Doonesbury Strip Echoes Real Life

"Trudeau has been called an investigative cartoonist and, according to a Washington Post profile published last year, has been given extraordinary access to injured soldiers by the Pentagon for his B.D. story line" This week's strips echo the Suzanne Swift case. Story here.

The comics work that Mr. Trudeau has produced in the last year plus has been some of the finest work in a medium that many people are saying is dead.

Hat tip: Comics Reporter.

Berndt Toast Gang Meeting March 29, 2007

It was the last Thursday of the month and that means it's time for the Long Island chapter of the NCS to get together for lunch and shop talk. We started the meeting off as we usually do, with a "Berndt Toast."


Jumpin' Joe Giella and Don Orehek

We toasted King Features Editor-in-Chief Jay Kennedy. Joe Giella talked about the time when Jay took him out to lunch and told him he knew that Joe had been doing Batman and was used to drawing superheroes smashing through windows and so on -- but -- maybe -- he'd consider drawing Mary Worth.

Al Scaduto said what a shock it all was. It was Joe who called Al to give him the sad news. Here's Al:

"Many years ago, when I was still working at Bob Dunn's office up at King Features on the 17th floor, Jay Kennedy was assigned the job of Comic Editor. He was always very 'low key' and a true gentlemen, with a tremendous knowledge of comics. I met him several times, either at cartoon conventions or at King Features affairs, as well as at NCS meetings and of course, at Bunny Hoest's Annual Bash. Talking to him on the phone one day, he praised me by saying, 'Al, you do a handsome feature.' I'll truly miss this gentle man."


Sandy Kossin, Al Scaduto, Chuck Goll, Sy Barry

I got the shocking news by phone. I'd just gone out to the store, and missed a couple of calls. Bunny Hoest had left the message and I called her back. Even though it's been a couple of weeks since Jay's death, it's all, still, just hard to believe.

Like a lot of cartoonists, I first met Jay at a cartooning get together; in this case, a NYC Reubens convention back in 2000. The first thing I said embarrasses me to this day. I blurted out something like, "I'm Mike Lynch and you rejected my strip."

Gee whiz. Not really the nicest thing to say to the guy. But I caught myself and said it was OK. It was a "good rejection," I quickly added. He'd written some notes on the standard form rejection letter. These were specific comments about the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal. I told him I appreciated the notes. I hoped he didn't think I was being insincere. He told me that he usually didn't write notes on rejection letters, and he asked my name. And he never forgot it.

Bill Kresse played us out, with a rendition of Amazing Grace on the harmonica.

A card for a friend of Sy's that we all signed.

We wished a happy birthday to our March birthday boys: Sy Barry, Dan Danglo, and Mort Drucker.

Joe Bennett and Emelio Squeglio. This is Joe's second visit this year. Joe, an SVA student, is going to do a documentary about the Gang.

Joe Giella and Bunny Hoest

Greg Fox, Helen Murdock Prep, Al Scaduto

Al favored us with a song. It was great to welcome him back (and Claire too!!!!) and hear him sing again.

Beauty, Beast, Beauty; Jeanine Manheim, Mike Lynch, Helen Murdock Prep

We put envelopes on the table to collect the lunch money. I doodled the diner, and someone else (my suspects are Dan Danglo or Bill Kresse) took the lump of food I'd drawn and transformed it into a face, complete with a word balloon. Instead of signing the envelope, Bill drew himself and Lorraine. See? You try to give a cartoonist a little structure and he rebels!

And so another lunch ends: the lovely restaurant hostess takes our money, and we are shown the door.

Tom Richmond's MAD Color Demo

Didja know that MAD artist Tom Richmond has a blog? Didja know that he's put up a video of his coloring technique?!?! Yeah!! He's just giving it away! Go look!!!

Digital Color Tutorial Part One

Digital Color Tutorial Part Two

Digital Color Tutorial Part Three (with video!)

Happy Birthday, Mort Drucker!

Happy Birthday, Mort Drucker!

Mort was one of the first pro cartoonists I ever met -- and such a nice guy. He asked a lot of questions about me and then stared back. He wanted to hear my answers. He really cares about the medium, and the people who want to draw for a living.

Many happy returns, Mort!

Cartoonist Gear

My pal Mark Anderson writes about a trip to a fire station and how cool it was to wear a fireman's hat. Mark's blog entry and photo here.

So ... I thought it really is too bad that we cartoonists do not have our own cool head gear. Here's my suggestion.

Adrian Tomine at Rocketship Tomorrow

My local comic book store, Rocketship, will host indy cartoonist/New Yorker mag illustrator Adrian Tomine on Saturday night. Check out their blog for details.

The nice thing about Rockethship is that (so far) their events are intimate and draw professionals and fans from all over. It's a great chance to meet & greet.

More Jokes for the John

Johnny C. shares some more vintage risque cartoons from his MORE JOKES FROM THE JOHN book.

Wow! Some great non-PC humor! I thought for a second Johnny might have a couple cartoons by Bill Ward in that book, but nooo -- they're just Wardian copycats. I recognized so few names in the book, and I usually can spot a couple that I know. This must've been a real grade Z production, maybe paying $5-$10 a cartoon.

Guys who were doing gag cartooning in the 50s and 60s have told me that ANYONE who could put together a batch of cartoons and do the rounds could make it in the business. There were so many markets. This is evidence! Regardless, I enjoyed it!!!

Thanks, Johnny! I don't like your Hole in the Head blog -- I LOVE your Hole in the Head blog.

