The Flying McCoys ― Comics for a Bold New World

This zany strip enters the comic-collection scene with circus-like zeal. All that's missing is a parade of elephants and a clown-car escort.

Gary and Glenn McCoy's delightfully absurd comic panel blends superheroes, office humor, huggable animals, and twisted relationships in a bizarre marriage of Gary Larson, the New Yorker, Conan O'Brien, and Mad Magazine. Put succinctly, the brothers McCoy present "comics for a bold new world."

Creating a world where greeting cards heal hospital patients, police officers pull over children driving bumper cars, babies use the patch to quell the pacifier habit, and nudists find out what constitutes a streaker in their colony, the St. Louis area natives alternate writing and drawing duties for the daily panel.

The brothers each have been nominated for multiple National Cartoonists Society awards, and Glenn has won in three categories. Gary McCoy's past as a comedian (he won HBO's Stand-Up Stand-Off contest for the St. Louis area in 1995) also shines through in the strip's offbeat humor.

Their impressive freelance client list reads like a who's who in cartooning: Disney, DreamWorks, and Hyperion, to name just a few.

Glenn McCoy has long been recognized by his peers as a superior cartoonist. The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) has twice named Glenn the Magazine Cartoonist of the Year, as well as Editorial Cartoonist of the Year and Greeting-Card Cartoonist of the Year.

Glenn was the first cartoonist to be victorious in three (NCS) categories. His editorial cartoons have been reprinted in The New York Times, USA Today and Newsweek, and appear frequently on CNN. They also have been collected in two books, "Pot Shots" and "Pot Shots 2," both dealing with Bill Clinton's years in office.

Glenn was born in St. Louis and began drawing at age 4 under the tutelage of both his grandfather and his older brother, Gary. Weaned on "Peanuts" paperbacks, he pursued his interest in cartooning by drawing for his grade school, high school and college newspapers. He graduated in 1988 from Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and graphic design.

After receiving his degree, Glenn landed a job as editorial cartoonist for the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat in his current hometown of Belleville. In 1990, he won a national talent search called "Create the Comics of the '90s." Soon after, he began doing gag cartoons for some of the top magazines around the country. In 1993, his comic strip, "The Duplex," was launched by Universal Press Syndicate, and in 1999 Universal began syndicating his editorial cartoons. Two book collections of "The Duplex" cartoons have been published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Gary McCoy was born in 1962 and developed a lifelong love of cartooning alongside his younger brother, Glenn.

For 14 years, Gary worked as the editorial cartoonist for the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis. His work on Illinois state-issues was distributed by Copley News Service, and has been reprinted in The Washington Post, as well as some textbooks. His work has also appeared in "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year" (Pelican Publishing Co.).

Gary is the main cartoonist for Vivid, an English language magazine dealing with art, culture, lifestyle and politics, published in Bucharest, Romania. He also freelances as a cartoonist and humor illustrator.

Gary's work as a graphic artist and freelance cartoonist has generated an impressive client list including companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Gibson Greetings, Disney's ABC.com, NobleWorks, Inc., Marcel Schurman Design, and Playboy magazine.

His work for these clients garnered him three consecutive nominations from the National Cartoonists Society—two as best gag cartoonist of the year, and one as best
greeting-card cartoonist. Gary also dabbled in stand-up comedy, winning HBO's Stand-Up Stand-Off contest for the St. Louis area in mid-90s.

"The Flying McCoys" is the realization of his lifelong dream to collaborate with his brother, Glenn, on a comic. Gary resides in Belleville, Ill.—just across the Mississippi River from his hometown of St. Louis.