Comics lawyer and editor Mitch Berger has passed away

Mitch Berger's Facebook page is full of people noting that he passed away on November 12, 2019. Comments from Jackie Estrada, Steve Bissette, Ed Hall, Karen Green, Michael Gilbert, Craig Yoe, and Ted Rall in particular attest to his influence in the comics world.

Last month, we ran a notice that Mitch was in hospice, and tried to begin to get a handle on his career. 

We at ComicsDC share our condolences to Mitch's wife and friends.

Comics lawyer Mitch Berger in hospice (UPDATED)

Mitch at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

by Mike Rhode

Local comics and cartoon lawyer, editor and collector Mitchell Berger posted on Facebook last night that he's in the final stages of hospice care, after suffering from "a rare cancer called neuroendocrine tumor, or NET" for years. Mitch was a lawyer who graduated from Antioch School of Law in the District, but he has also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He merged his career and his hobby for decades.

From October 2010 - April 2014, Mitch edited NPR's Double Take feature showing 2 political cartoons. As far as I can tell, he did it anonymously (to the public at least. I'm sure the cartoonists knew). Mitch would frequently weigh in on legal issues in comics, including this comment from 1995 about fair use of political cartoons: "As a lawyer and as the consulting editor on NPR's Double Take Toons, while I disagree with Chip Bok's view of Net Neutrality, but I do support him on his understanding of fair use. His statement "come up with something on your own," is what resonates with me the most. Chip has the right to have the words he speaks and the images he draws to be presented as he intended them. In fact, he has an internationally recognized legal and moral right to protect the integrity of his work. Replacing his words with someone else's isn't just criticism, it supplants and therefore silences his speech. And because of the way the internet works, it is quite possible that some might mistake the parody of his work, as his work." Another of his legal comments can be seen here.

He was also cited by Tom Spurgeon as an editor of cartoons on Kaiser Health News website.

One of Mitch's long-time roles was as "Supernatural Law’s legal consultant Mitch Berger" for Batton Lash's comic book about lawyers with monsters for clients. Lash, who also had attended SVA, passed away earlier this year.

Mitch, Jackie Estrada and Batton Lash at Awesome Con 2014. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

An interview with Will Eisner that Mitch co-conducted with Mike Barson and Falls Church's Ted White, was published in Heavy Metal's November 1983 issue, of all places. He was a founding board member (1991) and vice president for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Eric Reynolds of the Comics Journal recalled that he resigned under pressure in 1994 after the failure in defending Mike Diana. He also provided other cartoonists with legal services. At some point, according to Mary Fleener, he worked for DC Comics and helped her get rights to a story back. He also posthumously assisted Dori Seda to ensure her literary rights went to the person she had wanted them to go to.

Crumb drawing donated to Columbia's library

In 2015, Mitch donated his sketchbook to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and allowed us to reproduce his Facebook post about it. In 2017, Mitch contributed money in the name of his first wife, Peggy Girsham*, to increase the print run of Resist! #2. His most recent donation was a drawing by Robert Crumb to Columbia University's Library this year. Librarian Karen Green confirmed this for me, noting it was "A very, very kind and generous donation."

I never got to know Mitch particularly well. We would run into each other infrequently at political cartoon events such as the RFK Awards, but by the time I met him he'd already been a long-time part of the comics scene and certainly didn't need me to introduce him to anyone in the field. As seen here, Bruce Guthrie has pictures of him locally at Awesome Con and the Herblock Awards.


On his Facebook post, Mitch writes,dictated to his brother, "I am not at the end yet, but I am getting weaker and losing strength. I can't say enough about how supportive hospice care has been. A hospice nurse makes sure that I have no pain or suffering. A very professional and caring hospice worker comes three times a week to give me a bed bath and change the bedsheets, so I am always clean, pain-free, and comfortable."

