Those in the habit of heading to the comics section of the newspaper can expect something a little different in the Tribune-Review, courtesy of local cartoonist Joe Wos.
Wos is the creator of syndicated comic-puzzle “Mazetoons,” and he’s excited to see his work appear in a Pittsburgh newspaper. It debuts in Saturday’s editions.
“I’m feeling fantastic. It’s a lifelong dream,” Wos said. “I’ve always wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist, and I got that with ‘Mazetoons’ appearing in newspapers all over the world, but I’ve always just been holding on to, it isn’t in my hometown.”
Now, the founder of the now-closed ToonSeum will have that particular goal achieved.
“It’s just so meaningful to me,” he said.
He said “Mazetoons” is unique. “It’s cartoon-illustrated mazes,” he said. “There are illustrations throughout the maze, and you actually go through the illustrations. It’s a lot of fun.”
Wos said he has been drawing since age 4. He was a fan of Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” comics and would often draw Snoopy. He still considers Schulz to be his hero, and he’s served as visiting cartoonist at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in California.
“In the ’70s, mazes were just really popular. Me and my friends would draw mazes to challenge one another, and then eventually my mazes got so challenging and so difficult … that all my friends stopped and I just kept drawing mazes. Here I am, all these years later, still drawing,” he said.
Here are a few fun facts about Wos:
Age: 55 years old
Current area of residence: Oakmont
Area where he grew up: Braddock
Education: Swissvale High School, Woodland Hills High School (graduating class of 1988), three years at Carlow University
Other claim to fame: Emmy Award-winning host of PBS’s “Cartoon Academy,” filmed through WQED. “For my show to be taped in the same studio that Fred Rogers has filmed is just … Pittsburgh just continues to make my dreams come true,” Wos said.