The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. \ Backslash Forwardslash / {talk} 07:25, 5 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

John Long (cartoonist)[edit]

His comic, Lumpy Gravy, won a contest to replace The Far Side in the Detroit News, but no other paper seems to have ever picked up the strip. Despite a couple books by notable publishers (including a Lumpy Gravy compo), he utterly fails WP:V as I haven't been able to find a single reliable source to verify any of the info in this article. Google News turns up only one source, which simply states that the strip replaced The Far Side. Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Many otters • One bat • One hammer)} 03:26, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Comics and animation-related deletion discussions. -- TexasAndroid (talk) 05:36, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Living people-related deletion discussions. -- TexasAndroid (talk) 05:36, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Notable cartoonist. Refs here: [1] ChildofMidnight (talk) 16:04, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
DELETE ChildofMidnight's supposed refs are a bunch of crap including things like how Frank Zappa had LONG hair and cut an album called LUMPY GRAVY. Also, some of these supposed sources for a comic from the 1990s date from the 1890s? Sharksaredangerous (talk) 19:26, 26 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I just linked to Google News. The nom said "Google News turns up only one source, which simply states that the strip replaced The Far Side" which wasn't what I found to be the case. Cheers. ChildofMidnight (talk) 02:35, 27 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Which is why we search with quotes on. "Long" and "john" are insanely common, so that turns up nothing but false positives. Did it ever occur to you to search with quotes on to decrease false positives? Ten Pound Hammer, his otters and a clue-bat • ^{(Many otters • One bat • One hammer)} 23:42, 28 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I apologize if I wasn't clear. TPH (and his otters?) said, "I haven't been able to find a single reliable source to verify any of the info in this article. Google News turns up only one source, which simply states that the strip replaced The Far Side." My google news search found at least a couple reliable sources that have substantial coverage about this subject. The book has been reviewed and had some success. I think it's worth including as a stub. If others disagree, they're welcome to vote delete. I apolize if someone inferred that all the sources from google news link I provided are on this subject. Many/ most are not. I provided it because there were some that were. ChildofMidnight (talk) 22:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Comment He also seems to have had his "Long Overdue" panel syndicated by King Features around 1988-90, and it's included in this article from the Chicago Sun Times [2], "John Long, a cartoonist whose Long Overdue is making its debut in today's Chicago Sun-Times, comes to the comic pages after 15 1/2 years as a senior...". A website said the feature began in The Detroit News in 1983. It's also mentioned here where readers at one paper voted it out as "their least favorite" "http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AC&p_theme=ac&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAEA8F2E8709E1F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM]. His "Lumpy Gravy" panel apparently appeared briefly around 1995, before being published with some success as a book in 1995. One of his work's is featured in this collection [3] at Michigan State University libraries. I think it's enough. If it's not, vote delete. ChildofMidnight (talk) 22:31, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so consensus may be reached.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, \ Backslash Forwardslash / {talk} 06:57, 3 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Delete There are times when a comic's writer is also notable in of himself (see, for example, Ryan North), but usually there's no reason to have an article on every writer. In this case, the comic might be notable (personally I don't think so, but that's a discussion for another time), but its author does not appear to be. There's currently no Lumpy Gravy (comic) article and this article has very little content or history to merge there even if there were, so I don't see a reason to do something other than delete. rʨanaɢ ^talk/_contribs 07:28, 3 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete per Rjanang's reasoning, exactly. I will take this opportunity to reiterate that the contents of the encyclopedia must be verifiable through reliable sources. Wikipedia is only as good as its sources. We have, every time we write or evaluate an article, the choice of making Wikipedia better or making it into a sewer full of.....sewage. Drawn Some (talk) 14:15, 3 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Delete per Rjanag. You can't get notable by penning a non-notable comic. Niteshift36 (talk) 05:09, 4 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.