Starting on Oct. 18, The Art Spot in Asbury Park, New Jersey, held the first-ever exhibition of original artwork by Heathcliff artist Peter Gallagher. On Saturday, Nov. 22, Gallagher sat down for a closing-night interview in front of a packed room of Heathcliff fans. ComicsXF’s Anna Peppard and Adam Reck were there and bring you this exclusive report.
Adam Reck: You and I somehow missed the opening of this exhibit despite its proximity, so I’m really glad we made it to last night’s interview closer. I’ve only been peripherally aware of the bizarre world of 21st century Heathcliff with its many helmets, robots, perpetual “Bros,” etc., but I think this made me a real fan of both the cartoon and its creator.
Anna Peppard: I’m not sure when I first became aware of “the new Heathcliff,” which I’ve subsequently learned is not very new. (Gallagher took over the strip in 1998 from his father and uncle.) SOLRAD’s “week of Heathcliff” essays from April 2021 might have put the strip on my radar. Or maybe it just was internet chatter reaching a certain critical mass, which eventually reached me.
In any case, when I got wind of an art gallery a mere 20-minute drive away having a Heathcliff exhibit, my interest was piqued. And when I learned the esteemed Peter Gallagher himself would be attending the closing reception, and answering questions about Jimmy Cool, Garbage Ape, Summer Mummy and the gang, I was all in. I immediately created a Google Calendar event called “GET MY HEATHCLIFF QUESTIONS ANSWERED” and invited my beloved Adam Reck. The rest is history, which we will recount below.
Monster Beach
Adam: We should probably describe the exhibit, dubbed “Monster Beach.” The Art Spot isn’t enormous, but there were at least three large walls with dozens of framed Heathcliff comics themed around Halloween (Gallagher’s favorite? A group of ghosts saying “Bro” instead of “Boo”) and going to the beach, blown up details of Gallagher art on the walls (owls, ghosts, etc.), plus standalone areas for random ephemera including a Heathcliff NASCAR side panel, old Heathcliff newspaper clippings, skateboards, stuffed animals, and of course some exclusive merchandise.
Anna: During the Q&A, Gallagher related the absolutely amazing origin of that NASCAR side panel, which was specifically an ad for a Heathcliff-branded kitty litter that never actually existed. According to Gallagher, this was the brainchild of a guy who owned a kitty litter mine (which is apparently a real thing!). Opined Gallagher, “imagine dying in a kitty litter mine.” Anyway, years later, Gallagher saw the short-lived side panel on eBay and purchased it for his personal collection of Heathcliff memorabilia. Just one of many awesome anecdotes that were imparted throughout this delightful evening of erudite artistic appreciation.
I also want to make sure we talk a bit about the demographics of the event. Adam and I are in our early to mid-40s (respectively), and we were definitely among the older folks at this outing. I’d say the crowd was mostly artsy Gen-Zers and younger millennials. Which speaks to how the internet and social media have helped ignite a new fandom around this wonderfully weird comic strip, something Gallagher mentioned a few times during the Q&A and has discussed in interviews elsewhere.
Adam: You’d think fans of a newspaper comic strip would skew older, but it’s clear Heathcliff has a huge audience with younger readers online. They were pumped to see Gallagher and to talk about Heathcliff and all its weirdness.
Anna: There was no doubt whatsoever that this crowd was extremely into being at this event. Many members of the audience were wearing Heathcliff apparel, every available seat was taken (with the kindly proprietors continually trying to scrounge up additional chairs), references to beloved characters and gags were met with raucous laughter, questions invoked Heathcliff lore and referenced the content of specific strips, and Gallagher was treated to several rounds of (well-deserved) enthusiastic applause.
Heathcliff is Friends with the Sun
Adam: Gallagher was interviewed by James Cotter of Radio Free Montclair, and between his and the audience’s questions we learned a LOT. But my biggest takeaway is just how fun this guy seems. He seemingly has zero editorial oversight, no one telling him no, so he’s free to just draw whatever wacky stuff pops into his head, and the audience (I saw somebody refer to Heathcliff fans as “Cliff-heads?” Not sure how predominant that is.) was right on his wavelength. Everybody was laughing and having a great time.
