JOEY ALISON SAYERS AND JONATHAN LEMON ARE THE NEW CREATIVE TEAM FOR ‘ALLEY OOP’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Andrews McMeel Syndication has announced that the classic comic strip “Alley Oop” will continue with a new creative team starting in early 2019.

Oakland resident Joey Alison Sayers will be writing the comic, while San Franciscan Jonathan Lemon will handle the art.

“I’m really excited to have two such talented creators on the team,” said Andrews McMeel Syndication President John Glynn.

“The great thing about time-travel strips is that they are full of surprises and Joey and Lemon are just the duo to take us to new worlds … and old worlds. LOL.”

“I’ve always admired Joey’s comic writing and reading her Twitter feed is one of the highlights of my day.”

“Lemon’s been doing the incredible ‘Rabbits Against Magic’ comic with us for years and he was the first artist I thought of who could capture the world, the palette and the characters in a new, but also honorific, way.”

Sayers said, “Alley Oop has traveled to the past, the future, and even the present. But there's one place he has yet to go: your heart. He's not a doctor, though; do not let him near your heart.”

Lemon mused, “It’s a daunting task to take over the reins of such an illustrious and storied comic strip. I hope we can capture the caveman spirit and blow Alley Oop back to the Stone Age where he belongs. In fact, in order to ensure the authenticity of the strip we’ll be chiseling each cartoon into a stone tablet.”

“Alley Oop” is the creation of V.T. Hamlin and the strip debuted in newspapers in 1938. At its peak, “Alley Oop” had more than 800 clients. Today it runs in three dozen newspapers and is part of the NEA Feature Package.

Over 30 collections of “Alley Oop” comics have been published over its syndication career.

Jonathan Lemon is a syndicated cartoonist with Andrews McMeel Syndication. A former award-winning musician and stand-up comedian, his daily comic strip, “Rabbits Against Magic,” has been nominated for two Silver Reuben awards. Lemon’s political cartoons have appeared in The Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, and San Francisco Chronicle. He has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area cartooning community since 1992 teaching workshops in schools and at the Alternative Press Expo and volunteering at the Cartoon Art Museum where his work has been exhibited. Lemon was the artist-in-residence at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in 2010 and was one of the featured artists in the book “Peanuts: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz.” He was also one of the cartoonists contributing to the Team Cul-De-Sac book, which benefits the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support Parkinson’s Disease research. He is a member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonist’s Society. Lemon was born in Watford, England and has lived in the United States for over 25 years.

Joey Alison Sayers is a cartoonist living in Oakland, California. Her comics have appeared in Mad Magazine, numerous alternative newsweeklies, and the Best American Comics anthology. She is a regular contributor to the comics website The Nib (thenib.com) and her work was featured in both seasons of The Nib's animated series. Joey’s weekly comic, "Thingpart," was published in alternative newsweeklies across the country. Her strip, “Joey Alison Sayers Comics,” currently runs on GoComics. When she’s not working on comics, Joey works at her local public library, where she tries to trick people into reading comics.

-- Fun facts about “Alley Oop”

* Featured as a USPS Postage Stamp in 1995

* Inspiration for the No. 1 song “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles

* Song has been covered by The Beach Boys, George Thorogood

* Song was featured in a Twyla Tharp Ballet

* Alley Oop character made a cameo in the Clifford D. Simak novel “The Goblin Reservation”

* Referenced in David Bowie song “Life on Mars”

* “Alley Oop” comes from the French phrase for the gymnast command “Allez, Ho!” Which translates to “Go, Hop!”

* The town of Iraan in West Texas has an “Alley Oop” theme park