Lunch with Orlando and Frank and Bob and Ron

Beautiful weather this weekend. Good weather, and good company with some great cartoonists.

Frank McLaughlin, Orlando Busino, and birthday boy Frank Bolle

I realized it had been several months since I'd visited with some of the Connecticut cartoonists that get together in Westport for lunch. I've visited a couple of times in the past, in August 2006 and December 2006.

I used to read Frank McLaughlin's BATMAN and Frank Bolle's Gold Key Comics work on great old comics like BORIS KARLOFF'S TALE OF MYSTERY when I was younger. And I think I still have my copy of the third issue of TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS with its great Busino cover. Take a look:


You can see scans from all seven issues of this fondly remembered series here. It's one of Scott Shaw!'s two favorite comic book covers of all time. How right you are, Scott!

Ron Goulart, Mike Lynch, Orlando Busino

Prolific author Ron Goulart has written some of the best and most lucid articles and books on cartooning. His THE FUNNIES book is one of my favorite references about the medium. Ron is also the go-to guy if you ever have any questions about old Hollywood actors.

Bob Weber

Bob was denigrating my business card for some unfathomable reason. It's a fine business card, and doesn't deserve the kind of criticisms he was heaping on it! Bob teaches cartooning from time to time, and Orlando told me I have to see Bob in action. He's a great teacher.

In Bob's shirt pocket: a couple of panel cartoons by Henry Martin and Charles Barsotti that he brought to share.

Ron Goulart shared this:


George Clark's THE RIPPLES

Ron had a couple of these Sunday strips with him. I asked him if I could take a photo of one of them, and he told me to take it. I couldn't believe it! Thanks, Ron! George Clark is a favorite cartoonist, having blogged about him before, I can only repeat that I admire the sketchy ease that he cartooned.


THE RIPPLES detail

Here's the last panel, and you can see that the coloring actually completes the picture here. Look at the angles. everyone is in motion. Even the stopped car's wheels are not straight up and down. While the gag may not have survived the past 60+ years as a particularly strong one, there is a lot to see here if you pause to take it in.

Westport, being within easy commuting distance of NYC, became a home for many cartoonists; so many, that some of them started a correspondence course. Above: an ad for the Famous Artists Cartoon Course, showcasing its instructors (Al Capp, Willard Mullin, Barney Tobey, Rube Goldberg, Harry Haenigsen, Dick Cavalli, Milton Caniff, Gluyas Williams, Virgil "VIP" Partch, Whitney Darrow). The ad's from the November 1962 issue of the CARTOONISTS' AND GAGWRITERS' PRO MAGAZINE, edited and published by Arnold Wagner. Arnold is still writing about cartooning. His most recent effort is his Cartoonology blog.

My thanks to Orlando Busino for inviting me along to the lunch. I had a grand time.