Annual Convention

Annual Convention September 11-14, 2025

The AAEC will be joining the line-up at this year’s Small Press Expo as part of our annual convention in September 2025. Registration is now open.

Registration page

SPX website



 

CARTOONIST PROFILE

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General

First Name

John

Last Name

Rose

Publication

Reprints

Price for Original Artwork

$125

Physical address for reprint requests

None (Do not show a reprint address.)

Profile

Bio

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Rose fell in love with the work of Walt Disney, Jim Henson, Dr. Seuss and many of the cartoonists whose work was featured on the newspaper comics page and in Saturday morning cartoons!
Since mid-1998 he has been working on King Features’ Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip. He began as an inking assistant to cartooning legend Fred Lasswell and became the strip’s full-time cartoonist after Lasswell’s death in March of 2001. Three collections of Rose’s work on Barney Google and Snuffy Smith have been published: “The Bodacious Best Of Snuffy Smith” (2013), “Balls Of Fire! More Snuffy Smith Comics” (2016) and “Snuffy Smith In His Sunday Best” (2018). All three are available on Amazon.com. Rose frequently does Snuffy Smith Cartooning Chalk Talks for civic organizations, corporate groups, schools and festivals. He feels bodaciously blessed to get to work with the wonderful characters in this comic strip every day and enjoys sharing this with audiences in his chalk talk presentation. In 2019, the comic strip celebrated a milestone–its 100th birthday!  More details on Wikipedia.
Rose graduated from James Madison University in 1986 with a bachelor of fine arts degree, double-majoring in art and art history. He joined Byrd Newspapers of Virginia (now Ogden Newspapers) in 1988, starting at the Warren Sentinel and then moving to the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. His editorial cartoons have been recognized by the Virginia Press Association. He worked as an editorial cartoonist for Byrd/Ogden from 1988-2020. In 1991, he created Kids’ Home Newspaper, a weekly children’s cartoon/activity page that is syndicated with Creators Syndicate. It spawned six activity books in the 1990s. Three with Pelican Publishing Company and three with Nancy Music Company. Rose was a writer and inker for Archie Comic Publications for several years, as well.
In 2015, Rose was presented the Lum And Abner Memorial Award Award in Mena, AR, by the National Lum And Abner Society for his contributions to rural humor as the cartoonist for the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip. In 2017, at Walt Disney’s Hometown Toonfest in Marceline, MO he was one of four cartoonists chosen as a Toonfest honoree. In 2018, Rose was awarded First Place from the Tennessee Press Association for Best Use Of Humor In An Ad for a series of wildfire prevention public service newspaper ads featuring Snuffy Smith. He created these “Snuff Out Wildfires Before They Start” ads for the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the Tennessee Press Association after devastating wildfires hit eastern Tennessee. In August of 2021, Rose was awarded the Jack Davis Award for South East Cartoonist Of The Year by the South East Chapter Of The National Cartoonists Society at their annual meeting in Salisbury, NC.
Since 1993 he has lived in Harrisonburg, VA with his wife, Karen. They are enjoying their new role as grandparents! In his free time, he enjoys reading comics, traveling, spending time with his family, freshwater fishing and following James Madison University sports.

Speaker Info

Primary Locations

NONE

Availability

Contact me at rosetoon@aol.com

Length of Speech

20 min to 60 min

Speech Description

Rose frequently does Snuffy Smith Cartooning Chalk Talks for civic organizations, corporate groups, schools and festivals. In his presentation, he describes his cartooning career and his journey to becoming the cartoonist for the popular Barney Google And Snuffy Smith comic strip.  He also sketches the comic strip’s most popular characters on a large easel for the audience and takes questions from the audience in conclusion. He feels bodaciously blessed to get to work with the wonderful characters in this comic strip every day and enjoys sharing this with audiences in his chalk talk presentation.

Setup Needs

Contact me for more information.

Terms

Contact me for more information.

OUR MISSION

The mission of the AAEC is to champion and defend editorial cartooning and free speech as essential to liberty in the United States and throughout the world.

The AAEC aims to be an international leader in support of the human, civil, and artistic rights of editorial cartoonists around the world, and to stand with other international groups in support of the profession.


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LOCHER FELLOWSHIP

The AAEC John Locher Memorial Fellowship is awarded each year to one early-career cartoonist whose work demonstrates clear opinions and strong artistry on political and social topics. Deadline to be considered is the end of March.

The Locher Fellow will receive a one-year Regular membership in the AAEC, be a guest of the CXC Festival — held every fall in Columbus, Ohio —  and have the opportunity to meet with editorial cartoonists during the year of the Fellowship for portfolio reviews and career advice.


CARTOONS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Cartoons in Education

Every two weeks throughout the year, The Learning Forum and the AAEC offers CARTOONS FOR THE CLASSROOM, a free lesson resource for teachers discussing current events.  Visit NIEonline.com for more lesson plans.