WaPo loses all writers about comics as Cavna and Betancourt depart

Michael Cavna just confirmed to me that both he and David Betancourt are taking the Post buyout offer, and there will be no specialists on comics on the staff now.

 

 Here's their staff bio pages before they disappear.

Michael Cavna

Washington, D.C.

Covering visual culture and storytelling: comedy/satire, graphic and comic art/illustration and animation.

Education: University of California, San Diego, Literature/Writing

Writer-artist-recovering-syndicated-cartoonist Michael Cavna is a man of many hyphenates. His articles on visual artists and comic art/illustration have been honored by the Sigma Delta Chi Awards, the National Headliner Awards and the international Harvey Awards. Cavna is creator of The Post's Comic Riffs online column, which has twice been named the best newspaper blog in the country by the Society for Features Journalism. A San Francisco native and University of California at San Diego graduate, Cavna wrote the main text for the Eisner Award-nominated anthology book "Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's." Cavna's "Wise Up" cartoon launched the viral #Draw4Atena campaign in 2015 on behalf of jailed Iranian artist Atena Farghadani. He is also emcee and co-programmer of the Library of Congress/National Book Festival's Graphic Novel Pavilion. "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz once told Cavna at a black-tie awards dinner: "You do funny things"; to this day, he does not know for sure whether Schulz was referring to Cavna's syndicated comic "Warped" (Andrews McMeel) or to his tragically askew cummerbund.

 

Honors and Awards: National Headliner Award, writing/illustration, 2017, 2019 & 2021 ; Ink Bottle Award, Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, 2023; Eisner Award finalist, journalism, 2016, 2017, 2020 & 2021; Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi Award, audio/visual storytelling, 2018; Society for Features Journalism awards, Arts/feature coverage and commentary, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2021; Harvey Awards finalist, biography/journalism, 2012

Professional Affiliations: Society for Features Journalism, National Society of Newspaper Columnists

Books by Michael Cavna:

"Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson's" (text) 

 

 

David Betancourt

Washington, D.C.

Reporter focusing on comic book culture

Education: Radford University, BA in media studies

David Betancourt writes about all aspects of comic book culture for The Washington Post's Comic Riffs blog.

Honors and Awards: Two-time Eisner Award nominee

Languages spoken in addition to English: Spanish

More to Come (as a 'competitor' says, on a day when I haven't driven 600 miles)