Mitch and Mark Fiore at Fiore's Herblock Award, 2016. Photo by Bruce Guthrie

A cross-section of the comics world have responded to his post including Rick Veitch, Mary Fleener, Keith Knight, Jim Wheelock, Shannon Wheeler, Mark Fleck, Jackie Estrada, Wayno, Rick McKee, Ted Rall, Robert Greenberger, Sean Howe, Keith Brown, Clay Jones, Karen Green, Michael Cavna, Paul Levitz, Bob Staake, Barbara Dale, Paul Mavrides, Brian Bassett, Michael T. Gilbert, Stephen Bissette, Nina Paley along with simple 'likes' from Bob Smith, Mark Wheatley, Teresa Roberts Logan, Caitlin McGurk, Carol Tilley, Jimmy Margulies, Ron Evry, Tom Heintjes, Mark Newgarden, Heidi MacDonald, Noah Van Sciver, RL Crabb, Mark Stokes, Tom Orzechowski,  Greg Wallace, John Branch, Doug Ready, Barbara Randall Kesel, Randy Bish, Jim Valentino, Ray Alma, James Owen, Matthew Hansel, Denys Cowan, Maggie Thompson, Michael Fry, Darrin Bell, Diana Schutz, Robert Gregory, Mark Zingarelli, Pete Maresca, Greg Koudoulian, Christine Tripp, and probably others. Additonal comments have been made by Glenn McCoy and Jen Sorenson, with likes from Frank Cammuso, Jeff Trexler and Mike Lester.

This post will be updated as new information or comments come in, with new pieces in italics. 

*Oct 30: Ms. Girsham's name was previously misspelled as Grisham. Thank you to Eva Zelig for the correction.

Resist! to return

This is the first article I've seen noting that our local collector Mitch Berger contributed money is his wife's memory to increase the print run. The issue's indica says, "In memory of Peggy Girshman, journalist. She believed in facts, truth, and science." I had meant to mention this earlier, so I'm pleased to see it in print elsewhere.

NEW ISSUE OF 'RESIST!' PLANNED

First Issue Getting Collector Prices

by Milton Griepp on February 8, 2017
http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/36707/new-issue-resist-planned

Local collector Mitch Berger donated his sketchbook to Billy Ireland Library

Mitch has given me permission to reproduce this from his Facebook page. I love the fact that he's given this great collection to a cartoon archives.


Earlier this summer I decided that it was time for me to donate my most prized possession, my cartoonist sketchbook, to an appropriate institution. I started collecting drawings from cartoonists I liked and admired back in 1972. The book has drawings by many greats who are no longer with us, Hal Foster, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jeff Jones, Vaughn Bode, Roy G. Krenkel, Roy Crane, Alfredo Alcala, Ernie Chan (aka Chua), Joe Kubert, Joe Orlando, Jerry Robinson, Bill Gallo, Paul Conrad and Spain Rodriguez. 

Many more are, happily, still with us and include Marie Severin, Ralph Reese, Steve Bissette, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, Robert and Aline Crumb (in a "jam"), Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Gilbert Shelton, Matt Groening, Berke Brethead, Batton Lash, Bobby London, Jen Sorensen, Kelly Bastow, Neal Adams, Roberta Gregory, Jules Feiffer, Jeff Smith, Wendy Pini, Steve Kelly, all three of Los Bros Hernandez and last, but by no means least, among many, many more, the greatest living cartoonist, Sergio Aragones.

I obtained the final two contributions to the sketchbook from Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus - CXC, and it was donated soon after, to the Billy Ireland Library and Cartoon Museum at Ohio State, the premier repository and most solid institution dedicated to cartoon art in the US. The picture below is of me and the incomparable Lucy Caswell, the heart and soul of the library/museum, going through the sketchbook one last time. I hope all of the drawings in it will be available online. Thanks to all the cartoonists who, through the last 40+ years, have given me the gift of their art.

You can never really own art, you are lucky if you have the privilege to be its custodian for a while. I have been tremendously lucky. I'm also lucky to have Peggy, as my wife. The sketchbook would easily sell for tens of thousand$, but it would be broken up and sold piecemeal. When it comes to doing the right thing, there's none better than my wife.