Cul de Sac comic author dead

Richard Thompson, acclaimed ‘Cul de Sac’ creator and Post contributor, dies at 58
By Michael Cavna July 27
RICHARD THOMPSON, the “Cul de Sac” cartoonist who is widely considered one of the greatest comic-strip creators and illustrators of his generation, died Wednesday in Northern Virginia, family friends confirm. He was 58.

Thompson, who lived in Arlington, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease, the effects of which he had endured for eight years.

Thompson was perhaps best known for his Reuben Award-winning comic strip “Cul de Sac,” which was born in 2004 as a weekly feature in the pages of The Washington Post Magazine, before being syndicated several years later by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick, which distributed the feature to hundreds of newspapers at its peak.

“For many artists, the goal is to draw well,” Pete Docter, the Oscar-winning Pixar director, tells The Post’s Comic Riffs. “Richard Thompson’s drawings are indeed drool-worthy, but what sticks with you is something deeper: his ideas. Richard somehow noticed things the rest of us missed, but that we recognize immediately as true. Richard’s work lovingly bites at the ankles of society. And it’s all delivered in a deliciously hearty meal of an amazing — and funny — drawing.”