Mike Lynch Cartoon in July 2006 Funny Times

The nice thing about seeing a cartoon of mine in the Funny Times is that so many of my cartoonist friends are in it as well: Tony Murphy, Steph Piro, Clay Bennett, Dan Piraro, Carla Ventresca and Mark Anderson and others. And FT is headquartered in Cleveland Heights, OH, just a couple of miles from where I went to high school.

Digression: I managed an outdoor theatre in the local Cain Park. It was a summer job, the year after I graduated high school. My friend Rob Towns helped me get the job, which entailed working during the day to put together sets for the shows, and then working half the night, running the shows. Long days! We were paid $100 a week. And I still remember Rob muttering at least once a week that the longer we worked that day, the less per hour we made.

But it didn't bother me. I liked what we were doing, and, frankly, I was too busy to spend much of that money. However, one morning I was riding my bike a couple of miles from my house to Cain Park, and I was sleepily weaving through Cleveland Heights -- when all of a sudden I fell asleep while riding my bike and I landed on a guy's lawn. Plunk! Nothing was damaged except my pride.

Alternate caption: "You're moving back in with us? But we were going to move in with you."

I remember drawing this with charcoal, conte crayon and wash a couple of years ago. This was, obviously, back in my charcoal, conte crayon and wash phase. I liked the look of the cartoons, but they took more time to produce than I wanted. The street is my street in Brooklyn. I liked trying to draw the guys in the cartoon as similarly as I could, since they are father and son. I'm not sure how successful I was in drawing it and I think maybe the alternate caption is a better one, since it explains the relationship better.

The cartoon was drawn in 2002 and actually published twice. But first, let's take a look at the rejections!

This cartoon was rejected by:

New Yorker

Barron's

Forbes

Spectator

NY Daily News

Reader's Digest

And a couple more magazines in the UK.

It was finally bought by the Wall Street Journal almost 18 months later, in 2003. Funny Times held it in January 2004, running it 36 months later. (FT will run previously published material.)

So, even though it was published, I sent it to any other market I could think of. So, there we have it: a cartoon that double-dipped. This happens a number of times a year and that second time it sells is just so much gravy.

It's kinda crazy being a freelancer, huh? Most of my friends are. It's an interesting life, you can work as hard as you can push yourself. Just don't wind up falling asleep while in motion!