RIP Ted White, writer about comics (updated)

White lived in Falls Church, and also wrote for the Falls Church News-Press. He was mostly active in science fiction, but wrote for Heavy Metal as well as the first Captain America prose novel. 

Honoring Ted White

Mike Chomko

May 24, 2026

https://pulpfest.com/2026/05/24/honoring-ted-white/

 

The article also notes the comic book artists White hired as an SF editor, "They were joined by some of science fiction’s most exciting artists: Dan Adkins, Vaughn Bode, Doug Chaffee,  Jeff Jones, Mike Kaluta, John Pederson, Jr., Joe Staton, and most significantly Mike Hinge." 

Here's his Grand Comics Database page.

Here's his Wikipedia page.

After I posted this, I received the following email that Joel gave me permission to quote here:

 

 Not only did Ted White write for Heavy Metal, he was the editor for several years, and brought American creators into its pages.

Ted was a very early comics fan at a time when science fiction fandom shunned comics.

He was one of the top EC comics fans, along with the recently departed Larry Stark, long-departed Bhob Stewart, and still-with-us Fred von Bernewitz (who grew up in Silver Spring and graduated from Montgomery Blair HS).
 
--Joel Pollack
Founder of BIG PLANET COMICS
Retired

Deaths in the Comic Arts Field 2025

 by Mike Rhode

This will be updated as notices continue to come in. The list is an annual feature of the Comics Research Bibliography and will appear in the 2025 edition. Updates are marked with *

