A fascinating reflection with Rupert Kinnard, who made it central to his career to reshape how progressive voices were presented in print and comics.
Through the decades of his comic, illustration, and design work, Rupert Kinnard showcases the shift from hands-on to desktop publishing. He also reflects on the through line of progressive organizations and queer publications he helped shape, and the importance of always finding work you’re passionate about. His interviewer, Melissa Delzio, is an independent designer and founder of the Portland Design History project.
About the speaker
Rupert Kinnard (he/him/his)
Born in Chicago in 1954, Kinnard's character the Brown Bomber debuted in the fall of 1977 in Cornell College’s student newspaper. Upon graduating in 1979, Kinnard moved to Oregon and eventually ended up working as associate art director of Portland’s publications Willamette Week and Fresh Weekly. In 1984 the Brown Bomber debuted in the local queer newsmagazine Just Out. Diva Touché Flambé joined the Bomber within the comic strip, which was soon dubbed Cathartic Comics.
His extensive work includes both Portland fixtures and national progressive and grass roots organizations such as the National Organization for Women, National Lawyers Guild, Cascade AIDS Project, the Workers’ Organizing Committee, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and Gay Sunshine Press, among many others.
Melissa Delzio (she/her/hers)
Melissa Delzio is an independent designer and founder of the Portland Design History project, an initiative that seeks to uncover stories of early creatives, brands, studios and organizations that shaped our profession. Through research, writing, basement dives, interviews and the support of PSU, this project is on its way to serve as a source of visual exploration and inspiration for the next generation of designers.
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Portland, United States
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