I don't usually make these R.I.P posts about people we lost and then add pictures....
But this screenshot from BIG HOUSE BLUES sums up what has just happened early in May 2 2025.
And I didn't find out until May 3 2025 as I was coming home from work at YVR Airport and I saw on my FACEBOOK feed this post from Jerry Beck:
The Cartoon World has just recently lost one of REN & STIMPY's biggest collaborators who's been with the Cat and Dog duo since 1990.
That man we lost is JIM SMITH.
This is the most recent Ren & Stimpy collaborator we lost since the death of Chris Reccardi in 2019.
And this happened exactly 6 years after we lost Riccardi.
(Am I seeing a pattern or what?)
I checked on John K Stuff, & his Patreon but the man behind his Sheridan College pets has not made any mentions of JIM SMITH's recent passing.
So once again, I'm gonna have to take the reigns on honoring the legacy of Jim Smith on Maverick Martinez Archive here.
Jim was mostly responsible for the layout and art direction of THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW going as far back as 1990 when the show was greenlit by Vanessa Coffey.
The show's layouts were really the bread & butter that made the show work
And it was not just REN & STIMPY he worked on
(which were only the SPUMCO episodes, mind you)
He also worked on other projects.
Such as the ill-fated FOX KIDS Canadian Cartoon THE RIPPING FRIENDS
Did you know that THE RIPPING FRIENDS was susposed to be an Adult-Animated theatrical feature?
It didn't happen which is a shame because the version of THE RIPPING FRIENDS that we got on TV back in 2001 was a bastardization of John K. and Jim Smith's vision for what the show should be about which was THE WORLD'S MOST MANLIEST MEN.
But I feel the TV Version of RIPPING FRIENDS made Jim Smith cringe because whoever was responsible at FUNBAG decided to give JIM the Finger on his rules for how the show should look.
After all that, Jim would work on other projects like SAMURAI JACK for example
And a few Scooby-Doo Direct-To-Video films.
I just had to use this Screenshot from LEGEND OF THE PHANTASAUR because...
ULTRA-INSTINCT SHAGGY FTW!!!
and when Jim was on his downtime when not working with a studio,
he drew his many cartoons on his own time.
Many which include Manly characters such as his Vikings.
Others include Caricatures such as this drawing of JOHN WAYNE
And Many More...
Jim must have been a fan of CONAN THE BARBARIAN from 1982.
Sorry Jim Smith but.... JIM REARDON beat you to this back in 1986.
Jim Smith,
You will be missed greatly.
Thanks for making our Childhoods Awesome since that fateful August 11 1991.
I Started this post on May 4 but chose to postpone until now because I did not want to talk about the loss of Jim Smith during STAR WARS day....
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