SUTTON Ronn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronn_Sutton
Born 17 December 1952.
Ron was an active participant in the Toronto graphic arts community in the 1970’s and 80’s. Many of his early stories are grouped under an idea he conceived in 1979. “Starbikers” rather than a narrative, is a motif within which individual stories are told about different members of a loose organization of outlaw bikers living in a dystopian future. The unconnected stories first appeared separately in Gene Day’s Black Zeppelin, Orb and Vortex. They were then gathered into the single issue Starbikers 1, September 1988 published by Renegade Press. This title was the introduction to a bimonthly anthology T Minus 1 which continued the “Starbiker” stories. A single issue was published by Renegade in 1988. For it, Ron partnered with Gene, Dan and David Day.
Ron himself acknowledged, “Because I am an artist first and foremost rather than a writer the entire spectrum of the STARBIKERS has been based on visual imagery rather than plotlines or characterization. I make no bones about it.” It is not surprising then that the great bulk of his subsequent work has been giving visual interpretation to the words of other writers. Among other titles, he has contributed to are The Man From Uncle, The Phantom and Elvia, Mistress Of The Dark which he worked on for about nine years. Recently (2018) he has been drawing a comic strip adaption of Edgar Rice Burrough’s The Man-Eater. Meanwhile, his illustrations have appeared in such periodicals as Business Journal, Canadian Business, Maclean’s, Saturday Night, On Spec, Owl and newspapers Ottawa Citizen and Toronto Star. He has been a courtroom illustrator and has worked in animation on commercials and short stories.
Ronn Sutton met Janet Hetherington at a comics convention. She was carrying with her a sketch for which she needed a skilled artist to complete. She approached Ron and asked him to finish it. He agreed and out of this first encounter blossomed a romance and a partnership .Hetherington/Sutton Studio. They located in Ottawa. Here she and Ronn created a humorous cartoon strip based partly on themselves called “Jannie Weezie” which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in 1994. They also created a fascinating and dark character called “Spinnerette”.
WORK:
CARTOONIST:
PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:
Content story:
Gene Day’s Black Zeppelin, 1-4, Mar.1986: “Harry”: 23-29.
Orb Magazine, 2, July 1974 “Musical Roulette”: 24-26.
Vortex, 1-8, April 1984: “Dog Eat Dog”: 9-19.
Vortex, 1-10, September 1984: “New Ruins For Old”: 11-17.
Content story & Cover front: Published by Renegade Press. Colour cover. Black & white content.
Starbikers, 1, September 1988: “Wasted Days”: 1-5. “Dog Eat Dog”: 6-16. “New Ruins For Old”: 17-22. “Harry”: 23-29. “Firebird Sweet”: 32. (Portrait).
ILLUSTRATOR:
BOOK GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:
Content story:
Gothic Tales of Haunted Love. Ed., H. Nicholson & S.M. Beiko. Bedside Press, 2018: “Crushed.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Col., Becka Kinzie. Let., Zakk Saam: 12-21.
PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:
Content promotional:
Perf & Guage vol. 1, Spring / Summer 1996. Writ., Janet Hetherington. Canada Post.
PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:
Cover back:
Orb Magazine 1-3, Dec. 1974.
Content panel:
Orb Magazine 1-3, Dec. 1974: “Orb Poster 4”: 51.
Content story:
Armageddon Rising, no date. “Spinnerette: Truce Or Consequences.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Millennium Publications.
Song of the Sirens, Book 2, Earth, no date. “Spinnerette: Survival Instinct.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Millennium Publications.
PERIODICAL TEXT ANTHOLOGY:
Content interview:
Saturday Night, 114-10, Dec.1999/ Jan. 2000: “A Strange Trip Into Tomorrow”. Writ., several: 76- 86.
PERIODICAL TEXT & GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:
Content game:
Owl, 24-7, October 1999: “Things That Suck.” Writ., unidentified: Back cover.
NEWSPAPER:
Content strip cartoon:
“The Jannie Weezie.” Writ., Janet Hetherington. Illus., Ronn Sutton. Ottawa Citizen, 2 May 1994:D9 to 18 June 1994: J2.
INTERPRETER & ILLUSTRATOR:
PERIODICAL GRAPHIC:
Content poem:
Vortex, 1-4, July 1983: “Wasted Days”. Writ., Oscar Wilde: 25-29.
CO-CARTOONIST:
BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:
Content strip cartoon & Cover book front & back :
The Jannie Weezie Ashcan Sampler. #0. Co-car., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/Sutton Studio, 1994.
Jannie Weezie vs. “The Brain”. #00, (Book 2). Co-car., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/ Sutton Studio, 1996.
CO-WRITER & CO-ILLUSTRATOR:
BOOK GRAPHIC:
Content & Cover:
Eternal Romance . Labour Of Love Sketch Book. Co- writ. & Co-illus., Janet Hetherington. Hetherington/Sutton Studio, Summer 1998. Edition limited to 250 copies.
SOURCE:
Article periodical:
Gothic Tales of Haunted Love. Ed., H. Nicholson & S.M. Beiko. Bedside Press, 2018: “Creators: Ronn Sutton”: 216.
Article newspaper:
The Ottawa Citizen, 2 May 1994: “Artists bring own lives to art, art to life”: A2. \
Internet:
http://www.ronnsutton.com/about-me/
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/sutton_ronn.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronn_Sutton
GALLERY:
Vortex, 1-8, April 1984: 13. Starbikers, 1, September 1988: 10.
Vortex, 1-10, September 1984: 16. Starbikers, 1, September 1988: 22.
Starbikers, 1, September 1988: Front cover.
Owl, 24-7, October 1999: Back cover.
Saturday Night, 114-10, Dec.1999/ Jan. 2000: 79
A portrait of Elvira 2015.
A sample of Ron’s work on The Man-Eater, 2018.