Wiley Miller

David Wiley Miller was born on April 15, 1951, in Burbank, California, and grew up in Hollywood. He studied art at Virginia Commonwealth University. Miller then worked for several educational film studios in Hollywood before moving to North Carolina in 1976. In North Carolina, he worked as an editorial cartoonist and staff artist for the Greensboro News & Record. His career progression continued in 1978 when he was hired by the Santa Rosa, California, Press Democrat as a staff artist and editorial cartoonist. His first syndicated strip, “Fenton,” debuted in 1982. In 1985, he further advanced his career by accepting a position as an editorial cartoonist at the San Francisco Examiner. This early work laid the foundation for his later, more widely recognized contributions to cartooning.

In 1991, Miller launched “Non Sequitur,” a comic strip that eventually became syndicated in 700 newspapers. This strip is notable for being the only cartoon to win National Cartoonists Society Divisional Awards in both the comic strip and comic panel categories. Miller also holds the distinction of being the only cartoonist to win an NCS Divisional Award in his first year of syndication. A significant technical achievement was his pioneering use of process color in comic strips in 1994, followed by the development of a versatile format in 1995 that allowed a single cartoon to be adapted for both panel and strip dimensions. His work has maintained a consistent level of recognition, including four NCS awards within the first six years of “Non Sequitur’s” publication.

Miller’s career also includes authoring several books, such as “Dead Lawyers and Other Pleasant Thoughts” (1993) and “The Non Sequitur Survival Guide for the Nineties” (1995). His personal life saw a significant relocation in 2004, moving with his wife, Victoria Coviello, and their four Jack Russell terriers from Santa Barbara, California, to Kennebunkport, Maine. He explained this move was partly for creative inspiration due to the changing seasons. The Maine setting began influencing his strips, notably through characters like Offshore Flo, inspired by local people and places. By 2016, Miller and his family had moved again, this time to Palmetto, Georgia, continuing his work on “Non Sequitur” and his other creative endeavors.