Nathan W. Pyle

Nathan W. Pyle (born 1982)[1] is an American cartoonist and writer living in New York City. He is the creator of the popular Strange Planet webcomic series, which according to Pyle depicts "a strangely familiar planet full of blue things who are doing things that seem very traditional and familiar to us, but they describe them in some unusual ways" using very technical terminology, such as saying "I crave star damage" instead of "I want to get a sun tan."[2] Launched in February 2019, it quickly gained a large following on Instagram.

His 2014 comic series and book NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette, showcasing his sardonic observational humor, appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.[3]

Biography

A native of Ohio, Pyle studied theology in college and taught high school theology for two years before moving to New York in 2008 to pursue creative work.[3][4] He worked in television production and began posting t-shirt designs to Threadless. His work gained wide attention in 2013 when he posted a series of animated gifs to the website Reddit describing his observations of life in New York City. The animations went viral, attracting the attention of BuzzFeed, which offered him a job, and HarperCollins, which eventually published his comics in book form in NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette.[5]

His webcomic Strange Planet, which features beings from another planet discussing banal human experiences, premiered on Instagram in February 2019, gained 250,000 followers on a dedicated Instagram within 3 weeks[6] and by May had over 2 million followers.[7] A book version was released in November 2019 and entered the Publishers Weekly bestseller list for hardcover fiction.[7][8]

In April 2019, a Twitter post by Pyle from 2017 resurfaced that implied he had endorsed the March For Life, causing fans to object to a presumed pro-life view; in a controversy that was described by some outlets as an example of the Milkshake Duck phenomenon.[9][10][11] Pyle released a statement shortly afterwards stating that he and his wife "have private beliefs as they pertain to our Christian faith. We believe separation of church and state is crucial to our nation flourishing." He also stated they supported the Democratic Party, while denouncing the Republican Party.[11][12]

Bibliography
  • NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette (2014, William Morrow Paperbacks)
  • 99 Stories I Could Tell: A Doodlebook To Help You Create (2018, Morrow Gift)
  • Strange Planet (2019)
  • Stranger Planet (2020)

References
  1. Pyle, Nathan W. (February 6, 2015). "My 9 Greatest Memories As A Cincinnati Reds Fan". BuzzFeed.
  2. "Nathan Pyle On The Genesis And Ethos Of His Comic, 'Strange Planet'". NowThis News. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  3. Cooperstein, Paige (April 17, 2014). "27 GIFs That Explain How To Survive In New York City". Business Insider.
  4. Murphy, Lorraine (March 28, 2013). "Meet the artist behind that viral GIF guide to NYC". The Daily Dot.
  5. Lee, Dami (April 1, 2019). "Nathan Pyle's Strange Planet holds up a mirror to weird human behavior". The Verge.
  6. Rubin, Peter (February 26, 2019). "Why 4-Panel Comics Now Dominate Our Screens". Wired.
  7. Canfield, David (May 1, 2019). "Exclusive: Nathan W. Pyle's beloved 'Strange Planet' comics get book deal". Entertainment Weekly.
  8. "Bestselling books for the week that ended Dec. 1". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  9. "Pyle's archived tweet regarding abortion rights". Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  10. Kelly, Tiffany (8 April 2019). "The internet's favorite new comic strip has been ruined by this old anti-abortion tweet". The Daily Dot.
  11. Asarch, Steven (April 10, 2019). "The artist behind the 'Strange Planet' webcomic sparks controversy with pro-life tweet". Newsweek.
  12. "'Strange Planet' comics artist responds to abortion controversy". The Daily Dot. April 9, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-23.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.