The Uncle Vern cartoon

 By Steve Otto

As I wrote in the article below, “Long time Kansas political opponent Vern Miller dies,” I used to draw a cartoon I called “Uncle Vern.” I mostly used it for an assignment at a high school class I was taking. The target of my parody was obviously Vern Miller, one time Sheriff, one time attorney general and candidate for governor. I originally drew a picture like this to kick of the comic strip, which took up several panels. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any of the old strips so I had to draw this one frame from memory. The idea of Vern sitting on a horse and shooting guns like this came from a Blondie comic strip I saw one Sunday. It was a strip where Dagwood Bumstead gave a clock to his boss for a gift. His boss heard the ticking, thought it was a bomb, so he called the cops. The cop in front was on a horse and was shooting his guns, looking ridiculously as he over did it. That seemed perfect for the character Uncle Vern.