Armstrong - FEARLESS: a cartoonists guide to life

A READERS DIGEST BOOK

Copyright 2016 by Ruff Sketch, Inc.

All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, in any manner, is prohibited.

Readers Digest is a registered trademark of Trusted Media Brands, Inc.

JumpStart comic strips reprinted in this book are copyright of Ruff Sketch, Inc., distributed by Universal Uclick. All other images in this book are reprinted courtesy of Robb Armstrong, with the exception of the images on the following pages: 11 Shutterstock; 81, 84, and 86 (left) Barbara Clothier; 86 (right) Howard Hurtig; 106 King Features; 110 Victor della Barbara; 119 Jean Schulz; 120 Sarah Ashman Gillespie; 141 Khalil Postell; 161 John Trombetta; 196 Bridget McMeel; 198 Wendi Niad; 199 Nikita Adams; 208 Scott Allen/PR Photos.

ISBN 978-1-62145-287-4/Epub ISBN 978-1-62145-288-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Armstrong, Robb, author.

Title: Fearless : a cartoonists guide to life / Robb Armstrong.

Description: New York : Readers Digest, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015042669 | ISBN 9781621452874 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Armstrong, Robb. | Cartoonists--United States--Biography. | African American cartoonists--Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs. | HUMOR / Form / Comic Strips & Cartoons. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Artists, Architects, Photographers.

Classification: LCC PN6727.A6857 Z46 2016 | DDC 741.5/973--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042669

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Crystal, Rex, Tess

My life. My purpose.

Many people made sacrifices to get me where I am todaypeople I know, and people Ive never met. Some are Black, some white. Even God in heaven sacrificed for me. It isnt enough to say, Thanks, Im grateful. I have to be willing to sacrifice for others if Im grateful. And I have to do it seeking nothing in return.

If youre going through hell, keep going.

Winston Churchill

Im a cartoonist. I fell in love with drawing when I was three, and Ive been penning JumpStart, an award-winning comic strip about everyday family life, for more than two decades. My life has been a long journey, full of exhilarating moments and depressing events. Sometimes I feel that I have succeeded despite myself, despite my fears of the many, many unknowns I have faced.

Ive been called lucky, but I do not subscribe to notions of luck. Life can be terrifying. Uncertainty can freeze you in your tracks like a deer in headlights. You must rely on more than luck. You must become fearless. I hope the life lessons and art lessons in this book will help reveal the fearlessness inside you.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my mother, my siblings, my friends, my teachers, and my wife, Crystal. But I would also credit several personal, internal constants in my life. I have a passion, and I never wavered in pursuing it, even when sidetracked by school, jobs, or lifes daily distractions. And I had God sitting on my shoulder, helping me through some terrible events that could have easily derailed me.

You have your own path to pursue, your own dream, and your own set of obstacles in your way. I hope, in this book and with my example, to give you some added fortitude, some comfort in your bad times, some sense that, if I could succeed, you can, too.

And perhaps we can have some fun along the way. My comic strip, JumpStart, revolves around ordinary people facing lifes daily challenges with a good dose of humor.

My strip is nationally syndicated in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Daily News, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and more than four hundred other publications reaching upward of eighty million readers across the globe daily, including Sundays. I also do individual cartoons for the likes of the New Yorker magazine and othersextremely difficult markets to break into.

With Judi, my mom, and Snoopy in 1969.

Im one of a handful of African-American comic-strip artists to reach an audience of this size. I make people laugh. I point out hilarious truisms. As far as Im concerned, Ive got the best job in the world.

Which means my life is pretty good, too. While I have daily deadlines, I get to work flexible hours, allowing me to spend time with my wife and my two children. I travel around the country, speaking to young people in high schools and colleges, teaching drawing and art, and sharing stories about my life and my journey. Ive even met my share of famous people, including my idol, Charles Schulz, whose Peanuts comic strip so inspired me as a kid, and who became a good friend in his final years. And Ive enjoyed the financial and professional accolades that come with success.

There are many people who may be on their way toward success but will never achieve it. I dont know them by name, and neither do you. They might have made it if they hadnt let fear get in their way.

West Philadelphia, where I was born and raised, was rugged, and my mother raised five children on her own. My father abandoned all of us when I was born. We lived in a cramped apartment where the electric bill didnt always get paid.

It almost sounds like a clich, and it would be only a clich if nothing had been learned from itif my hardships had turned me into a statistic. But that is not what happened. What happened was miraculous!

With the support of some wonderful people, a lot of hard work and courage, and even more mistakes and laughter, I fought through the hard times and made quite a happy life for myself. But there is more to life than personal happiness. As it turns out, my story has a greater theme. It can be repurposed to help anyone who has the courage to apply some lessons to their own lifes journey. (Which reminds me of an old saying: If all else fails, you can always serve as a horrible example. Its true, in my case. I havent always been the example to follow. But if youre going through fire, follow someone who knows how to get to the other side.) Yes, you can succeedno matter what is happening in your life right now, no matter how afraid you may be of the unknownif you accept help from those around you and celestial help from above, and you have the grit to see the sunrise at the end of the darkness.

Here I am (on the far right), twenty-two years later, sitting next to my idol, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. Also having dinner with us are the late Mark Cohen, a well-known comic-strip collector (far left), and Dilbert creator Scott Adams (middle left).

I certainly did.

And I did it by drawing funnies.

Life is not so different from the comics, you know: the challenges, tragedies, and triumphs. Comics poke fun at our everyday routines and our universal motivations. They show us a lot about ourselves and offer little windows into the people and lessons we dont yet understand.

In my own comic strips, I show the joys of falling in love and the no-holds-barred battles of the heart. I capture loss and memories. I draw the thrill of becoming a parent and the pain of failing my kids. Drawing affects me, and my life experiences affect the drawings. Drawing helps me to see things differently. It gives me a deeper perspective on life. The artist is not a person who draws; the artist is a person who sees what other humans cannot. So, as a cartoonist, I have drawn a few lessons from life to share with you.