Explore the world of Cathartic Comics featuring The Brown Bomber, Diva Touché Flambé, and a colorful collection of supporting characters.
THE RUPE GROUP
Cathartic Comics
Current News
IT'S OFFICIAL!!! Ooops...I Just Cartharted! 50 Years of Cathartic Comics has been nominated for an Eisner Award!!! For those who don't know...The Eisner Awards are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred to as the industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. We are thrilled beyond words!
Article About Ooops...I Just Cartharted! and the Eisner Awards Published in Portland’s Neighborhood Hollywood Star News
By Michael Aviña,
Star News correspondent
“Among the many things artist Rupert Kinnard has learned over 50 years of cartooning is that stories have a way of finding the audiences that need them. What began as a character scribbled into sketchbooks as a young artist in college has evolved into a landmark body of work that helped redefine representation in comics.”Blog
Cathartic Comics:
From the vaults
Bio
A short history...
Rupert Kinnard grew up on Chicago’s West Side, surrounded by extended family, and developed a passion for art and comics from a young age. His family supported his creative pursuits, buying him superhero model kits and encouraging his drawing skills. He attended the Chicago Public High School for Metropolitan Studies, where he discovered a diverse student body and nurtured his artistic talents. After high school, he worked briefly in Arizona before returning to Chicago to work for the Chicago Sun-Times and Daily News. He then pursued an art degree at Cornell College in Iowa, where he created the Brown Bomber editorial cartoon in the college newspaper.
In 1979, Kinnard moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked for Willamette Week and became involved in the LGBTQ community. In 1983, he co-founded Just Out, Oregon’s first LGBTQ publication, and in 1984 launched Cathartic Comics, a weekly comic strip featuring Brown Bomber and Diva Touché Flambé. He became the first African American on the Portland Town Council and helped establish the Diversity Alliance to address issues of race, gender, and sexuality.
In 1986, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, working as art director for publications such as San Francisco Sentinel, SF Weekly, and Out/Look. Cathartic Comics expanded nationally, appearing in major gay publications.
Kinnard has been honored with multiple lifetime achievement awards, including the Standing on the Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award (2013) and Portland Monthly’s Light A Fire Lifetime Achievement Award (2019). He was featured in the documentary No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics and has been recognized for his contributions to queer comics and multicultural representation. His work continues to be celebrated in exhibitions and through the Kinnard Awards established in 2022.
Kinnard’s career blends artistic innovation, political activism, and cultural representation, making him a pioneering figure in LGBTQ and African American comic history.
