Nationality American Name Dave Sheridan | Role Cartoonist Books Mind Warp | |
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Born David Sheridan
June 7, 1943
Cleveland, Ohio ( 1943-06-07 ) Area(s) Cartoonist, Writer, Penciller Notable works Dealer McDope
Tales from the Leather Nun
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Died March 1982, Greenbrae, California, United States | ||
Dave Sheridan (June 7, 1943 – March 28, 1982) was an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He was the creator of Dealer McDope and Tales from the Leather Nun and collaborated with Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides on The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
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Biography
Born in 1943 and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio area, Sheridan had arrived in San Francisco, California by the early 1970s. There he collaborated with fellow midwesterner Fred Schrier as the "Overland Vegetable Stagecoach" on three issues of Mother's Oats Comix, Meef Comix, and a one-shot title called The Balloon Vendor, published by Rip Off Press and The Print Mint.
Sheridan was the art editor for three issues of The Rip Off Review of Western Culture in 1972. This was a combination of a magazine and a comix book, also published by the Rip Off Press. His solo work can be seen in Slow Death and Skull Comix and in cartoons he made for the Berkeley Barb. He also did the art for Weed and Wine, the first mini-album produced by Cleveland area folk singer/songwriter John Bassette. The "Black Death Malt Liquor" shirt regularly worn by Howard Hesseman on WKRP in Cincinnati in his role as Dr. Johnny Fever was designed and drawn by Sheridan.
Sheridan eventually settled in San Anselmo, California. There he became a member of the Artista collective, an artists collective with its own jackets and softball team. During the 1972 Major League Baseball strike, he appointed himself the head of the "Scab League", offering to have his team take the strikers' places for $100 per week and all the beer they could drink. He also befriended and worked closely with comedian Don Novello, drawing the album cover for Novello's Father Guido Sarducci "Live at St. Douglas Convent" comedy album. A characterization of Sarducci appeared in a Dealer McDope adventure.
In 1974, Sheridan began collaborating on Gilbert Shelton's strips. These were syndicated by Rip Off Press to alternative and college weeklies nationwide, and later collected into comix. His first issue of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers was #4, with a many-page story-arc entitled The Seventh Voyage of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: escaping the landlady and her demands for rent, the hirsute trio go to Mexico where they encounter far worse perils, including a Carlos Castaneda parody. Sheridan's detailed graphic style lent itself well to the fantastic imagery needed to lampoon Castaneda's drug-related Central American-cum-New Age sorcery. He then continued to collaborate on the Freak Brothers comix series through issues 5, 6 and 7; the team was joined by Paul Mavrides in 1978 for issue #6.
Death
Sheridan was diagnosed with cancer on March 3, 1982, eight months after his July 4, 1981, marriage to Dava Stone. Sheridan died from a brain hemorrhage on March 28, 1982. He had been in a coma for four days at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco. He was buried at sea at a memorial service the following Friday.
His wife Dava gave birth to their daughter Dori on April 4, 1982, a week after Sheridan died.