Jim Scancarelli

James Scancarelli (born August 24, 1941), known professionally as Jim Scancarelli, is an American cartoonist and musician.

In the early 1960s he also worked as an artist in WBTV’s (the CBS-affiliated television station in Charlotte, North Carolina) graphics department, where he would design sets and props, and draw images on the weather maps.

He also would act on occasion, and wrote and voiced episodes of The Yellowjacket, a regular five-minute drive-time radio segment on WBT-FM influenced by the Batman show.

Scancarelli had a successful career as a freelance magazine illustrator, and he did slide transparency art until computers made that job obsolete.

Scancarelli's life story has been told in a book titled after his name written by Lewis Stern.

Scancarelli says his deep appreciation for comics was cultivated during childhood visits to his grandfather's house.

His grandfather read the strips to him and pointed out details in each panel.

His earliest comic strip recollection is of Gasoline Alley.

He now lives in that same house and notes, "Little did I know that 50 years later I’d be working on the comic strip in the next room."

Having also collaborated with NCS president George Breisacher on Mutt and Jeff, Scancarelli became the only cartoonist to be involved with two strips on their 75th anniversaries.

Scancarelli began his professional association with Gasoline Alley as an assistant to Dick Moores in 1979.

Moores sent him the strips fully penciled with the faces inked, and Scancarelli would finish the inking.

Although other artists had auditioned for the role, Scancarelli claims his advantage was that he was "the only one who read the strip and knew the characters."

Since 1986, he has been writing and drawing the syndicated comic strip Gasoline Alley for Tribune Media Services.

In that role, his predecessors were Frank King, Bill Perry and Dick Moores.

He had served as an assistant to the latter for several years before taking over.

Scancarelli is also a prizewinning bluegrass fiddler.

Born in New York City, Scancarelli is the son of an archivist for the Italian embassy.

When he was still an infant, his family moved to his mother's home state of North Carolina.

When his family moved to Washington, D.C., for his father’s job, Scancarelli became the target of bullies in school.

This circumstance played a role in developing his love of comics.

"Comics were my escape," Scancarelli said.

"The characters became my friends. My dad used to bring home three newspapers every night and we’d read the comics."

Scancarelli's sense of humor was developed while listening to the radio programs of Amos and Andy, Jack Benny and Fred Allen.

Scancarelli credits these "hilarious" comedians with giving him the comedic sensibility which later infused his comics, "whether anyone appreciates that kind of humor or not."

After serving in the U.S. Navy, he went into radio and television, including a position as art director for The Johnny Cash Show, creating scenery and writing cue cards.

When Moores died in 1986, Scancarelli succeeded him as creator.

In 1988, Scancarelli created a sequence wherein Walt Wallet made copies of the Wallet Family Tree.

Walt then broke the fourth wall and offered a copy to each reader who sent a self-addressed stamped envelope.

It was Scancarelli himself who had to fulfill the requests, which numbered almost 100,000, with copies printed at his personal expense.

The strip's lettering is unique in that it uses upper and lower case, although almost all strips follow the tradition of upper case only.

Scancarelli also takes the unusual approach of combining continuity storylines with daily gags.

He is the strip's sole creator, as he explained to Lindenblatt:

Scancarelli eschews the use of computers in his work, creating Gasoline Alley using the traditional India ink pen and brush techniques and materials of his predecessors on the strip.

Daily strips are composed on bristol paper 15 inches by 5 inches, allowing him room for details that will see publication at much smaller size.

Scancarelli spoke about EC Comics and his other early influences in a 1997 interview with Jeffrey Lindenblatt:

Scancarelli had said he hoped to shepherd Gasoline Alley to its 100th anniversary (which came in 2018), and he successfully reached and continued past that milestone.

Scancarelli is a well-known bluegrass fiddler and founder of the Kilocycle Kowboys.

"I've been playing the fiddle too long to be so bad at it," Scancarelli says wryly.

"The music to me is the outlet. The art is now the job for me."