Tim Downs

On March 24, 1980, Downstown began syndication through Universal Press Syndicate.[7] To appeal to a broader audience, Downs shifted his comic's content from college life to the singles life, and added new characters such as the nerd Malcolm Magnesia and changed Chuck Laylo into a shallow lounge lizard.[7][8][5] Universal promoted it as "a comic strip that captures the humor and lifestyle of new generation."[1] The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the few new comic strips offering original and relevant humor for the '80s…" along with Bloom County and The Far Side.[10] Through syndication, Downstown appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide, including Chicago Sun-Times, Edmonton Journal, Miami News, Los Angeles Times, and New York Post.[11][5][12][13]

In February 1985, Downs decided to use Downstown to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.[14] His series of satirical comic strips depicting a starving Ethiopian child alongside overfed and insensitive Americans were considered offensive by many readers.[14] Newspaper columnist Sue Ann Wood said, "It struck me as questionable taste indeed. The tragedy of starving children in Ethiopia hardly seemed a subject for crude humor in a comic. However, I thought the cartoonist was trying to make a point that some Americans are insensitive to the plight of Ethiopians. I didn't think he was very successful. I hoped he wouldn't try to do it again."[15] Yet, Downs continued to cover this topic for six days, leading The Detroit News to cancel Downstown.[14] Downs concluded the sequence with information on how to donate to world hunger charities, and did raise money for those charities.[14]

After 11 years and about 3,000 comic strips, Downs discontinued Downstown on February 1, 1986.[7] Downs said, "“It’s gotten harder and harder for me to do Downstown. I finally had to ask myself if it was the kind of strip I wanted to be drawing 10 years from now, and realized that it wasn’t.”[7] In short, Downs was living the married life with a son in San Bernardino, California, making it challenging to continue writing about characters based on his college roommate.[2][5] However, one newspaper editor noted, "Tim Downs decided to give it up because the strip was not being purchased by enough newspapers to make it worth continuing."[16]

Downs ended Downstown with a week-long farewell party visited by characters from other comics, including Charlie Brown, Duke from Doonesbury, Cathy, Little Orphan Annie, Garfield, and Spider-Man.[17][16][18][7] The last day, his character Josh uses an axe to break through the panel border, letting the characters fall through, with the final panel being empty white space.[5][19] Downs says, "I feel that the Downstown characters will always be floating in the margins of the newspaper somewhere."[5]

Downs self-published an retrospective collection of the series, The Laylo Papers: The Complete Guide to Relationships (1989).[20]

In 2003, Downs published Like Flies to a Corpse (later renamed Shoofly Pie), the first book in his Christian murder mystery series, Bug Man.[21] The six-volume series features forensic entomologist Dr. Nick Polchak who uses the insects he finds on murder victims to solve crimes.[21][22] The series includes: Shoofly Pie (2003), Chop Shop (2004), Plague Maker (2006), First the Dead (2008), Less than Dead (2009), Ends of the Earth (2009), and Nick of Time (2011).[23][24] To ensure scientific accuracy, Downs attended a forensic entomology seminar for crime scene investigators and coroners.[22]

The first two Bug Man books were published by Howard Publishing, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, with Downs changing to Thomas Nelson with the third book.[9] Downs said, " I made the switch simply because Nelson is so much larger and can bring greater resources to the marketing of my books."[9]

In a review for Chop Shop, Publishers Weekly wrote, "Downs keeps the pages turning with some excellent twists and first-rate humor. He laudably knows how to show rather than tell—a rarity for Christian fiction. ...Downs's flair for the unusual—makes him a writer to watch in the faith fiction market."[25]

Shoofly Pie received a Silver Angel Award, for works with moral or ethical impact, from Excellence in Media.[26] Chop Shop received the Book of the Year Silver Award from ForeWord magazine in 2005.[27][26] First the Dead was given a starred review from Publishers Weekly for its "taut writing and well-developed characters."[28]

Merged content from [[Bug Man]] to here.

Downs also wrote three stand-alone novels, all published by Thomas Nelson: Plague Maker (2006), Head Game (2007), and Wonders Never Cease (2010).[20][29][30] Plague Maker received a Christy Award for best suspense book in 2007.[31][29] Although Plague Maker is not part of the Bug Man series, it does include a cameo by Dr. Nick Polchak.[9] One reviewer noted, "Downs knows his bugs and his techno stuff, but what makes this work so well is the appeal of the characters...."[32] Publishers Weekly said, "This is Downs's best book to date."[33]

Downs also collaborated with Ted Dekker and Davis Bunn for The Christian Fiction Collection for Men (2003), also published by Thomas Nelson.[20]

With Vinh Chung, Downs wrote Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family's Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption (2014), published by Thomas Nelson. This book covers Chung's experience in communist-ruled Vietnam, his family's daring escape as boat people, and assimilation as a refugee in Arkansas, U.S.[34] Although aimed at the Christian market, reviewers indicated that this book could have a broader reach.[34]

Downs has written nonfiction books on Christian relationships and communication, all published by Moody Press.[20][35] Finding Common Ground: How to Communicate with those Outside the Christian Community (1999) received the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association in 2000.[21][26] Co-written with his wife Joy, Down's other nonfiction titles include Fight Fair: Winning at Conflict without Losing at Love (2003), The Seven Conflicts: Resolving the Most Common Disagreements in Marriage (2003), and One of Us Must Be Crazy...and I'm Pretty Sure It's You: Making Sense of the Difference that Divide Us (2010).[35][36]