County Lawyer Guilty of Being Funny

Chief Deputy County Counsel George Brewster has some advice for any of you aspiring comic-strip creators out there: Don’t do it for the money – or fame!

If the advice seems a bit gratuitous coming from a lawyer, you should know that the 28-year County employee has some well-rounded experience to back it up. He was the editorial cartoonist for his college’s weekly paper for four years and later for the San Diego Daily Transcript for 10 years!

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“My creative side kicked in when I was young. I was an early subscriber to Mad Magazine, and remain so, and would copy anything Mort Drucker drew for Mad. In high school, I took art classes and started drawing posters and illustrating for different publications,” Brewster said.

In college, the artistic Brewster studied journalism, but a careful look at the job market for newspapers had him changing courses. He was interested in working in first amendment matters, possibly as in-house counsel for a large newspaper. He ended up finding something that could still incorporate his love for storytelling.

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“Cartooning is a passion that I have and always will enjoy, but it is very difficult for a cartoonist to make an actual living at it,” he said. “Both cartooning and the law involve storytelling—in both you have to convey a message very quickly to your audience, or you will lose them. So I ended up in tort litigation, telling stories for a living, while keeping cartooning as my hobby.”

Of course, that “hobby” was nearly like a second job. Brewster drew four strips a week (in a series dubbed “Cheetum & Howe”) for the Transcript – a bit demanding for a man with a full-time job and family.

“This became too much with young kids, trial demands, so I cut it back to three a week,” the cartoonist said. “I drew upon my legal practice—things would come up in depositions, or in trial, or just around the workplace.  I am amazed I did 1,200-plus strips! It just shows you what you can do when you have a passion for something.”

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With Comic-Con about to make its way back to San Diego, Brewster will once again sit up on a panel for Law & Comics, an event held by the County Law Library for the past seven years.

“I have been the moderator in all but one of the panels. John Atkins (director of the County Law Library) is very innovative. He called upon two lawyer cartoonists that he knew of—me and Stu Rees—and from there we have brought in other members of the cartooning/publishing community to round out the panel.“

Brewster has been active with the Law Library for over 20 years and sits on its Board of Directors. He is also a member and past president of the Law Library Justice Foundation. He said he enjoys meeting other people who work in comics – artists, writers and even publishers. The most interesting part of the Law & Comics panel, he says, is the Q&A.

“A very diverse audience turns out for these programs. As moderator, I have the freedom to improvise – and I generally find a way to fit in a ridiculous gag,” Brewster said. “I used to worry about the future of publications, but the comics industry is flourishing.”

He may not be tirelessly producing cartoons for publications any more, but for this lawyer, his love of comics continues on. Here are Brewster’s three pieces of advice for cartoonists:

• Don’t do it for the money.  Or fame!
• In the end, you are the best audience for your strip.  While you should have someone you trust review the strip for content, spelling, brevity and wit, in the end go with your gut.
• Be original.

If you want to go see Brewster on the “Law & Comic: Rise of the Independent” panel, RSVP for the free event online. It takes place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 19 at the San Diego Central Library downtown.

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