Hewitt: Back in the saddle again

An Ohio State student who said he felt a little betrayed when the Lantern stopped running his comic strip because it offended a feminist group, has returned to the paper because he wants to continue to improve his work, he said. Bob Hewitt’s, “Masked Dropout,” has run since the beginning of autumn quarter. In 1998, Hewitt started “Stillman,” a comic strip about the main character who wants to be the next big star from a comic strip, but Hewitt opposes his efforts by not drawing him any props or other background, Hewitt said. In February1999, the Lantern ran one of Hewitt’s “Stillman” strips which offended the Feminist Majority. The group picketed the Lantern with sighns and jeers in the Oval, Hewitt said. Hewitt’s comic was pulled by the Lantern for the remainder of the week because of the protest against him, and while he defended his cause on a campus radio show, he criticized the newspaper for pulling his strip, said Chris Newmarker, who was the Lantern’s wire editor at the time the protests took place. Hewitt felt his strip was unfairly censored, so he protested the Feminist Majority by distributing copies of the censored strips on the oval, Hewitt said. “The Lantern editor at the time didn’t like the fact that Hewitt was bad mouthing the Lantern on campus radio and how he refused to drop the issue against the Feminist Majority, so the editor felt the Lantern could no longer run his strip,” Newmarker said. The Observer, a Republican student newspaper, reprinted the final few controversial “Stillman” comic strips, said Christopher Honar, Hewitt’s friend. Honar supported Hewitt during the “Stillman” protests. “Bob was depressed. If it wasn’t for The Observer, Hewitt would have never been satisfied with the outcome of the ‘Stillman’ escapade,” Honar said. OSU’s Junior Republicans gave Hewitt its Poly Award and a scholarship for creating the largest campus controversy, Honar said. “I felt a little betrayed because I didn’t feel I deserved to lose my job. I think the Feminist Majority took the comic too seriously,” Hewitt said. “It was a shame too, because this all seemed to happen when I was really getting serious about the comic,” Hewitt said. “I don’t regret that the comic was written. The experience was very educational, and in a weird way, it has given me motivation to succeed,” said Hewitt, a senior in marketing who will graduate in the spring. He has been performing stand-up comedy for about a year at local bars at OSU. He has also put on art shows for five years in Akron and Columbus, and he’s been drawing for as long as he can remember, he said. “I normally rent a warehouse for a night and set my art all around the venue, and everyone who attends can enjoy the scenery while enjoying the company,” he said. “I receive fulfillment in watching everyone enjoy my art, but most of all, an art show is all about throwing a good party,” Hewitt said. “I always wanted to get my art seen and read by as many people as possible.” That has been his plan in the past, and is continuing in the future, he said. After a year and a half lapse Hewitt decided to try and get the Lantern to re-hire him by having more excitement and more enthusiasm about his work than before, he said. Hewitt is not only saying he is enthusiastic about being back with the Lantern, he is proving it, said graphics editor Anita Overmyer, who reviews Hewitt’s work before it is published. A new policy at the Lantern provides clear guidelines of what is expected of the cartoonist to avoid a similar situation as the “Stillman” incident,” said Newmarker, who is now the Lantern’s editor-in-chief. “Bob is the best cartoonist. I am so glad he is back with us,” Overmyer said. “He has been so grateful since his return and it truly shows his dedication to his cartoons since he was willing to create another comic to be once again printed in the Lantern.” It is a long process to familiarize the audience with a new comic, he said. Characters need to grow in order for their personalities to be understood, he said. “Masked Dropout” may have more appeal than “Stillman” because it is better constructed, with more of a premise, Hewitt said. “My main focus and all my energy is put toward improving my comic and for reaching more people,” he said. Hewitt is sending 20 comic strips of “Masked Dropout” to 500 university publications in an attempt to have 250,000 copies of the strip printed a day, he said. “Ultimately, by doing this I will continue to get better because I just want to keep improving,” he said. “Most of all, it’s just good to be back.”