Cartooning Varvel was inspired by
Mad when he was younger, as well as by artist
Pat Oliphant, cartoonist
Mike Peters, and editorial cartoonist
Jeff MacNelly. He was awarded the H. Dean Evans Legacy Award for community service in 2006. In the week before
Thanksgiving in 2014, the
Indianapolis Star published a cartoon by Varvel that was widely criticized as being racist. In the cartoon, a white family is seen inside their dining room at a dinner table with an unhappy father holding a baked turkey saying "Thanks to the
President's immigration order, we'll be having extra guests this Thanksgiving," while darker-skinned people can be seen climbing through their window. The
Star later removed the mustache of one of the intruders, and executive editor Jeff Taylor deleted the cartoon entirely and issued an apology one day later. In the apology, Taylor wrote, "Gary did not intend to be racially insensitive in his attempt to express his strong views about President Barack Obama's decision to temporarily prevent the deportation of millions of immigrants living and working illegally in the United States." In 2018, another cartoon spurred an apology by the
Indianapolis Star after some readers viewed Varvel's message as demeaning to women and sexual assault victims. In 2019, he retired from the
Indianapolis Star. In the cartoon, Ukraine's president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, is depicted with a
Jewish nose, stealing a wallet out of U.S. President Joe Biden's pocket. Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau called the illustration "the worst kind of antisemitic content." The
Sun later apologized for publishing Varvel's comic, saying it did not meet their editorial standards and that Varvel's work would no longer be used.
Writing Varvel co-wrote
The Board (a 2008 short film) and
The War Within (a 2014 film) with his son, Brett. Both films were produced by House of Grace Films, Brett's Christian film production company. == Selected awards and honors ==