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Nat Gertler

Nat Gertler (born April 30, 1965)[1] is an American writer known for his comic books and his books about comics, including six on Charles Schulz's Peanuts.[2] Gertler is the publisher of About Comics and founded an annual cartoonists' challenge, 24 Hour Comics Day. He has been nominated for three Eisner Awards and won one.

Early life

Gertler was raised in Cinnaminson, New Jersey, Simsbury, Connecticut, and Riverton, New Jersey.[3] He attended Bard College at Simon's Rock at 14.[4]

Career

His first comic-book story, the six-page backup feature "The Visit", appeared in First Comics' Grimjack #57 (cover-dated April 1989). He went on to publish horror-comics stories in Hamilton Comics' Dread of Night and Grave Tales in 1991, and through the 1990s did work for the independent publisher Comic Zone Productions, WaRP Graphics, and Caliber Press, and an issue of Blood Syndicate for DC Comics' Milestone Comics imprint. For Image Comics, he wrote stories for Big Bang Comics #8 (Jan. 1997).[5]

He founded comic-book publisher About Comics, initially for his own work, beginning with The Factor issue #0 (1998), and later encompassing new and reprinted work by other creators.[5] About Comics would go on to publish properties such as The Weasel Patrol, The Factor, Licensable BearTM, and The Liberty Project.[6]

In 2004, he founded the annual 24 Hour Comics Day challenge to cartoonists to produce a 24-page comic book,[7] based on a concept previously conceived by Scott McCloud and Steve Bissette in 1990.[8] Outside of comics, he has written or co-written numerous books in the Complete Idiot's Guides series of books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music on the Internet with MP3 and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft PowerPoint 2000.[9]

In November 2016, Gertler's company About Comics began publishing facsimile editions of The Negro Motorist Green-Book guides, originally published by Victor Hugo Green and his wife Alma Green from the 1930s to the 1960s to help African Americans travel safely in a segregated U.S.[10][11]

Reviews

Gertler's 2010 The Peanuts Collection received positive reviews in USA Today.[12] and elsewhere. The Chicago Sun-Times described it as a "slipcovered museum collection" filled with "treasures",[13] and the Christian Science Monitor described it as "a gold mine of Peanuts memorabilia and removable inserts".[14] Gertler's script anthologies Panel One and Panel Two were "highly recommend[ed]" by USA Today for persons interested in learning how to write comic books.[15]

Awards and nominations

  • 1999 Eisner Award nomination: The Factor miniseries[16][17]
  • 2006 Eisner Award nomination: Best Anthology: 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights 2005, edited by Nat Gertler (About Comics)[18]
  • 2016 Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Award: Gold Winner, Coffee Table Book: The Snoopy Treasures (Thunder Bay Press)[19]
  • 2023 Eisner Award winner: Best Comics-Related Book: Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects by Benjamin L. Clark and Nat Gertler[20]

Selected works

Books

  • Panel One: Comic Book Scripts by Top Writers (editor), About Comics, 2002 (ISBN 0-9716338-0-0).
  • The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel (with Steve Lieber), Alpha Books, 2004 (ISBN 1592572332).
  • Comics prose : short stories (editor and contributor), About Comics, 2004 (ISBN 0-9716338-6-X).
  • The Factor (with various illustrators), About Comics, 2004 (ISBN 0-9716338-5-1).
  • reprints The Factor, issues 0–4, About Comics, 1999.
  • issue 0 previously published in Negative Burn 29–31.
  • 24 Hour Comics Day Highlights, 2004 (editor), About Comics, 2004 (ISBN 0-9753958-0-7).
  • 24 Hour Comics All-Stars (editor), About Comics, 2005 (ISBN 0-9753958-4-X).
  • The Peanuts Collection: Treasures from the World's Most Beloved Comic Strip, Little, Brown and Company, 2010 (ISBN 978-0316086103)
  • The Snoopy Treasures: An Illustrated Celebration of the World Famous Beagle, Thunder Bay Press, 2015 ISBN 978-1626864405
  • Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects (written with Benjamin L. Clark and The Charles M Schulz Museum), Weldon Owen, 2022 ISBN 978-1681888606

Comics

  • Speed Racer Classics (Now Comics, 1998; writer, English script, for original Japanese manga Mach go go go by Tatsuo Yoshida)[5][21]
  • reprinted in Speed Racer: The Original Manga #1 (DC Comics, June 2000)[5]

See also

  • Brie Gertler (Nat's sister)

External links

References

  1. Aaron Rosenberg. Happy Birthday: Nat Gertler ComicMix.com, April 30, 2008, retrieved February 19, 2017^
  2. Dan Taylor. New 'Peanuts' archival book released by Schulz Museum The Press Democrat, November 2, 2022, retrieved 18 December 2022^
  3. Biography Nat Gertler official website, retrieved July 10, 2015^
  4. Mike Nelson. Camarillo author compiles 'The Snoopy Treasures' Ventura County Star, December 5, 2015, retrieved January 22, 2018^
  5. Nat Gertler at the Grand Comics Database.^
  6. Mark Langshaw. Free comics for Second Life subscribers Digital Spy, July 9, 2009, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  7. Micah Mertes. Rest up now to take part in 24 Hour Comics Day Saturday Lincoln Journal Star, October 14, 2008, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  8. Alec Longstreth, 24 Hour Comics survivor The Daily Cross Hatch, April 7, 2007, retrieved March 13, 2014^
  9. Nat Gertler's Complete Idiot Guide book at OCLC WorldCat.^
  10. Stav Ziv. Old 'Green Book' Guides for African American Travelers Get Republished in the Age of Trump Newsweek, January 15, 2018, retrieved January 22, 2018^
  11. Evan Andrews. The Green Book: The Black Travelers' Guide to Jim Crow America History Channel, February 6, 2017, retrieved January 22, 2018^
  12. Whitney Matheson. Comics recs: 'Peanuts,' Charles Burns and more USA Today, November 11, 2010, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  13. Darel Jevens. Reviews in brief: Coffee table gift books Chicago Sun-Times, December 16, 2010, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  14. Top picks: TV series 'Slings and Arrows' on DVD, Charles Schulz's 'The Peanuts Collection,' Rock Band 3, and more Christian Science Monitor, October 22, 2010, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  15. Zack Smith. How to write a comic book USA Today, November 28, 2012, retrieved March 13, 2014^
  16. Christy Kallies. Nat Gertler: Eisner Nominee Sequential Tart, 1999, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  17. Chris Murphy. About Comics at the Ten Year Mark Publishers Weekly, November 17, 2008, retrieved March 13, 2014^
  18. 2006 Eisner Award Nominations ComicsReporter.com, April 5, 2006, retrieved August 16, 2012^
  19. 2016 IBPA BFA Winners Independent Book Publishers Association, retrieved April 14, 2016^
  20. SDCC '23: The 2023 Eisner Awards Winners comicsbeat.com, July 22, 2023^
  21. Speed Racer classics OCLC WorldCat^