Introduction
Gary Hallgren (born October 28, 1945) is an American illustrator and underground cartoonist.
Biography
Growing up in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Hallgren studied painting and design at Western Washington State College. He joined the underground comix scene sometime around 1970, publishing his first narrative story in Northwest Passage, a local underground newspaper.
In 1971 Hallgren and several other artists including Dan O'Neill teamed up to produce two issues of Air Pirates Funnies. The comics contained parody versions of Mickey Mouse, which led to a highly publicized lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company. Hallgren also did the cover artwork and stories for a follow-on comic, The Tortoise and the Hare.
According to a May 2006 interview with Mike Dobbs of the blog Out of the Inkwell, Hallgren now lives in Granby, Massachusetts and has his studio in Holyoke. Illustrations by Hallgren have been "commissioned by publications such as The New York Times, Men's Health, The Wall Street Journal, Mad, and Entertainment Weekly, among others."