Ace Reid and the Cowpokes Cartoons - Southwestern Writers Collection Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University

Publisher Marketing: Folks across the West know a cowpoke named Jake. A good-hearted guy, he's always up to his eyebrows in debt or drought or prickly pears looking for them dad-blamed ole wild cows. In fact, he's so real a fella that it's hard to believe that Ace Reid made him up. This book brings together 139 of Ace Reid's popular "Cowpokes" cartoons, reproduced in large format to show the artistry and attention to detail that characterized Reid's work. Grouped around themes such as work, weather, bankers, and friends, they reveal the distinctive "you might as well laugh as cry" sense of humor that ranch folks draw on to get through hard work and hard times. In the foreword, Washington Post cartoonist Pat Oliphant offers an appreciation of Reid's "Cowpokes" cartoons, noting that "Ace's work has a magic of its own, and it owes nothing to anyone else." Reid's longtime friend Elmer Kelton recounts Ace's life and career in the introduction, describing how a shy boy who grew up on ranch work transformed himself into an artist-entrepreneur who never met a stranger and who made ranch work the subject of his real love, cartooning. This collector's volume belongs on the shelf of everyone who loves the "Cowpokes" cartoons, knows a fella like Jake, or enjoys the dry wit of the American cowboy.

Contributor Bio:  Reid, Ace Reid grew up on a ranch near Electra, Texas. He broke into cartooning at the West Texas Livestock Weekly and syndicated his cartoons to newspapers across Texas and the West. Contributor Bio:  Oliphant, Pat Pat Oliphant occupies a unique position among today's editorial cartoonists. Widely considered the dean of the profession, he is one of its sharpest, most daring practitioners. Oliphant divides his time between Santa Fe, N. M. and Washington, D. C. Pat Oliphant is syndicated by Universal Press SyndicateContributor Bio:  Kelton, Elmer Elmer Kelton has written over forty books, four of which won the Western Heritage Award including "The Art of Howard Terpning" (Greenwich Workshop Press) He has won numerous awards and the Texas Legislature proclaimed Elmer Kelton Day in April 1997. He and his wife of over fifty years live near San Angelo, Texas, about 130 miles from where he was born and raised.