THE BORN LOSER TURNS 50
Now celbrating its 50th year, Art Samson's Born Loser debuted on May 10, 1965. Since Art’s death in 1991, his son Chip has been running the misadventures of Brutus Thornapple, the hapless loser of the title.
Herewith the Sunday anniversary strip, and a daily (May 6th) from the run-up week.
The anniversary is being celebrated elsewhere on this website, where you can enter a contest to win a high quality print of the strip if you’re one of the lucky contestants. You can also print out a Born Loser certificate, which has a blank spot for you to insert your name.
Here’s Chip’s account of his career as his father’s successor:
“My career as a cartoonist began in 1977. My dad, Art Sansom, created The Born Loser in 1965 and by 1977, he was looking for an assistant so he could ease up his heavy workload, especially with the gag writing. I had started a career in the business world immediately after I graduated from college four years earlier, and by this time I had become disenchanted with that career path and was looking for something more creative. Sounds like a perfect match, right? Except I never dreamed I could be a cartoonist, because I believed I was a terrible artist. I think I was intimidated by the fact that both my mother and father were fabulous artists. There was no way I could live up to the high bar they had set, so I decided at an early age not to try. This is not to say they did anything to make me feel this way: it was all in my head.
“Believe it or not, I never took an art class in college, high school or even junior high school. In retrospect, I think if I had taken art classes, I probably wouldn’t have been all that bad and certainly would have learned many things that I would find helpful to this day. On the other hand, I was an English major in college and had loved creative writing from an early age, so I was confident I could help my dad out with the writing on the strip. I started by submitting a series of gags to him, as had multiple other professional writers. They were all talented, but they didn’t know The Born Loser like I did. I grew up watching my dad create the strip in his studio in our home. I knew it so well, my gags worked better for the strip than those of the other writers.
“Dad offered to hire me as an apprentice and teach me the art side of things while I was writing gags for him. I accepted under the condition that I work for free on a trial basis for one year, while still working my other job. I passed the audition to the satisfaction of both of us and started my official apprenticeship one year later.
“Dad taught me every aspect of producing the comic strip exactly as he did. The artwork progressed slowly but surely. I found that even though I was unable to quickly draw the characters, my eye was trained to know what they should look like and I would keep working on my drawings until they passed my eye test. By the time Dad passed away in 1991, I was able to take over the complete production of The Born Loser by myself. I still felt I wasn’t a great artist, but I believed I could produce The Born Loser better than any other living person. I have made a conscious effort to continue the comic strip in the style Dad taught me. As a tribute to him, I still sign both of our names to every strip.”
Chip said that he was a fan of Dennis the Menace “at a very young age." Maybe that accounts for Hurricane Hattie, the juvenile terror of The Born Loser. Chip was never into comic book superheroes, but when he discovered Carl Barks, everything else took a back seat.
I'm surprised Chip Sansom is still drawing The Born Loser comic strips, he is now over the age 70. Is Chip Sansom going to retire The Born Loser? Or will he pass it on to some other artist?
I didn't like the April Fools joke on Brutus calling his boss in sick and then showing up to work which I thought was insensitive. I also don't like the fat shaming jokes he puts in the comic strip. I want him to discontinue the fat shaming jokes since they aren't funny.
When is the Born Loser comic strip going to end? Will there be reruns like in Peanuts or Buckles. Please let me know.
Posted by: CrosswalkX | July 28, 2021 at 12:56 AM
I'm surprised Chip Sansom is still drawing The Born Loser comic strips, he is now over the age 70. Is Chip Sansom going to retire The Born Loser? Or will he pass it on to some other artist?
I didn't like the April Fools joke on Brutus calling his boss in sick and then showing up to work which I thought was insensitive. I also don't like the fat shaming jokes he puts in the comic strip. I want him to discontinue the fat shaming jokes since they aren't funny.
When is the Born Loser comic strip going to end? Will there be reruns like in Peanuts or Buckles. Please let me know.
Posted by: CrosswalkX | July 28, 2021 at 12:56 AM