Peter Zale is the talented illustrator and writer who creates the cartoon Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet. His background in graphics, technology and writing allows him to create strong characters who take command of the comics pages and explore the depths of what it is to be a "geek."
Zale's background includes extensive work in desktop publishing and the Internet, beginning with publishing design at Houghton-Mifflin in Boston and later including art direction, Web design and systems administration. In the early '90s he struck out on his own with a desktop publishing/design business, Peter Zale Paradezign, where he became a desktop "fighter pilot" - a one-man team of writer, designer, illustrator and producer.
After his wife Penny gave birth to their second child, Zale joined an advertising agency, where he does graphic design, art direction, Web design, copy writing and electronic production. With a little extra evening time, he created the cartoon Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet, which debuted on the Web in 1996.
Helen boasts a large and dedicated audience and has grown to be a highly regarded comic strip on the Web and now in print, spawning articles in The New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, HOW Magazine and other print and Web publications around the world.
Zale's cartooning credits include a weekly technology-related toon called "The Bleeding Edge," which he creates for www.techrepublic.com, one of the top information technology news sites in the world.
Zale holds degrees in English literature and illustration from the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts College of Art, respectively. He lives in Cleveland with his wife and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Charlotte.
Note: "The Bleeding Edge" runs on Mondays; a search by title on
techrepublic.com will provide links to the archive.
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