Bunny Hoest
Bunny Hoest is one of the most widely read cartoonists today, reaching nearly 200 million diverse readers every week. She produces The Lockhorns, which King Features Syndicate distributes to 500 newspapers worldwide; Laugh Parade, featuring Howard Huge, for Parade magazine, which is seen by more than 80 million people every Sunday; and the long-running Bumper Snickers for the National Enquirer, which has a circulation of more than 7 million.

Known as "The Cartoon Lady," the dynamic and versatile talent has 25 best-selling anthologies and a host of exciting new projects in the works, including a Lockhorns TV pilot and a "Howard Huge" animated feature in development with Merv Griffin Entertainment.

And the fans can't stop raving:

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! The Lockhorns have added a ray of sunshine to my day."

- Lockhorns reader

"You make this world great ... You keep people laughing even through the roughest times."

- Newspaper reader

"Huge success. Ever since its inception ... Laugh Parade... has been one of this magazine's most popular weekly features."

- Parade magazine "A blockbuster lady, a blockbuster personality! She's a lady who's aware of the trends, and she creates trends in comic strips."

- Joe Franklin, The Joe Franklin Show

John Reiner
John Reiner, who started out as an assistant to the late Bill Hoest, has now become one of the busiest men in the world of comic strips.

Reiner not only has taken over production of Hoest's classic comic panel

The Lockhorns but also produces Bumper Stickers for The National Enquirer and Howard Huge and Laugh Parade for Parade magazine. The Lockhorns, distributed by King Features Syndicate, chronicles the marital misadventures of Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn. The battling marrieds appear daily in more than 500 newspapers nationwide.

Born in 1956 in New York City, Reiner was raised on Long Island, graduating from Smithtown High School in 1974 and from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1978 as a psychology major.

In 1974 he met Mad magazine artist Mort Drucker, who encouraged him to pursue cartooning as a career. The next year, Reiner was hired by Captain America creator Joe Simon to work on his humor magazines.

He also worked for Marvel Comics and did free-lance advertising art, humor illustrations and political caricatures until Drucker hired him in 1984 to work on King Features' comic strip Benchley. In 1986, Hoest hired Reiner to assist on his three leading features, The Lockhorns, Agatha Crumm and What A Guy! By 1988 Reiner was assisting with all the Hoest features, and he continued working on them after Hoest's death in 1988.

Agatha Crumm and What A Guy! were created in 1977 and 1987, respectively. Both ceased publication in 1996.

"Bill Hoest insisted on doing each of his comics meticulously," Reiner says. "The artwork, writing, lettering and inking were all done in such a way as to meet his high self-imposed standards. I came to realize that his success, which so many cartoonists young and old tried to analyze, was the result of a simple rule: Learn to do each segment of a comic professionally.

"Bill Hoest could draw well, letter attractively and legibly, design in an eye-catching fashion, direct and control the action and expression of his characters, and write material that was genuinely funny. He then blended the elements to produce work that stood out on the comics page. I must now meet that same standard of excellence.

"I'm working hard, and I'm having fun."

Reiner won the 1994 National Cartoonists Society award for gag cartoons. He is single and lives on Long Island in New York.

E-mail: wmhoest@aol.com