Julie Larson

{{short description|American cartoonist}}

{{infobox comics creator

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1959|9|20}}

| birth_place = Lincoln, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|8|17|1959|9|20}}

| death_place = Lincoln, Illinois, U.S.

| area =

| cartoonist = y

| notable works = The Dinette Set

| awards =

}}

Julie Harris Larson (September 20, 1959 – August 17, 2022){{Cite web |title=Julie Harris Larson, 62 |url=https://newherald.news/julie-harris-larson-p21178-96.htm |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=newherald.news}} was an American cartoonist, most well known for her single panel comic strip The Dinette Set. The panel began in 1990 under the title Suburban Torture, and was syndicated from 1997 to 2015. The comic features the Penny family and their banal existence in American suburbia.

Larson grew up in a family of five kids in Lincoln, Illinois. Drawing was her hobby.[http://thedinetteset.com/?page_id=16 Dinette Set - About the Artist] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110830/http://thedinetteset.com/?page_id=16 |date=2013-12-24 }}

Larson played competitive tennis until college. She earned a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and spent the next eight years working in the design field. In 1989, after the first of her three daughters was born, Larson and her family moved from Chicago to the suburbs.

She began Suburban Torture in 1990, offering a satire on middle class culture. With the title changed to The Dinette Set, the panel became syndicated in 1997.

According to Larson's daughter, cartoon characters never age — however the writers do.{{Cite web|last=Burke|first=David|title='Dinette Set' to close up at end of month|url=https://qctimes.com/entertainment/dinette-set-to-close-up-at-end-of-month/article_d6c412f4-e41d-576a-ab9b-fe56c106b91b.html|access-date=2020-12-08|website=The Quad-City Times|date=20 November 2015 |language=en}} This is why she put the curtain down on Crustwood and "The Dinette Set " in November 2015 to rest and retire.Staff. [http://m.pjstar.com/article/20151128/NEWS/151129443 "‘The Argyle Sweater’ replaces ‘Dinette Set’ as comic’s creator retires,"] Journal Star (Nov. 28, 2015 Larson died August 17, 2022.{{cite web | url=https://newherald.news/julie-harris-larson-p21178-96.htm | title=Julie Harris Larson, 62 }}