Jolly Blackburn

Jolly Randall Blackburn is an American publisher and cartoonist who is best known as the creator of the comic strip and identically titled magazine Knights of the Dinner Table.

Early life As a child, Jolly Blackburn enjoyed playing Monopoly, Life, Sorry and many other board games.

Jolly married his wife, Barbara after college. Their daughter Amber Kay Blackburn died in 2011 at age 23.

Shadis After graduation, Blackburn enlisted in the Army, along with his wife, Barbara under the Married Couples program. Blackburn had always wanted to be a writer, He also created Alderac Entertainment Group, named after his D&D campaign world.

Shadis was a black-and-white digest that featured gaming articles usually written by Blackburn, as well as several fictional works by Blackburn, collectively referred to as the "Alderac Anthology", since they were set in Blackburn's Alderac world. and Blackburn was surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response. He later recounted "I think that's when the light bulb went on over my head. I was shocked by the interest and the apparent appetite for more." Knights of the Dinner Table would continue in Dragon until Issue 269 (March 2000), when it was replaced by an expanded Nodwick strip. and Gencon (August 2004).

In 2022, Knights of the Dinner Table published its 301st issue, becoming the longest comic book series by a single creator (passing the 300 issues of Cerebus the Aardvark created by David Sim).

Awards Blackburn has received a number of awards for Knights of the Dinner Table, including: Origins Awards for "Best Professional Game Magazine" of 1998 and 1999. Origins Award for "Gamer's Choice: Best Periodical of 2003". Origins Award for "Best Game Accessory of 2009".