Images can say so much more than words - but words can help frame the images, if they’re chosen carefully.
Paul Fell was a master of communicating through images, specifically cartoons, for most of his nearly 80 years on this Earth. And I was lucky enough to have worked closely with him for most of the past 26 years, helping him to get his cartoons from the page to the computer to the world.
Growing up, I’d enjoyed reading Paul’s cartoons in the local newspapers, seeing his Husker football prediction cartoons, and later, his HuskerNutz toons. But it was his political cartoons that I really loved, where his perspective was so often the same as many Nebraskans - straightforward, honest, with humor to soften the blow of whatever ridiculous thing had just happened. Little did I know then that we’d end up working together and being friends for almost half of my life.
In 2000, I was the “Chief Technology Consultant” working for the Nebraska Press Association, and Paul was the cartoonist for the weekly “Capitol News Toon,” a feature he provided to the newspapers of Nebraska, through the Press Association, for more than 30 years. We struck up a friendship, helping each other in our business ventures, and working together on his website, and later, on several versions of his Daily Felltoon newsletter.
Through all that time, Paul was always teaching and helping others, to see the world differently, to laugh, to think, and to stay engaged in politics, at the local, state, federal, and even international levels. The number of people he helped, through his teaching career, and through his cartooning career are far too numerous to count. As Dennis DeRossett, Executive Director of the Nebraska Press Association, said to me recently, “[Paul] certainly has served well the community newspapers of Nebraska and their thousands of readers for many years -- an amazing talent and perspective that will be missed.”
If he were reading this, Paul might chuckle and humbly accept the praise - and then he’d likely say something like, “Don’t make a big deal of it. Everybody dies. This has been a fun life.” Or as Paul put it in his final email to me, “It’s been a fun ride.” As has been so often the case, I can’t really argue with Paul on that.
Of course, as fellow Nebraskans, your instinct is likely to try to help Paul’s family and friends, as we try to deal with his loss. While we appreciate the sentiment, we can assure you - we’ve been instructed by Paul not to do anything big at this point. You might see a simple obituary in the newspaper, and some posthumous honors, but not much more than that.
What Paul would rather you do is simple: Stay active in the politics of your community, your state, and your nation. Support media you believe in, including your local newspaper, your favorite freelancers, and especially independent media, like ThePoliticsBar.com, my own weekday political newsletter, radio show, and podcast, that Paul enjoyed and subscribed to. Of course, Paul would also want you to continue supporting independent cartoonists like Ann Telnaes, Jeff Koterba, Tom Tomorrow, and Clay Bennett.
For those who are missing Paul’s cartoons, Paul and I, along with his wife Arlene, have already taken steps to make sure to keep Paul’s cartoons remain online for the foreseeable future, at his website PaulFellCartoons.com, along with his Substack site at paulfell.substack.com. We highly recommend you go back through his cartoon archives, and share the best ones with your friends, via email or on your social media platforms.
You’ll find a surprising number of Paul’s cartoons remain evergreen, whether it’s a cartoon about Trump’s Iran nuclear deal, our ravenous-yet-empty corporate media, Donald Trump leading the Republican Party to its end, or even America being torn apart by the past decade-plus of our politics.
There are also some cartoons that Paul had finished, but never got published, so we’ll also be adding those to his website soon. The long-term plan is to transfer all of Paul’s digital archives to the University of Nebraska, and add them to his printed archives, which are already housed there. That way, his work will be accessible by the public for many years to come.
Having been friends with and having worked with Paul as long as I did, there’s one last thing Paul would want to say to all those who enjoyed his work and were part of his life: “Thank you.”
Paul always considered himself just another guy who liked to cartoon and had some opinions. He was lucky enough to come to Nebraska, meet an amazing, smart, beautiful woman, be able to teach people about art and cartooning at great schools like Peru State and the University of Nebraska, and make his living doing something he loved and was great at - cartooning.
He got to travel the world with his bride, make friends from everywhere, enjoy football, volleyball, baseball, and other sports, as well as enjoying art, history, literature, and music. In the end, he also got to make a positive difference in the lives of millions, through his cartooning, and through the actions of the people who read and shared those cartoons.
Not bad for a guy who grew up in Massachusetts and headed west to Nebraska to play college football and study art.
As Paul said, “It’s been a fun ride.”
Indeed, my friend. Thanks for letting all of us come along for it.