Deaths in 2025 (with thanks to Bruce Guthrie’s Wikipedia mining, D.D. Degg at the Daily Cartoonist, Stripspeciaalzaak, Animation Magazine, Anime News Network) included Argentine comics scholar Mariela Acevedo, Nigerian artist Olu Ajayi, British graphic novelist Richard Appignanesi, British-Canadian animator Victor Atkinson, Norwegian animator Kine Aune,  Malaysia’s Azmi (aka Mohd Azmi Mohd Hussin), Dutch comic creator Harry Balm, voice actor William Bassett, Hanna-Barbera writer and storyboard artist Tony Benedict, editorial cartoonist Steve Benson, ‘It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman’ Broadway musical and Superman The Movie cowriter Robert Benton, Ed Berdej, Histoire du Québec graphic novel scripter Léandre Bergeron, Belgian artist Jean Claude Block of ERCOLA, editorial and sports cartoonist Tom Bone, Pot-Shots cartoonist Ashleigh Brilliant, New Zealand’s National Business Review editorial cartoonist Bob Brockie, Nickelodeon licensing executing Leigh Anne Brodsky, Keith Brown, Elijah Brubaker, British comic artist Iain Buchanan, California comic book shop and convention worker Alison Buckles (aka Alison Buckles Hennessey), science fiction fanzine artist and cartoonist Grant Canfield, DC Comics editor KC Carlson, freelance writer for Marmaduke Doris Carr, Pokémon voice actor James Carter Cathcart, DC and Marvel editor Margaret Clark, The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen, animation writer David Steven Cohen, British graphic novel reviewer Rachel Cooke, Mexican experimental animator Aria Covamonas, animation writer Skip Craig, former U.S. Army cartoonist turned fine artist Charles Criner, editorial cartoonist Ken Crook, Shanda Fantasy Arts cofounder Carole Curtis, Tony D’Adamo, Peter David, Myth Adventures comic book store founder Helgi Davis, Belgian cartoonist Eric De Rop, Belgian cartoonist Chantal De Spiegeleer, editorial and alternative cartoonist Tim Eagan, Edika aka Edouard Karali, DC Comics production staffer Shelley Eiber, animator Jerry Eisenberg, Hy Eisman, voice actor John Erwin, Argentine comic book writer Walter Fahrer, Private Eye cartoonist Barry Fantoni, Irish comic artist John Farrelly, Jules Feiffer, Fat Jack’s Comicrypt store owner Mike Ferrero, Czech-American animator Paul Fierlinger, Staten Island Advance editorial cartoonist Tom Flannagan, editorial cartoonist Fleg aka Christian Daigle, Loading Snacks Anime Chat podcaster London Fogg aka Sin, Italian editorial cartoonist Giorgio Forattini, animator Gail Frank, newspaper illustrator Laurie Gambill, voice actor Jeff Garcia, Dutch animator Harrie Geelen, animator Joseph Gilland, Tintin expert Philippe Goddin, Jackson 'Butch' Guice, Star Fruit Books founder Matt Haasch, Disney animator Joe Hale, The Maxx voice actor Michael Haley, Seriefrämjandet - The Swedish Comics Association supporter Agneta Hallin, Jim Hamilton of UK’s Forbidden Planet chain, manga creator Kunichika Harada,  Japanese manga creator Shohei Harumoto, anime voice actor Takaya Hashi, New Zealand political cartoonist Eric Heath, comic book inker Andrew "Drew" Hennessy, Canadian animator Co Hoedeman, illustrator and cartoonist Brad Holland, Marvel Comics editor Norah Horwitz, Japanese voice actor Takashi Inagaki, Japanese voice actor Ryō Ishihara, animation timer Christine Smith Ishimine, animator Todd Jacobsen, Brazilian cartoonist Jaguar (aka Sérgio de Magalhães Gomes Jaguaribe), Czech caricaturist Oldřich Jelínek, comic artist and editorial page illustrator Randy Jones, ’King of the Hill’ voice actor Jonathan Joss, small press comics creator Larned Justin, Indian political cartoonist Kaak (aka Harish Chandra Shukla), animator Karenia Kaminski, mangaka Sui Kasai, animation producer Steven Philip Kasper, Jack Katz, Batman Forever's Val Kilmer, cartoonist/illustrator and musician J.D. King, ‘Dry Bones’ cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, animation publicist Fumi Kitahara, Hakusensha publisher founding member and manga magazine editor Nobumasa Konagai, Classics Illustrated cover artist Mort Künstler, animator Richard Laslo, ‘Riverdale’ writer Yolonda E. Lawrence, Cuban cartoonist LAZ (aka Humberto Lazaro Miranda Ramirez),  French BD cartoonist Lidwine (aka Dominique Legeard or Marcel de la gare), Disney animation cel colorist Dawn Little Sky, Space Ghost voice actor George Lowe, French cartoonist Patricia Lyfoung, The Angriest Dog in the World cartoonist David Lynch, Tribune Media Services Sales Manager and Senior VP Walter Mahoney, American voice actor Dave Mallow, Italian comic book writer Gianfranco Manfredi, French BD writer François Marcela-Froideval, French BD writer Marie-Mad (aka Marie-Madeleine Bourdin), comic book store worker Frank Marcucci III, voice actor Julie Mayfield, Eric McConnell, animation writer/producer Dan McGrath, Titan's Hard Case Crime imprint cover illustrator Robert McGinnis, Latin Times political cartoonist Edward Medina, Belgian artist Marc Michetz (aka Marc Degroides), small press comics creator Christopher Mills, founder of Kaiyodo anime figure manufacturer Osamu Miyawaki, Canadian animation industry produce Rick Morrison, writer Peter Morwood, Super Mario mangaka Kazuki Motoyama, Boston cartoonist Dan Moynihan, Irish-English indie animator Phil Mulloy, Randy Myers of Baltimore’s Collector's Corner store, Toei Animation director Tatsuya Nagamine, comic book artist Arthur Nichols, Japanese voice actor Tomomichi Nishimura, TV’s ‘Dennis the Menace’ Jay North, Nigerian cartoonist Obe Ess (aka Olaseinde Obe), Jeanne O'Neil the model for Cookie the daughter of Blondie and Dagwood, animator Yōichi Ōnishi, founding father of the Black Age of Comics Turtel Onli, IDW Star Trek writer Roberto Orci, London comics fan Steve Pay, Belgian comic artist Frank Pé, John Peck (aka The Mad Peck), animation writer and ‘Wild Thornberrys’ co-creator Steve Pepoon, editorial cartoonist Clyde Peterson (aka C. P. Houston), *animation producer Marie Poe, Ukrainian animator Marharyta Polovinko, comic book writer Dave Rawson, Italian cartoonist Enea Riboldi, Italian comics artist Angelo Maria Ricci, *editorial cartoonist Barry Rumple, Australian cartoonist and polymath Peter Russell-Clarke, Strip Art Features founder Ervin Rustemagic, Ukrainian animator Radna Sakhaltuev, Wonder Woman fan and letterhack and voice actor Joanna Sandsmark, Italian comic book cartoonist Pierluigi Sangalli, David Schaffer the subject of Miriam Libicki’s ‘A Kind of Resistance’ in “But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust”, Belgian comic book writer Michel Schetter, political cartoonist and illustrator Ralph Schlegel, Wil Eisner and Al Capp biographer Michael Schumacher, first live-action Spider-Man on “Electric Company” Danny Seagren, animator and military cartoonist Ed Seeman, Belgian cartoonist Serdu (aka Serge Duhayon), Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist John Shakespeare, Strange Attractors comic book writer Mark Sherman, Manchuria Opium Squad manga artist Shikako, manga creator Shino, Jim Shooter, Belgian artist Alain Sikorski, Jim Silke, comic artist Louis Small Jr., animator Jim Smith (aka James Carl Jobb), comics artist Tod Smith, Playboy cartoonist Doug Sneyd, Dutch writer Gerard Soeteman, Russian animator Andrey Sokolov, assistant animator at Walt Disney Features Alissa Solomon, Superman the Movie’s General Zod Terence Stamp, Ron Stanfield, English comic artist Adam Stone, ‘Annie’ and ‘It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman’ composer Charles Strouse, Drew Struzan, inker Rob Stull, TV animator Joe D. Suggs, manga creator Ukyou Takao, UK comics artist Dave Taylor, Japanese designer and illustrator Jun Tamatani, Canadian animator Mark Thornton, English comic book artist Ron Tiner, Italian comic book creator Angelo Todaro (aka Paul Bennett and Al Todd), Mort Todd aka Michael J. DelleFemine, New Zealand cartoonist Garrick Tremain, manga creator Shin Tsukumo, Ada Uderzo the widow of Albert Uderzo and model for Asterix and Obelix’s Walhalla, Dutch comics journalist and editor Rob van Eijck, Studio Vandersteen director (and Wiske model) Leen Vandersteen, Dutch animator Danny Verbiest, Canadian animator Robert Verrall, French animation director Philippe Vidal, animator Dirk Von Besser, voice actor Jim Ward, minicomics and children’s book illustrator Dalton Webb, Birmingham Mail cartoonist Colin Whittock, Shaloman cartoonist Albert Wiesner, Canadian voice actor Dale Wilson, Manx cartoonist Phil Woodford, Tetsuko no Tabi manga storywriter Hirohiko Yokomi, Mark Zingarelli.

