While Augusta residents might be used to Rick McKee’s editorial style of cartoons, the artist has created a new comic strip that doesn’t lean to the left or the right.
“There’s no politics in this. I’m doing my best to steer away from that. It’s not going to be heavy,” said McKee of his new venture “Mt. Pleasant,” a nationally syndicated comic strip that started appearing in newspapers on Jan. 1. He creates the strip with writer Kent Sligh.
The former editorial cartoonist with “The Augusta Chronicle” had thought about comic strips prior to creating “Mt. Pleasant,” but none of them seemed to be the right fit. He’d always heard the phrase “write what you know,” so he went back to his roots in a tiny unincorporated hamlet of Mount Pleasant, FL when creating the idea.
[adrotate banner=”14″]
The comic focuses on two city kids, Ella and Albie, who move onto their grandparents’ farm. There’s a host of animals, Podge the pig, Angus the cow and Bill the goat, who can converse with the kids but not the grandparents.
Albie is the smart kid, always building something, including Bot the Robot that was crafted out of a toaster and old radio. Ella is his younger sister.
“She’s about 7, and she’s very excitable,” he said.
There’s the typical sibling rivalry. She gets on her brother’s nerves a lot.
“She’s probably the most colorful character in the strip,” he said.
[adrotate banner=”23″]
The grandparents, Claude and Eunice, play the straight man and woman in the comic.
“They were looking forward to their golden years, and now they are raising two young kids again,” he said.
McKee said it’s not an autobiographical account. He was born in Tallahassee but moved to the rural Mount Pleasant as a child. He said he was in culture shock at first, but the big barn on the farm was the place where he and his brothers learned to use their imaginations.
Mt. Pleasant isn’t based on the tiny town in Florida either. McKee said there are cities with that name in several states.
McKee left Florida for college, attending Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. As a student, he worked on the campus newspaper.
“I was a reporter, but I didn’t enjoy it,” he said.
When the paper issued a call for a cartoonist, however, McKee knew that was the job he wanted.
His graphic design professor helped tailor a program specifically for McKee to realize his goal.
He worked at “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution” before taking a job as the graphics editor at “The Augusta Chronicle.” He became the editorial cartoonist in 1998. He was laid off in 2019, but he continues to create editorial content. Syndicated by Caglecartoons, McKee’s work appears in more than 850 newspapers around the globe according to the Tribune Content Agency’s website.
“Mt. Pleasant” is available through the Tribune Content Agency. The strip will appear in some newspapers once a week while others will carry it daily. Among the papers carrying it on Sundays only are the “Chicago Tribune,” “Orlando Sentinel” and “The Daily Press” in Newport News, Va.
McKee said it’s exciting to be part of the new venture. It’s been a while since the Tribune Content Agency released a new comic.
“It’s a tough time for the industry,” he said.
The agency is looking to expand the strip’s distribution in other papers as well as online platforms, he said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
[adrotate banner=”13″]
