Review by Diana Saenger

 This book is so appropriately titled. One would never guess a cartoonist would be seeing so much of the world, but reading about Tom Gill's travels in addition to his wonderful escapades as a cartoonist is a fun and enlightening read. 

Gill had worked on his book for many years but passed on Oct. 17, 2005 before it was published. His good friend Tim Lasiuta was entrusted with finishing the project and getting it into print and has done a commendable job that Gill would be proud of, and readers will thoroughly enjoy.

One gets a good glimpse of what Gill was made of by the tales he spills. Like the time the National Cartoonists Society flew backwards in a Navy Air Transport plane to Anchorage, Alaska. On one stop of the tour, the pilot was asked to take a GI to a hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Some of the cartoonists wanted to comply immediately. Gill had been told they had plenty of time so he performed a show and got a rousing round of applause and laughs from the GI as well.

The Misadventures of a Roving Cartoonist is an interesting bit of trivia revealing Gills' early interest in drawing and how he started doing maps for WWII before beginning a comic strip called Flower Potts about a New York cab driver. Although he did many cartoons and comic books - Blue Bolt, Hop-A-Long Cassidy, Bonanza, Hoss - He was most noted for his drawings of the Lone Ranger comic book and cartoon features.

The camaraderie Gill shared with other cartoonists such as Mad Magazine's Jack Menelsohn, Teena's Hilda Terry, Mort Walker of Beetle Baily fame, and Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka and others make up a fascinating part of book.

Cartoons have become a big part of our culture and anyone who loves them and wants to know more about this iconic group of people and the worlds they created and lived in will find it here. The book contains drawings, journal entries and sections about other cartoonists. It's very entertaining.

DATA ABOUT THE BOOK

● The Misadventures of a Roving Cartoonist: The Lone Ranger's Secret Sidekick

● Five Star Legends/Five Star Publications, Inc (June 24, 2008

● ISBN-10: 1589850211 - ISBN-13: 978-1589850217

● Hardcover

● 246 pages

● $29.95

            PHOTOS: Five Star Legends/Five Star Publications, Inc/Classic Media, Inc.