Sheplives


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Comics Comics about or referring to Shep

"Jean Shepherd" - The Comic Strip

A concept supported by Shep but never realized

John Roman

Back in 1978 cartoonist, and Shep fan, John Roman came up with the idea of doing a cartoon strip based on the stories of Jean Shepherd. He set to work drawing up 3 weeks worth of the cartoon and sent them off to Shep never really expecting to hear from him until one day the phone rang... Shep liked the idea and they worked together on trying to get it syndicated, but as time wore on Shep became involved in working on "A Christmas Story" and it never came to be. The story lines vary drawing from various topics such as Soap Box Derbys, Josephene Cosnowski, Batteries, and the quest for the Red Ryder. With so many years on the radio, there would be plenty of material to draw from. Shep even hints about the comics on two of his CBS commentaries

Associated Documents

Type	File Name	Description
•	080_CBS_Comic Strips.mp3	Commentary #1
•	080_CBS_Comic Strips2.mp3	Commentary #2

Links to Further Information:

• John's Website

Photos:

Sample Strip - This was drawn in 1978 - 5 years before "A Christmas Story" was made

Record: 3881 / ID: x215

Notes and Assets

Dating Notes

No Notes Found

General Notes

No Notes Found

Technical Notes

No Notes Found

Research Notes

Notes - 1 found

Source: John Roman (Date: 12-26-2023)
[From John Roman] You more than likely are not aware of this, but Jean Shepherd's works were almost interpreted into comic strip form. In 1978, as a young and naive twenty-seven-year-old kid cartoonist and ardent admirer of Jean Shepherd's work, I drew out three weeks of "Jean Shepherd" comic strips as examples as to how Shepherd's work could be adapted into a daily newspaper comic strip format. I then sent them off to Jean Shepherd never expecting him to ever receive them, or if he did receive them, never to respond. I was wrong. One day the phone rang at my home and on the other end of the line was Jean Shepherd! For several months he and I pursued getting the "Jean Shepherd" comic strip syndicated and we came very, very close. Subsequently Jean Shepherd and I had a number of phone conversations about the strip and the near successes we were having getting it sold. Jean even spoke about his (upcoming) comic strip a few times on the radio (the CBS syndicated short radio commentary he did back in the late 70s). I even have radio tapes of his commentaries where he mentions his (upcoming) comic strip! I can send you a copy of the tape as well. I never did get to meet Jean Shepherd and in the end he got more invovled with his "A Christmas Story" movie project and I went on to get a strip of my own syndicated.

Physical Assets Available

	Asset Name	Description
	Jean Shepherd Comic Strip	Proposed cartoon strip by John Roman working with Shep to get it published

"Can you imagine 4,000 years passing, and you're not even a memory?
Think about it, friends. It's not just a possibility. It is a certainty." - Jean Shepherd - 1975