“Ernie Pook’s Comeek” cartoonist Lynda Barry received the National Cartooning Society’s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, a prestigious honor that requires a unanimous vote from the Society’s Board of Directors. According to Comic Book Resources, “The Good Times Are Killing Me” writer was recently honored at the 71st annual Reuben Awards in Portland, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator and Barry’s friend Matt Groening presented her with the award.
Barry’s strip “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” was published in alternative U.S. newspapers from 1979 to 2008. Her 1988 graphic novel “The Good Times Are Killing Me” is set in the ’60s and follows an interracial friendship. Barry adapted the book for the stage in 1991. The comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly will reissue “The Good Times Are Killing Me” in September.
“The Freddie Stories,” “One! Hundred! Demons!” and “Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel” are among Barry’s other fictional work. Her non-fiction, illustrated how-to guide “What It Is” won the Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Graphic Novel and R.R. Donnelly Award for highest literary achievement.