Anna: I was a bit worried folks would treat these comics sarcastically, laughing at them rather than with them. But this was profoundly not the case. This was one of those magical atmospheres where all the present weirdos were extremely present for the weirdness on offer. Maybe a more accurate adjective is wholesome. This was an extremely wholesome event in which a genuinely devoted fanbase was earnestly interested in paying tribute to an extremely silly, oftentimes baffling, yet sometimes surrealistically sublime comic strip about an orange cat who is definitely not Garfield but does love ham and fervently supports his local wig store.
Adam: What was your favorite anecdote from the interview? I really enjoyed his story about a New Yorker cartoonist he knew who saw a reader on the subway pages away from his new cartoon, so he missed his stop to watch his reaction, and then the reader flipped the page and didn’t even read it. Gallagher used this as an example to talk about what a joy it’s been to see readers look at and react to his work in the gallery.
Anna: I really enjoyed hearing Gallagher rhapsodize about the opportunity to view some original art from classic comic strips at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Gallagher clearly loves comics, and loves the opportunity to be part of comics history by taking over this legacy strip. Relevant to the latter: If you ever wondered whether Gallagher is in on the bit, he definitely is. At one point, he specifically talked about the mischievous joy inherent in taking over a legacy strip, drawing it exactly the same way it’s always been drawn, but warping the content to suit his own wacky whims.
There was also a very funny bit where he explained the origins of Jimmy Cool, aka Heathcliff’s friend Jimmy, who is a certifiably uncool frog wearing sunglasses. Gallagher is generally hesitant to directly explain his gags, which frequently encroach on non sequiturs. But in this case, he articulated the joke pretty clearly: “Everyone hates Jimmy. So Heathcliff tried to rebrand him as Jimmy Cool. Now everyone hates him even more.” Genius.
Adam: Specific to your interests in Heathcliff lore, we did learn that Gallagher has no idea why Heathcliff’s dad, Pops, is in jail and that we probably will never know, that the important part is that Pops is a real cat in a human jail and is constantly breaking out because that’s funny.
Anna: Gallagher said various people have sometimes tried to convince him Pops should be moved to some kind of animal shelter. Per my notes and memory, Gallagher flatly rejected this proposal: “NO. Pops must be in a human jail with a human cellmate. This is very important.” This guy gets this cat, man.
Adam: Pertinent to Jerseyans, it was confirmed that Heathcliff’s fictional town of Westfinster is in New Jersey. Gallagher said he is a proud New Jersey native, and loves that people make fun of the state because he assumes that means they’ll “stay out.”
Anna: Arguably, the most newsworthy moment of this interview, conducted a stone’s throw from The Stone Pony, was Gallagher proudly declaring, “Heathcliff is definitely a New Jersey cat.” The crowd enjoyed this public affirmation of a truth they surely already held dear.
Adam: But the interview was also punctuated by surreal moments like when Gallagher just mentioned “Heathcliff is friends with the sun,” and the sun sometimes gives people sunburns as a favor to Heathcliff. Everyone was dying laughing at this.
Anna: As they should be. Because it’s extremely funny. Heathcliff anarchically defies stuffy standards of human morality and fine art and physics and the boundaries of perceived reality.
Adam: What I thought was fascinating was that clearly the audience wanted to know the inspiration for some of Gallagher’s more out-there ideas. And as he answered questions, it became apparent it’s a very stream-of-consciousness process for him. He mentioned tapping into the zeitgeist, but avoided saying anything in Heathcliff has a direct corollary to anything in his or our real world. The closest we got was maybe that Heathcliff and Jimmy the Frog are “like him and his friends,” or that Heathcliff was originally inspired by a large orange cat named Sandy (back when Heathcliff was made by Gallagher’s uncles George Gately and John Gallagher). He described his creative process as coming up with ideas in a “dungeon”-like unfinished basement and cranking out a week’s work in his studio space in about 5-6 hours, a process he said used to be “terrifying” but now calls “liberating,” even if “it stinks” or “is terrible.”
