It was one of those notices that appeared in the newspaper below the fold. What began as a labor of love is ending because in the words of the current cartoonists, “…it is too heartbreaking to continue.”
The comic strip Crock will end its U.S. publication run on Sunday, May 20. That date is almost one year to the day that the original artist and creator of the strip, Bill Rechin, passed away. After the May 20th strip, the comic will be rerun only in foreign newspapers for the next three years.
The strip had been carried on by Rechin’s son and son-in-law, but they found it emotionally too hard to channel their father’s creativity. Crock, which is currently seen in more than 250 newspapers across the globe, was created in 1975 by Bill Rechin and Brant Parker. In 1976, Don Wilder assumed the writing duties for the strip while Rechin continued to do the art. Parker died in 2007 and Wilder died in 2008. Rechin died of esophageal cancer last year.
On a personal note, I never found the strip to be a “must read.” However, there were times when I found the comic strip parody of the French foreign legion and the book, Beau Geste to be funny enough to laugh out loud. In hindsight, I think I will miss Commandant Vermin P. Crock and his band of misfits. The story of the end of Crock is here.