A Crowded Life in Comics – Bob Lubbers

A special drawing by Bob Lubbers following the ExpoCartoon festival

 in Rome, Italy, 1998, that honored him with the Yellow Kid Award.

“When In Rome…”

By Rick Marschall

I have attended the comics festivals in Lucca since 1978 (and, in fact, those in Rome, ExpoCartoon; and Angouleme, Prague, and elsewhere – and the American rep, at one time or another, for Lucca, Angouleme, and Rome) and the friendships I made at those salons is precious to me. The cartoonists, scholars, and fans who attend these have yielded some of the closest friendships I have formed over the crowded years.

There will be stories from each, but one of the most special was ExpoCartoon, a complicated offshoot of Lucca, in 1998. I took each of my children, separately through the years, to one symposium or another, and that year it was my eldest daughter Heather.

She has said she was surprised at the tomfoolery among the otherwise august and dignified scholars from around the world. Gulio Cesare Cuccolini from Bologna was representative – clipped beard, Saville Row suits, a pedant. When we got together aside from roundtables and speakers’ lecterns, we could be the Katzenjammer Kids. That year (excuse me if I forget some of the guilty parties) but Carlo Chendi. Luca Boschi, Feliciano Rovai, Bartolo Bartolomei, Andrea Felice, Alberto Beccatini, and a few others – just to name the Italians! – were pranksters in our free time.

Hey… it’s comics. One thing I did to crack Heather up was, during some evening’s award presentations, or something, I was lined up before the stage, a few feet in front of the first row, where Heather sat next to her new best friend Bob Lubbers (who I shall get to in a moment). On the back of every page of the papers I was supposed to be looking at I wrote words of a continuing nonsense-message to her. She could see it, but people in the back of the room and balcony could not. I am sure they wondered, however, why that American college student was laughing like crazy all evening.

 

We arrived in Rome a couple days early because I was to serve on the awards jury and I had to go through submissions from around the world. Bob Lubbers was a special American guest. He was given two tickets but his wife could not make the trip; he invited a lifelong friend and neighbor from Long Island whose name I forget right now.

Al Capp and Bob Lubbers, 30 May 1954

None of those three had been to Rome before. And there they were. Strangers in a strange city with two days to kill. So they decided between themselves to be accidental tourists, armed with maps, curiosity, and a bit of confidence.

Success! The teenaged college girl and two white-haired gents conquered the Eternal City. They visited monuments, got lost, tasted snacks, had great meals… and even found their way back each evening.

A few days later, during the conference, I encountered Bob Lubbers leaving out hotel to walk the few blocks to the Fiera di Roma, where the salon was held and which I was leaving for a break. He “had to tell me” while he had the chance what a fine daughter I had, mature and funny and kind. Of course I was prouder than any other things that week could have made me, even the outrageous practical jokes with my Italian friends.

Bob Lubbers received the Yellow Kid Award (which was a “fix,” but surprised him) and that evening I asked him if he would draw a sketch – maybe of his three famous “girls,” Daisy Mae, Long Sam, and Robin Malone – for me. He demurred, assuring me that he would send something to me after he got home.

This color sketch of those famous characters, in Rome, with a nice inscription, arrived in the mail soon thereafter. A treasure.

The sentiments he offered about my daughter on Rome’s shady streets, and the compliments in the inscription, could be said about Bob Lubbers – dignified, sincere, friendly… and one of the great talents of the comic-strip field.

❦

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