Dougie McCoy never quite "made it" as a professional cartoonist, at least to the extent that his enthusiasm and passion seemed to warrant. He actually drew pretty well and his work was very popular in small press publications and on local projects in and around Nebraska. Sadly, he was trapped in that sad Twilight Zone of talent: Too good to give it up and not quite good enough to get the kind of work he wanted to do. So he continued to support himself working at a fast food restaurant — I think he was even the manager there — and he drew in his spare time. Correct that: He drew and he drew and he drew and he drew…
He was a lovely and funny man and he drew lovely and funny people along with lovely and funny animals, all very much alive and colorful. He'd save up to go to cons and diligently show his most recent work, of which there was always plenty, to cartoonists he admired like Sergio Aragonés, Scott Shaw! and Stan Sakai. He even went so far as to ask me for advice.
I don't do many critiques. You squander time on too many kids who don't want to listen and/or learn…whose attitude is along the lines of "Yeah, yeah, just tell me what I need to do to get hired." Dougie wasn't like that at all. He listened to everything, strained to understand it, and you could tell that he was going to race home and do his darnedest to apply what he'd learned. I remember sitting with him for an hour at one con in Kansas a few years back, examining his latest efforts, telling him what I thought he'd done right and wrong. There was plenty of right — enough that I figured he wasn't too far from getting steady work in his chosen profession. Sad to say, he hadn't quite made it there when he died over this past weekend at the age of 50.
Doug came out to the Comic-Con in 2009 and something happened there which Mr. Shaw! just mentioned on Facebook and said was possibly the high-point of Dougie's life, at least as far as cartooning was concerned. It happened at Quick Draw!, that event I host where we get three of the swiftest cartoonists up to sketch rapidly and rise to challenges in front of an audience. That year, I tried a new stunt which involved bringing three more cartoonists up for a few minutes. I'd arranged for the second three to be there in the audience — Bobby London, Stan Sakai…and there was a third but that person was a no-show.
I needed another cartoonist in a hurry and I saw Dougie sitting in the front row and thought, "He'd do fine." Unlike the other two, he hadn't expected to be called to the stage. He was just one of about 3,000 people we had in that room as spectators. I walked up to him, turned off my microphone for a moment and asked him if he had the courage to get up there and draw alongside Scott, Sergio and Floyd Norman. It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd said no but he didn't. He gulped and said, "Yes," pronouncing that word in about five syllables. That did take guts and as you'll see in the video below, he did fine, easily holding his own alongside five top pros who were up there with him.
After the event, there was milling and much signing of autographs. I was scribbling my name on program books, comics, I.O.U.s and confessions of sex crimes when Dougie politely made his way up to say thanks for his inclusion in the game. He muttered something about how he hoped he hadn't embarrassed himself since he wasn't in the same league as the others. I told him, "Nobody thought that. Up there, you were just one of six good cartoonists."
Just then, as if to prove my point, something happened…something small but it's a moment I'll never forget and I'd bet my house Dougie never did, either. There was yet another kid standing there with a program book and a pen, and Dougie assumed he wanted my signature. He stepped back and waved the kid towards me…but the kid turned to Dougie and said the most wonderful thing…
He said, "No, I don't want his autograph. I want yours."
I'm sure Doug had been asked for his autograph before. He was a very visible celeb among the comic fan community in Omaha, always participating in charity sketch events and jam sessions and doing drawings for anyone who asked. But this was the first time he was ever asked for his autograph as part of an event where he was one of those guys he'd always wanted to be. He not only signed for the young man, he did him a helluva cute little drawing. And that wasn't easy for Dougie because he was actually crying with joy as he did it. Why the hell does a guy like that have to die before he realizes his full potential?
Here's that segment from the Quick Draw! at the 2009 Comic-Con International. It's Dougie McCoy, who's spent way too long on a little farm team, finally getting an "at bat" in the majors…
