Wiley Miller, Creator of Non Sequitur

In the first year of Non Sequitur publication, the National Cartoonists Society awarded Miller the Reuben for "Best Comic Strip," the only comic strip to have achieved this tribute in its first year. Non Sequitur scooped up NCS awards again for "Best Syndicated Panel" in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

But hmm, you ask, how could a comic strip win both the comic strip and the panel award? Wiley Miller pioneered methods of creating his cartoon on his computer so that it can be realigned and sized to the space available. "The emphasis on drawing and composition," as Miller described on ucomics.com, "brings back a quality of art that has been lost since the comics began to shrink." *(2) The comic fits both square panel and strip forms, depending on the varying needs of the newspaper editors.

Innovation by the dedicated cartoonist continued with his development of new colour techniques in 1994. The methods eliminated the colour-by-dot process used for decades. The new process uses a similar production as that for photographs for newspapers, giving the comics a life rich with shading and texture.

Though the strip generally has no particular themes, there are a few recurring characters that show up in Non Sequitur every now and then. Danae, the astute little girl with a dry sense of humour, was modelled after one of Wiley Miller's own daughters. The real Danae is now grown, but her childhood characteristics were used and exaggerated to provide the immensely popular character of Danae. Miller and his wife Victoria Coviello live in Santa Barbara, California. They have two daughters.

Non Sequitur is available for continued chuckling in several books, "Dead Lawyers and Other Pleasant Thoughts," "The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the '90s", "Non Sequitur's Beastly Things" and Miller's latest, "Legal Lampoon: A Biased, Unfair and Completely Accurate Law Review from Non Sequitur,"all published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

For several years beginning in 1994, Miller teamed with Canadian editorial cartoonist Susan Dewar to jointly create "Us & Them," a delightful strip displaying the talents of both artists on opposite days. Unfortunately, it seems to have disappeared from print.

On the subject of cartoonists, Wiley Miller said: "I've always been of the belief that cartoonists are born, just like musicians or any of the other artists. We're not like 'normal' children. We weren't just satisfied with reading the comics, we had to go off and draw them." *(4)

We're glad he did.

*(1) and