Born and raised in southern California, Gordon Campbell has been riding the crest of America’s political storm waves since, like, forever, Dude. His first cartoons appeared in various area college newspapers beginning in the late 60’s mainly because his attendances at area colleges were, well, various. Always an underachieving student of history and politics, his illustrations described those turbulent days with a depth of knowledge and a sense of the absurd that few of his less politically minded friends appreciated. “Get into plastics” they said. “Draw for Disney”. Choosing, instead, to heed only the siren-song encouragements from many editors, publishers and other ink-stained wretches inhabiting the Golden State, Mr. Campbell continued to swim out beyond the breakwater of reason in search of the perfect graphic image. Very soon he found himself thrown onto the desert isle of political cartoons where he became happily marooned!
Decades later, Gordon is still there, getting ink on his hands and the traditional shark-like hate letters (now in the e-mail version) that are the hallmarks of the modern political cartoonist. Formerly the staff editorial cartoonist at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, California, and The San Bernardino Sun (1992-2008), he now works freelance. In 1996 & 2003 Gordon's cartoons brought his paper first place awards in the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual “Better Newspapers” contest. Over the years his work garnered numerous second place finishes in that competition as well as many Certificate of Achievement honors. He has also taken first place for editorial cartoons in the 2005 & 2006 (Inland area) Southern California Society of Professional Journalists Awards. Gordon's cartoons are available at editorialcartoonists.com and caglecartoons.com.
