Martin Perscheid

Martin Perscheid (16 February 1966 – 31 July 2021) was a German cartoonist. He created a main character in 1994, who appeared from 1998 under the title Perscheids Abgründe (Perscheid's abysses). More than 4,300 strips appeared in several German newspapers and magazines. He is known for his "fearless glimpses into human abysses of sexism, racism, ignorance, corruption and stupidity, captured with black humour." He was trained as a lithograph designer. Perscheid was married and had two children but at the time of his death he was in a relationship with fellow cartoonist Nadia Menze. Perscheid died on 31 July 2021 after a long battle with cancer.

Born to a Catholic family, Perscheid soon became an atheist and humanist which influenced his work significantly. From 2020 to his death, he was a member of the board of advisers of the Giordano Bruno Foundation, a German non-profit organization that promotes evolutionary humanism and enlightenment. His series were in an unchanged upright format framed black, drawn with sparse lines and unerring punch line delivery ("mit zielsicherer Pointenführung").

His works have been published in various German newspapers and magazines. He then created his main character, a bald, bespectacled man, and a stand-in for Perscheid himself. He published his first book in 1995. In his career, he published over 25 books with cartoons.

Awards and legacy Perscheid's cartoons have been presented in museums, including a show of the Caricatura museum in Kassel and the Museum der niederrheinischen Seele in 2017. The Caricatura museum honoured him by a sculpture of his cartoon character, named Der unbekannte Idiot (The unknown idiot).

His publisher, Carlsen Verlag, wrote in an obituary: "His fearlessness of glimpses into human abysses of sexism, racism, ignorance, corruption and stupidity, and how he captured all this in cartoons with biting derision and black humour, was unique."