‘CUL DE SAC’: Amid Parkinson’s battle, Richard Thompson ends beloved comic [Updated]

THIS IS THE NEWS I never wanted to write, but last year feared Id have to all too soon.

Richard Thompson, widely acclaimed among his peers as the best all-around comic-strip creator working today, wont still be wearing that crown in six weeks. Thats because Thompson has decided to stop working as a comic-strip creator: He will end his beloved strip Cul de Sac on Sept. 23.

Thompson and his syndicate, Universal Uclick, are making the announcement Friday at 10 a.m. ET.

View Photo Gallery:The award-winning cartoonist has decided to end his celebrated strip amid his battle with Parkinsons disease.

The Kansas City-based syndicate is informing newspaper editors in a letter that reads: The last year has been a struggle for Richard. Parkinson's disease, first diagnosed in 2009, has so weakened him that he is unable to meet the demands of a comic strip. For a time, he worked with another artist, but the deadlines became too much of a task.

Of the Parkinsons, Thompson, 54, says in a comment released by his syndicate: At first it didnt affect my drawing, but thats gradually changed. Last winter, I got an excellent cartoonist, Stacy Curtis, to ink my roughs, which was a great help. But now Ive gotten too unreliable to produce a daily strip.

Cul de Sac debuted as a weekly feature in 2004, in the Valentines Day issue of The Washington Post Magazine. Thompson had previously launched his weekly comic Richards Poor Almanac in 1997 in The Posts Style section.

Universal rolled out Cul de Sac as a daily strip in 2007. Cul de Sac is syndicated to more than 250 newspaper clients. Thompson said through his syndicate: Im thankful for all the newspapers who took a chance on Cul De Sac.

[THE RICHARD THOMPSON PROFILE: Cul de Sac creator faces lifes cruel twists with artful wit]

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‘CUL DE SAC’: Amid Parkinson’s battle, Richard Thompson ends beloved comic [Updated]