Local anime podcaster London Fogg, aka Sin, has passed away

There's a notice of his death on Facebook from Loading Snacks - 

 

It is with a sorrowful heart that we announce the sudden passing of our own London Fogg. Known as "Sin" to most of you, he was the resident anime guru, the lead host of our Anime Chat podcast, and lover of all things One Piece.

 

You can find the podcast on YouTube. The screencapture above is from Loading Snacks Anime Chat Podcast: Otakon 2025 Recap (Episode 46).

I'm afraid I never met him, although we had some friends in common (which is how I found out about this). My sympathies are with his family and friends. There's nothing one can say or do to really make it better, but there is a fundraiser for his funeral expenses.

WaPo obit for Steve Benson

Steve Benson, provocative Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, dies at 71 [in print as Provocative Pulitzer-winning cartoonist known for skewering politicians].

While shifting from the political right to the left, he skewered politicians including Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham and President Donald Trump.

By Harrison Smith

July 20, 2025 : B20.

online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/07/16/steve-benson-dead-cartoonist/

A literal loss to the ComicsDC family: Art Rhode R.I.P.

Birthday caricature by Mike Jenkins

My father Art Rhode passed away this Monday July 7th, probably from a heart attack. He'd been having heart problems for months by this point. He never made it to the cardiac surgeon's appointment he had scheduled that morning. I spoke to him the day before and he was feeling good and optimistic. I was too because he was tough. He snarled at me on Saturday when I offered to buy him a Rollator walker. He and I talked, admittedly about mostly nothing, every day as I drove home from work, or walked to the farmers markets on weekends.So take it from me and tell your family and friends you love them while you can. 

 Dad and Mom were big fans of comics - such as Superman, Mad Magazine, Peanuts collections, Disney Digests. Even though money was usually tight, I grew up reading comics of all types.

 A few months ago I republished this tribute to my Dad on his 83rd birthday.  This is all still true and accurate, and while I'll miss him more than I can say, I appreciate the foundations he (and Mom, but she's been gone since 1987) gave my life. And it's not just me - as many people have said, he was a good man, or a kind man, or a kind and compassionate individual (I'm not sure about the patience also mentioned there though). I agree and there are few better ways to be remembered. He always had time to help someone out, not infrequently to my mother's chagrin, who wanted our own home worked on.

