Back to the drawing board: Cartoons, cartoonists and Hamilton

Hamilton Spectator

12-06-2025

It's where word, story and visual art come together to work and play, in a popular way.
Popular as in, of the people, not the salon.
And it's visual art often in its basic form of deliberately creative markings on surfaces, howsoever unpolished, but, just as often, sophisticated.
Let's just call it cartoons/comics.
But do call it, Ivan Kocmarek urges. Call it to the table of memory, respect, cultural appreciation and art history.
Kocmarek doesn't just respect comics/cartoon art but actively promotes the preservation and recognition of the products and producers of these graphic arts.
He does so with various initiatives and endeavours. Perhaps the biggest and certainly the most timely of them is Saturday, June 14's third annual Cartoon Foundry 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. event at the
Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Blvd.
Kocmarek has many talents as an author, champion Hamilton chess player and teacher (retired, after 23 years at Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, now closed), but he freely admits that he doesn't have a gift for making art.
But, since he was a boy, he found himself drawn into an infatuation with comic books. It was comic books to start with, but it spread from there to many forms of related arts, such as graphic novels.
It's a big umbrella, a roomy tent, whichever metaphor you want, but as widespread and eclectic as the art represented at Cartoon Foundry 2025 is, it typically gets neither the curatorial/archival attention nor the living support it deserves.
Comic/cartoon/illustration art, say Kocmarek, is too often considered disposable.
'Several times in my life I've been pressured to throw away my comic books,' he says, starting when he was a boy whose parents considered his pile of them not an incipient collection, but junk, which was so often the case.
He had the ultimate vindication, though, as parts of his collection — which at times was more than 20,000 volumes strong — grew very valuable.
Graeme MacKay, political cartoonist for The Hamilton Spectator, one of very few full-time newspaper political cartoonists left in Canada, shares the frustration.
'So much of the original art for political cartoons has been lost; it's hard to get institutions to commit to saving it' as valuable cultural property, says MacKay, who is a panellist at Saturday's Cartoon Foundry event.
He is one of many guests, panellists and presenters who will be talking about what they do — the challenges, the rewards, the history and future of it.
Hamilton has such a rich history in the genre, says Kocmarek. There are the current Hamilton standouts like graphic novelist Joe Ollman, whose 'Fictional Father' novel was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award in 2021; legendary alternative cartoonist David Collier, who writes comic book 'essays,' and book writer/McMaster University professor Sylvia Nickerson.
Dave Collier, left, Ivan Kocmarek and Joe Ollmann.
Their achievements stand on a strata of previous distinction in comic book and graphic arts by Hamiltonians such as Doug Wright and, earlier, Aram Alexanian, one of the many Canadian comic book artists featured in Kocmarek's book 'Heroes of the Homefront.'
These were cartoonist/comic book artists who created heroes like Johnny Canuck, Speed Savage and Nitro during the Second World War, when American comics were not available in Canada.
These subjects — the history of our cartoon and comic art — as well as topics related to the current practice of these arts, in Canada and more specifically in Hamilton, will be deeply explored at Cartoon Foundy 2025.
'In Europe,' says Kocmarek, 'there is much greater emphasis on honouring, respecting and preserving the history of these arts.'
One of the fringe benefits of the event this year is the production of 'A Hamilton Comic (Steel City Sutra),' by Kocmarek, with design by John Farr.
The 25-page comic book features work by Kevin Mutch, Allan Barnard, Joan Stacey, David Collier, Art Cooper, Darrell Epp, Jaleen Grove, Matt McInnes, Greg Hyland, J. Collier, Steve LeBlanc, James Waley, Graeme MacKay, Inkfingers, Joe Ollmann, Gord Pullar, John Terpstra, Ira Alexanian and Anita Wang.
It's a wonderful volume, full of often quirky renderings of bits of Hamilton life, history and scenery as well as snapshots of our city's graphics/comics past.
McInnes, for instance, contributes a striking centrefold of the Jamesville (James Street North) social housing complex, developed through urban renewal initiatives in the '60s and '70s and now utterly abandoned and grown over.
Ivan Glassco served as an editorial cartoonist for The Hamilton Spectator from 1934 to 1940.
And MacKay has a fascinating take on Ivan Glassco, an editorial cartoonist for The Hamilton Spectator from 1934 to 1940, during which time he won acclaim for blending social critique and humour around topics such as the Depression and the rise of fascism.
He died tragically at 38 from an accidental discharge of his service revolver during training after he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Spectator cartoonist Graeme MacKay has a fascinating take on Ivan Glassco, an editorial cartoonist for The Hamilton Spectator from 1934 to 1940.
The cover is a fond Joe Ollmann tableau of the Book Villa storefront downtown and passersby in bell bottoms and radio to ear. If you remember the Book Villa, such a landmark, you will smile.
'A Hamilton Comic' is a preview, in a way, of what will be covered during Cartoon Foundry 2025.
There will be workshops and panels:
As in the past, Cartoon Foundry 2025 will, of course, feature Artists Alley, where visitors can see the work of and meet many exciting Hamilton artists.
Participants include many of the artists featured in 'A Hamilton Comic' as well as many others.
The event is free, open to all and, says Kocmarek, welcoming to all, especially marginalized communities.