Scott Adams, creator of the syndicated newspaper comic strip Dilbert, passed away on Tuesday, January 13, according to the New York Times. He was 68 years old.
The Dilbert strip, launched in 1989 while Adams was still an office worker satirizing the environment where he worked, became a huge success, syndicated in around 2,000 newspapers at its peak. Dilbert was also a big sales success across channels in collected form, with reviewers and fans connecting with Adams’ mordant skewering of high-tech office life. His collections made two 10 Best lists in 2008 (see “Amazon and PW’s 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2008”). The strip spawned an animated series, and at one point there was a big budget movie in development (see “’Dilbert’ Live Action Movie”).
Comments by Adams on his podcast, which had become increasingly controversial over the years, led to Dilbert’s cancellation by newspapers carrying his strip and the syndicate distributing it after a 2023 episode in which he made racist comments.
Source: ICv2