Anna: Gallagher was very humble and dare I say identifiable in acknowledging that when you’re putting out a new comic strip every day, they’re not all gonna be winners. But some of them are. Others are even outstanding. And at the end of the day or a year or decade or century of comic strips, you’re gonna remember the good ones, and occasionally utter an under-your-breath chuckle randomly remembering a particularly transcendent or deliciously dumb gag. Which is exactly what’s great about the greatest daily comic strips.
What’s Next for Heathcliff?
Adam: Gallagher did hint at some plans for a potential new Heathcliff animated series, which he said would likely premiere “in Europe” first. He talked about some of the challenges in adapting Heathcliff, including production companies wanting to change his color because of Garfield, and assuming he should talk because of the ’80s cartoon. When Gallagher said the cartoon would be more like the comic and that Heathcliff would never speak, the audience cheered!
Anna: Gallagher said something like, “If we do a new Heathcliff adaptation, I want it to be Heathcliff as he is now.” Which is good and correct. I mean sure, the ’80s cartoon has a pretty catchy theme song, with lyrics suggesting that the people singing it are pleading to be spared from Heathcliff’s reign of terror. But the reason we’re still talking about Heathcliff — and putting Heathcliff comic strips in art galleries on the Asbury Boardwalk along the Jersey Shore — is because of what Peter Gallagher has turned it into over the course of the 21st century. Like David S. Pumpkins, Heathcliff is his own unexplainable, inexplicable, yet undeniably exuberant and just-plain-funny thing. The adoring crowd who packed The Art Spot on a chilly November evening understood that, and there’s a legion of devoted Heathcliff fans out there who undoubtedly understand it, too.
Adam: And we got original art! I knew Gallagher was selling exclusive prints for the event, but I was surprised he brought his pen and paper and was willing to draw all kinds of stuff for his fans. The person in front of us got a Heathcliff wearing a helmet with their name on it. Peter drew Pops for us.
Anna: Fun fact for the Cliff-heads out there: when Gallagher draws Heathcliff wearing a labeled helmet, he draws the helmet first. Confirming, I can only assume, that the cat is an extension of the helmet which subsequently distills divine inner truths about the rich tapestry that is the psychic landscape of Heathcliff. Or maybe it’s just easier to draw it like that. Either way, it was a thrill to watch the master at work, and I will eternally treasure our signed original portrait of Heathcliff’s perpetually delinquent progenitor.
Adam: There aren’t any current plans for future Heathcliff exhibitions at the moment, but given that Gallagher continues to work with traditional pencil and ink, I hope more people get to see the work in person and meet Gallagher at events like these. Maybe the aforementioned Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum could host?
Cliffnotes
- Peter Gallagher has been teaching Illustration at New Jersey’s Montclair State University since 2007.
- Heathcliff canonically owns hundreds of helmets, but Gallagher’s favorite is the Ham. “I have a soft spot for the Ham Helmet.”
- Gallagher has swapped original artwork with Jim Davis multiple times after Gallagher incorporated Garfield into Heathcliff gags, saying there is “orange cat solidarity.”
- Asked about his non-comic inspirations: Gallagher cited the Ken Burns documentary on Leonardo Da Vinci, saying Da Vinci’s notebooks were very much like cartoons.
- Gallagher is, oddly enough, more of a dog person and does not currently own a cat.
Anna Peppard
Anna is a Ph.D.-haver who writes and talks a lot about representations of gender and sexuality in pop culture, for academic books and journals and places like Shelfdust, The Middle Spaces and The Walrus. She’s the editor of the award-winning anthology Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero and co-hosted the podcasts Three Panel Contrast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Follow her @annapeppard.bsky.social.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
