February 6th, 2018

King Features Cartoonists Thomas Yeates And John Rose To Speak At Bridgewater College

by John Rose

Prince Valiant by Thomas Yeates and Snuffy Smith by John Rose

BRIDGEWATER, Va. — Thomas Yeates, illustrator for Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, and John Rose, cartoonist for King Features’ Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip, will talk about their work on Thursday, Feb. 8, in Cole Hall at Bridgewater College.

Rose will present his Snuffy Smith chalk talk at 4 p.m., and Yeates will speak at 7 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

In April 2012, Yeates became the illustrator for Prince Valiant, a comic strip created by Foster in 1937. Prince Valiant is printed every Sunday in newspapers and online at comicskingdom.com.

Yeates has drawn comics for more than 25 years. He worked for DC Comics on numerous series, including Warlord, Mystery in Space and Swamp Thing. He worked for Eclipse Comics on titles, including Airboy, Scout, Lugar, the political documentary Brought to Light, and Aztec Ace. For T.S.R., he illustrated the Dragonlance saga based on the Dungeons and Dragons game.

In the early 1990s, Yeates illustrated 15 Tarzan comics, many for Dark Horse. “The Return of Tarzan” featured his adaptation into comics of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ second Tarzan novel. He also illustrated Dracula vs. Zorro for Topps comics. During 2007-08, he illustrated seven novels in the graphic myths series for Lerner publishing, including King Arthur, Odysseus, Atalanta, Lancelot and Robin Hood. In 2011 he began work on a western graphic novel based on Louis L’Amour’s Law of the Desert Born. The graphic novel won five awards and was nominated for the 2014 Eisner Award. Yeates was a member of the first class at Joe Kubert’s School, a trade program for aspiring comic artists.  You can view Thomas Yeates’ website here.

Rose has worked on the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip since 1998. He began as an inking assistant to cartoon legend Fred Lasswell, before becoming the strip’s full-time cartoonist following Lasswell’s death in March 2001.  He has had two Snuffy Smith comic strip book collections published, The Bodacious Best Of Snuffy Smith (2013) and Balls Of Fire! More Snuffy Smith Comics (2016) and is currently working on a third.  In 2015, he was awarded The Lum and Abner Memorial Award for his contributions to rural humor.  In 2017, Rose was given an award for his contributions to cartooning at Walt Disney’s Hometown Toonfest in Marceline, Missouri.

A native of Virginia, Rose earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from James Madison University. In addition to drawing Snuffy Smith, he creates editorial cartoons for Byrd Newspapers of Virginia and is based at the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record.  You can view John Rose’s website here.

Both Prince Valiant and Barney Google and Snuffy Smith can be found in print and digital outlets worldwide, as well as online at Comics Kingdom.

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to more than 1,900 undergraduate students.