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MIKE'S BIO

SUPERMAN! BOOK INTRO BY MAX JENNINGS

INTRODUCTION TO "ON THE EDGE"

For a Superman, Mike Peters seems at times to be riddled with insecurity.

It's not unusual for him to submit a cartoon to his editors and then sit chewing his nails. Is it any good? Will it work? Do you like it?

After winning virtually every major honor in his business-the Pulitzer, the Reuben for the world's best cartoonist, the National Headliner award, the Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Service Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Citation, the Overseas Press Club award for best cartoon on foreign affairs- you'd think Mike Peters ought to be more self confident, a bit less driven.

Those who know him best understand why he can't relax. He's having too much fun. Life is a great adventure and he's going for it.

Seemingly, it's always been that way, from the day the legendary Bill Mauldin put in a good word for Peters at the Dayton Daily News. That was exactly a quarter of a century ago.

Peters started out having fun, and he hasn't stopped. It's hard to sort out the fact from fiction about Mike Peters.

There's the time, for example, when the August editrial board of the Dayton Daily News assembled in the third floor library of the founder of the paper, Gov. James M. Cox, to weigh the issues of the day.

Peters, a member of a select inner circle of the newspaper's think tank, was not present, so the meeting began without him.

A few minutes later, an editor remarked, "Well, this ought to be a good issue for Peters," at which point, the curtains over the street window parted and Peters came bounding in from the chilly third-floor window ledge, clad in his favorite Superman leotard.

"Sorry I'm late," he proclaimed. "The weather was bad over Cleveland."

(Excerpt taken from the Max Jennings' Introduction to "On The Edge", a look at Mike's 25 years of cartooning at the Dayton Daily News)