King Features Syndicate editor Jay Kennedy drowned in Costa Rica last week at age 50. The Danger Room crowd might know him better as the compiler of the landmark Official Underground & Newave Comix Price Guide. A lot has already been written about Jay online, and I have many Jay Kennedy stories, but here in OlyBlog I'd like to share his contribution to Olympia lore.

Jay and I never met in person, but during the 1980s and early 1990s we correspondend frequently and occasionally talked on the phone. We connected in late 1981 while he was still compiling the Guide, and discovered we had a mutual interest in comic art, bibliography, and history. He also liked my work, and in 1982 or 1983, when he became cartoon editor at Esquire, he selected three unknown cartoonists to grace the pages of that magazine. Their names: Lynda Barry, Matt Groening, and yes, little old me, stevenl (Matt and I walked away from this deal-- but I'll save that story for another day). What Jay didn't know, was that the three of us knew each other from our days at TESC in the 1970s, and had all worked on the CPJ together when Matt was editor. When Jay discovered this, he coined the term "Evergreen Mafia." In a short time, other TESC cartoonists got their names out there, and the college started gaining a reputation as a cartoonists school (even though they had no cartooning curriculum, as such).

The TESC cartoon rep gained national attention through Jay before the Simpsons really got going. Jay was not only a great comix historian, but he was able to spot comix history in the making.

See you later, Jay.