Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, dies at 95

Cartoonist Jules Feiffer, best known for his eponymous comic strip in The Village Voice, has died. He was 95.

Feiffer died of congestive heart failure at his home in upstate New York, his representative Gail Hochman confirmed to USA TODAY in an email Tuesday.

Feiffer, a New York native, cut his teeth as an aspiring illustrator at the Art Students League and Pratt Institute in New York City. Some of his early work included drawing "Clifford," a Sunday cartoon-page feature, from 1949 to 1951. Even while serving a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, Feiffer did animation for the Signal Corps.

"Militarism, regimentation, and mindless authority combined to squeeze the boy cartoonist out of me and bring out the rebel," said Feiffer of his military service, according to his Harper Collins profile. "There was no format at the time to fit the work I raged and screamed to do, so I had to invent one.

"Cartoon satire that commented on the military, the bomb, the cold war, the hypocrisy of grown-ups, the mating habits of urban young men and women: These were my subjects."

Feiffer's big break came in 1956 when his "Feiffer" comic strip was picked up by The Village Voice. A satirical cartoon known for its literate captions, the series often featured monologues in which the speaker exposed his own insecurities.

"Feiffer" ran in syndication from 1959 until 1997. Following Feiffer's departure from The Village Voice over a salary dispute, the cartoonist continued to create new editions of the comic strip for other publications through 2000.

Feiffer published numerous cartoon collections over the years, such as "Sick, Sick, Sick" (1958), "Passionella, and Other Stories" (1959), "Feiffer's Album" (1963), "The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler" (1965) and "Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy" (1984).

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"Passionella, and Other Stories" became the basis for the Oscar-winning short film "Munro." The "Passionella" character Munro, a 4-year-old boy who is drafted into the army by mistake, was the title character in 1961's "Munro," an animated short directed by Gene Deitch.

Inspired by the political upheaval of the 1960s, Feiffer brought his satirical wit to the stage with the plays "Little Murders" (1967), "The White House Murder Case" (1970), and "Grown Ups" (1981).

"The country was coming unglued, and my weekly cartoons didn't seem to be an adequate way of handling it," Feiffer reflected, per Harper Collins. "All the themes of my comic strips expanded theatrically and, later, cinematically to give me the time and space I needed to explain the times to myself and to my audience."

In addition to his illustration work, Feiffer wrote screenplays for the films "Carnal Knowledge" (1971) and "Popeye" (1980). "Popeye," a live-action adaptation of the famous sailor cartoon, starred Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall.

Feiffer's contributions to animation were recognized in 1986 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, beating out Jack Higgins of the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael E. Luckovich of the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Mike Peters of the Dayton (OH) Daily News.

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Feiffer's other literary pursuits included writing several books and graphic novels, as well as illustrating and writing children's books. His latest book "Amazing Grapes," a graphic novel for children, was released in September 2024.

"Writing for young readers connects me professionally to a part of myself that I didn't know how to let out until I was 60: that kid who lived a life of innocence, mixed with confusion and consternation, disappointment and dopey humor. And who drew comic strips and needed friends — and found them — in cartoons and children's books that told him what the grown-ups in his life had left out," Feiffer said, per Harper Collins.

"That's what reading did for me when I was a kid. Now I try to return the favor."

Feiffer is survived by his wife JZ Holden and his three children.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jules Feiffer dead: Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist dies at 95