Jay Malcolm Kennedy was an American editor and writer. The author of The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide, he was a long-time editor at King Features Syndicate, eventually rising to the position of editor-in-chief. Kennedy wrote articles about the history of cartooning, and he profiled cartoonists and contemporary comics for magazines, including New Age Journal, Heavy Metal, New York and Escape Magazine, an English bi-monthly. His interest in cartooning, he once explained, was because:
Life and career
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Kennedy grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, working in a picture frame store while he was in high school. After studying sculpting and conceptual art at New York'sSchool of Visual Arts, Kennedy graduated with a sociology degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At the University he was an active member of the Pail & Shovel Party, a student group dedicated to bringing humor to student government via absurdist and playful pranks. Kennedy drew posters and flyers for the group and took part in many activities, including the famous Pink Flamingo planting. Kennedy was the author of The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide, the first price guide to the underground comix of the 1960s and 1970s. Much of the information in that book was based on Kennedy's personal collection of more than 9,500 comix. From 1983 to 1988, he served as cartoon editor of Esquire where he edited and co-wrote Lynda Barry's Modern Romance. At the same time, Kennedy was a humor book agent as well as a cartoon consultant and editor for magazines and publishers, including People and Whittle Communications. In 1985, he was a guest editor for the “European Humor” issue released by the National Lampoon. He joined King Features Syndicate in 1988 as deputy comics editor and became comics editor one year later. He began as King Features' editor-in-chief in 1997. He made a point of championing strips created by female cartoonists, including Hilary B. Price's Rhymes with Orange, Sandra Bell-Lundy's Between Friends, and Rina Piccolo's Tina's Groove; as well as Six Chex, a rotating series of female-made strips. In 2006, Kennedy introduced King Features' DailyINK, an online service that costs $19.99 annually and makes available, on a web page and via email, more than 90 vintage and current comic strips, puzzles and editorial cartoons. The vintage strips have included Bringing Up Father, Buz Sawyer, Flash Gordon, Krazy Kat, The Little King, The Phantom and Rip Kirby.
In memory of Kennedy, King Features established the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is "designed to acknowledge excellence among college-aged aspiring cartoonists". Through the National Cartoonists Society Foundation, the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is awarded yearly to a deserving college student for their junior or senior year based on the judging of submitted work to the Foundation’s panel of professional cartoonists. The award is presented at the annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner. Kennedy's underground comix collection was later donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
