in Oklahoma and raised in Texas. He studied painting at the East Texas State University and moved to Los Angeles in 1977. During the late 1970s Panter was part of the artistic collective The Art Boys, which had people like Robert Williams, Mark Mothersbaugh (from the band Devo), The Pizz, Neon Park, Mike Kelley and Matt Groening in their midst. Panter has published his work in various magazines and newspapers, including Raw, Time and Rolling Stone magazine. He has exhibited all over the world, and won two Emmy awards for his set designs for 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse.' His most famous works include 'Jimbo, Adventures in Paradise' and 'Facetasm', which was created together with Charles Burns, and the graphic novel 'Cola Madness'. Returning to comics in the early 1990s, Panter drew seven issues of a 'Jimbo' comic book through Matt Groening's Zongo Comics label, and later created two more graphic novels starring his character, 'Jimbo in Purgatory' and 'Jimbo's Inferno'.
Among his sources of inspiration are artists like Carl Barks, Robert Crumb and Cal Schenkel. Panter has designed the record sleeves for the Frank Zappa albums 'Studio Tan' (1978), 'Orchestral Favorites' (1978) and 'Sleep Dirt' (1979). In the 1980s, he was the set designer for the children's TV show 'Pee Wee's Playhouse', and he is also the creator of the online series 'Pink Donkey' for Cartoon Network.
Gary Panter was an influence on Matt Groening, who placed 'Jimbo on nr. 6 in his personal list of '100 Favorite Things'. He also influenced Kamagurka and Tobias Tak.
'Jimbo'.