Donations in his name can be made to North Shore Animal League, selected by our family as he got 2 dogs from there. Or, if you want to keep with this blog's theme, I personally support Team Cul de Sac, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Cartoonists Rights, and Hero Initiative.

I'll be inheriting Dad's set of IJOCA I guess unless my sister wants it; he didn't read it in recent years, but he's got almost a complete set in my old bedroom. I'll be looking for a good home for that as I don't need a third set. For those of you unfamiliar with it, I'm an editor of  and also run the blog for the Int. Journal of Comic Art published by Dr. John A. Lent.

 Here's some photos over the years... 

This was my computer background for years.

The Little Free Library he built for his house after seeing how popular ours was.

I literally have no memory of us meeting Betty Boop

My wedding day with my Uncle Herb, his next oldest brother

Caricature by Mike Jenkins

Released from the hospital with a new knee

 

 

Don't try this at home, or at Fort Ward

 

Local comic book and art collector Kat Wheatley has passed away

Joel Pollack, founder of Big Planet Comics in Bethesda posted yesterday on Facebook:

Kat was one of our first customers at Big Planet Comics and had subscriber box #34. She was an avid art collector, focusing on Catwoman art by J.H. Williams. Rest in peace, Kat!

I'm sure we were in the store together at the same time at some point, but I don't remember ever meeting her. (I was box #45, for the record). 

Here's her obituary and funeral information:

Katrin Gabriella Wheatley Obituary

Katrin Wheatley, of Rockville, MD, passed away on Thursday, June 19, 2025 after a long valiant battle against Ovarian Cancer. She is mourned by her loving mother Gertraud de Thier, a host of relatives in Germany and friends from around the world. Katrin was born in Washington, D.C, and grew up in Bethesda, MD. After graduation from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut with a degree in Graphic Design, she returned to Maryland. Her professional career was spent in the financial field.

She enjoyed to travel, but her great love belonged to the arts, being a talented artist herself. Visiting Renaissance fairs and Comic Conventions brought her in contact with some of the best- and well-known artists. Her collection of comic art is the envy of her numerous friends. She enjoyed her mother's history books, trips to archaeology museums in Berlin and Munich, and mountain climbing in the Alps with her uncle, and special times with aunt. Getting together with her friends in Virginia once a month was always a special treat.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Pumphrey's Colonial Funeral Home, 300 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville, MD on Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 12 noon. (Service livestreaming information found below) Interment will be private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society) Humane World for Animals, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20037 (https://www.humaneworld.org/en)

Celebration of Life

Thursday, June 26, 2025

12:00PM

Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Homes, Inc. - Rockville

300 W. Montgomery Avenue

Rockville, MD 20850

6/25 update:

I reached out via Facebook to John Judy, a longtime customer / friend of the store, for any comments or updates. He said, "The only thing I think it’s missing is an acknowledgement that Kat was proudly and openly gay.  I think, especially during Pride Month, that Kat would have wanted it known.

I can’t say that Kat and I were super-tight since I had no idea she had been ill. We were Facebook friends and had known each other for decades through Big Planet. We fell into that category of friends who could go years without seeing each other and pick up right where we left off. She was a delightful person and I hope she knew how many people felt that way about her."

Roger Lewis Obituary at Daily Cartoonist

It's a nice overview.

Roger K. Lewis – RIP

D. D. Degg

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2024/10/11/roger-k-lewis-rip/

A tip of the hat to Art Haupt

 By Matt Dembicki

If you self-published comics in the D.C. area post-2005, you probably ran into Art Haupt at some point. Whether he was encouraging local comics creators, buying their books at local shows or penning his own stories, Art was a quiet but consistent presence in the D.C. comics scene. He passed away on May 3rd at age 78, after battling dementia for several years.

A copy editor by trade, Art had a keen eye for using the right word—or cutting a string of superfluous ones. He and I met in 2005 during his time at Kiplinger Washington Editors. Art was old school and very proficient in his craft, preferring to use a ruler and red pen when editing a printed article. During our work interactions, we found much in common, including our Polish heritage and love of comics.

Our conversations about comics started with his passion for comic strips--especially for the classics such as Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbs and anything by Milton Caniff or Hal Foster. It was during this time that a few comics creators in the Washington area started to mull an idea to create a local comics creators collective. I asked Art to join us for our first meeting, and he did--trudging through a snowstorm to get to a bar in Arlington, Virginia, where a handful of us gathered for the initial gathering of the D.C. Conspiracy (DCC) comics-making group.

