An Interview with the Acclaimed Cartoonist, Tony Husband

 

Many who grew up in the UK during the eighties will remember Tony Husband’s comic magazine ‘Oink’ and its TV spin off, ‘Round the Bend’. An accidental sequence of events made Oink controversial: Ian Paisley wanted Oink banned in Ireland and Oink was discussed with concern in the English Houses of Parliament.

Originally inspired by a nasty beating he received from a group of skinheads, Tony Husband’s comic ‘Yobs’ has now featured in England’s top selling current affairs magazine, Private Eye, for over thirty years. Tony’s single panel gag strips have regularly appeared in Private Eye, Punch, Playboy and many major publications.

In 2013, Tony wrote and published ‘Take Care, Son’, a funny and tender graphic novel about his father’s struggle with vascular dementia. This book deal came about when, after seeing some early panels, Stephen Fry tweeted that they were “rather wonderful cartoon strips… chronicling his father’s dementia with loving charm and wit”. “Take Care, Son” is that and more. Since this interview was recorded in 2014, Mr. Husband has since published a new book titled From a Dark Place: How a Family Coped with Drug Addictionabout his son Paul’s struggle with heroin addiction.

We spend some time with Mr. Husband and learn about his childhood, career and influences, and we find out what is next for our prolific cartoonist from Hyde, England.

Copyright G.A. Nuttall (2017)

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