At first, Art was mainly a supporter, talking with folks about their projects and perusing the portfolios they brought to meetings, which in the early days were held regularly at Dr. Dremo's Taphouse, a car dealership-turned-brewery in Courthouse section of Arlington that closed in 2008. It was when the DCC started to create its own publications that Art began to dabble in writing comics.

 

Art Haupt (second from right) at a D.C. Conspiracy meet-up at Dr. Dremo’s circa 2006. (Photo: Matt Dembicki)

Art's father, Zygmunt Haupt, was a renowned Polish author and painter, and Art was passionate about his father's work. He arranged to have much of his father's work housed at Stanford and helped to organize and speak at several Zygmunt Haupt Festivals in Poland in the 2010s. Art for years worked on his own unfinished opus that he guarded and only shared with family and let a few friends see a few chapters.

But comics gave Art an immediate creative outlet, especially in the anthology format. The works were smaller in scope and provided a chance for Art to collaborate with others in the DCC. His first published comic story was in DC Conspiracy Presents Shear Terror (2006), an anthology that featured stories with scissors in them. "They Gleam" was actually a prose story that included spot illustrations by local comics creator and DCC co-founder Evan Keeling. The opening paragraphs summed up Art's succinct writing style (and it also captures his fondness for crime noir, which carried into his other works):

 He got annoyed as hell when she started playing around with the golden shears.

No more showing off his grand-père's archaeological trophies, he vowed silently. Should never have let her touch the damn things.

Aloud, he called out: "Dana...Dana! Those scissors are old and very fragile. They're valuable!"

But she only snatched a newspaper off the big carved desk. Waved the shining blades at him, safely out of reach. Then snick--and the shears worked.

The Dartmouth graduate's next comics writing was for Doctor Dremo's Taphouse of Tall Tales and Short Stories: The Spoils of Crime. The eight-page story "Murder Summer" again includes art by Keeling, this time in full comics paneling.

Art continued with his crime writing when he wrote an online comic called Porter Black, which he created with another local comic booker and DC Conspiracy member, Andrew Cohen. The strips were later pulled into self-published collections, "Porter Black" Murder Under Midnight Suns" (2011) and "Porter Black: True Romance" (2013). The two also teamed in 2012 for a Porter Black comic that was the center-spread in the 3rd issue of Magic Bullet, the D.C. Conspiracy's comics newspaper. 

In 2012, Art teamed on writing "Truman" with another local creator, Rafer Roberts, who illustrated the seven-age story about the assassination attempt on President Harry S. Truman in 1950. It was published in District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, D.C. (Fulcrum Publishing, 2012). 

Art Haupt, 3rd from left. See footnote for others.

Art's body of comics work wasn't large, but he still had an impact on the D.C. small press comics scene. Aside from his creative work, he frequently participated in small press events, such as the signing of local talent's new releases, various venue presentations and he enjoyed meeting new people through gatherings such as the annual Small Press Expo, AwesomeCon and the D.C. Conspiracy's own Counter Culture Festival, which featured comics makers, crafters, musicians, magicians, tattoo artists, belly dancers, comedy troupes and more.

Awesome Con comics convention in Washington, DC. District Comics panelists - Art Haupt, Rafer Roberts, Mike Cowgill, Andrew Cohen, Jacob Warrenfeltz, Mike Rhode, Carolyn Belefski and Troy-Jeffrey Allen.

 

Art and his late wife, Linda “Lee” Martindale, who passed away in 2013, also hopped on the occasional D.C. Conspiracy outing, such as when the group visited the now-closed Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, which housed some of the comics distributor Stephen Geppi's most prized comics.

--

Matt Dembicki is a co-founder of the D.C. Conspiracy, and a former editor of this blog. He's been on a creative hiatus since 2019.

 

*“District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, DC”  Sunday, August 19, 2012  book signing at One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia.

1. Evan Keeling
2. Grant Jeffrey Barrus
3. Art Haupt
4. Rebecca Goldfield
5. Mal Jones
6. Kevin Rechin
7. Michael Rhode
8. Michael Brace
9. Jacob Warrenfeltz
10. Jason Rodriguez
11. Rafer Roberts
12. Tabita Whissemore
13.Carolyn Belefski
14. Andrew Cohen
15. Joe Carabeo
16. Michael Cowgill
17. Carol Dembicki
18. Rand Arrington
19. Gregory Robison
20. Steve Loya
21. Matt Dembicki
22. Dale Rawlings
23. Paul Zdepski