Cartoonists Getting Rich? Part 2

I wrote about the first part here. Now Jennifer De Guzman, Ed.-in-Chief at Slave Labor Graphics, weighs in with "Doing the Work to Get the Work."

If you want to be successful in comics (Slave Labor is a comic book company), it's all about doing good work and persevering. I have nothing to add to Ms. De Guzman's assessment that by doing good work, good things will happen -- except go read!

Virgin Comics releases `Virulents'

This AP article by Ramola Talwar Badam lets us know about a new comic book. "Virulents" is a war comic ... with vampires. Yeah, war and vampires, together, like some bloody, violent Reese's peanut butter cup of comics.

The book was put together by the Virgin Comics team of 120 people.

"'An American reading it has no idea it was not written down the road from where he lives,' added Larry Lieberman, Virgin Comics chief marketing officer. 'He has no idea it is written, conceived and illustrated in India, in Bangalore.'"

But the real reason I wanted to make a note of it here is this quote from Suresh Seetharaman, president of Virgin Comics:

"'Comic books are an incubator. We use it as R&D (research and development). Once it succeeds, you can take it to gaming, movies, animation. The trick is to tell stories to a global audience,' he said."

H/t to The BEAT!

War Cartoons Will Be Focus of Pittsburgh Panel

E&P has the story. The event, hosted by Rob Rogers, is scheduled for tonight. Ted Rall & Signe Wilkinson will be on the dais.

Oh No! New Captain America Already!

The Captain is dead, long live the Captain.

After all those hand wringing "this is symbolic of what's happening in America" op ed columns, we see that the essence of America is craven mass media marketing.

Be sure and buy many issues of the new Captain America and double-bag them and toss them in your safety deposit box.

Yeah, right.

THE BEAT has the story.

MIke Lynch Cartoon in April 2007 Funny Times

I have a cartoon in the April 2007 Funny Times.

I think that if you're going to have a mid-life crisis, then buying some low-riders is easier on the ol' budget than a sports car or hair plugs. I remember drawing this quickly and just knocking in the kitchen. Looking at it now, I can see how wobbly the lines are -- as well as how downright wispy they are! This was during my love affair with the Micron #02 pen, whose tip is razor thin.
Another gag cartoonist was telling me that his favorite part of cartooning is seeing it in print. My favorite part is the beginning: writing the idea, doing the layout. A lot of the times when I see something published, I honestly want to do a redraw. I've moved on to drawing with a #05 Micron pen (same kinda pen that Don Orehek uses!) so the lines are bolder and the lines will hold for reproduction. It's funny that after all these years, I'm still not settled on what drawing tools I like.

By the way, Funny Times now has something called Cartoon Playground where you can take some cartoon characters and make your own strip. The April issue has an article about this. Although there is no credit I see on the site, the drawings are by cartoonist Matt Wuerker.

Jokes for the John

What is this for and what does it have to do with cartoons like the one below? Johnny C. at his terrific Hole in the Head blog answers all.

Happy Birthday, Hy Eisman!

Veteran cartoonist Hy Eisman turns 80 on March 27th! Many happy returns!

The NJ NCS chapter has a report on their surprise party for Hy at their "Monthly Munchers" blog.

Above image taken from Hy's 2006 holiday card that he sent me. Below image is blatantly stolen from the NJ NCS site.

Great Historic Cartoon Sites

I wanted to list some good links to cartoons and cartoonists on the Web. I wrote a partial list last month. Here's a revised list of links-- some you may know about, some you may not have heard of. Please let me know if there are others. Thanks!


Some links for those who have not seen them:

Drawing from Life, "Selections of Caricatures and Cartoons from The American Art/Portrait Gallery Library Collection" via the Smithsonian, has samples of rare published art by Clare Briggs, Bud Fisher, Gibson, Kemble, Opper, William Hogarth, Keppler, Art Young and others. A great find if you like the really old cartoonists! The Smithsonian Institution Digital Library Main Page is here.

Above art: from Art Young's book HELL UP TO DATE circa 1893:

"The demon cartoonist first makes a caricature of his victim; then the victim is pulled and twisted, rolled and kneeded, until his resembles in every way the demon's fanciful conception."


The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog has reams of material: in depth selections of comic strips, magazine cartoons and comic book images; a selection of Eldon Dedini Playboy cartoons with a video interview of Mr. Dedini; and you will see links to Sokol, Kurtzman, Elder and others.

Above: a cartoon by Virgil Partch from this ASIFA blog entry.


The Comics in Canada, an exciting gallery of video and audio from the CBC, highlights the history of the form in popular media. There is a lot here. One of my faves: a real early, lengthy "Up Close and Personal" video interview with Lynn Johnston.

I discovered George Feyer here. He used to cartoon live on Canadian TV in the 1950s and 60s. Now that would be great regular programming! It's so fun to watch a cartoonist cartoon. He tells the story of how he came to Canada in this video. Feyer lived through the Nazis and Stalin. He emigrated to bucolic Canada, but his life was still troubled. Christopher Butcher writes about him here, and shows more of Feyer's work.

Above: a cartoon by Feyer that I took from this page from the ACEC.

Above: George McManus looks like he's channeling McCay in his NIBSY strip.

If you like old newspaper comics, here are a few sites of interest:

Coconino World is a huge site, in French and English, that celebrates a lot of classic cartoonists. If you go to this page, you can start looking at Swinnerton, McManus, etc.

Shane Glines' Cartoon Retro (subscription only), celebrates classic cartoon illustrators. Lots of stuff here. Join up for a month. I did.

Andy's Early Comics Archive is an incredible collection of cartoons through the centuries with tremendously large scan for much oohing and aahing. I love the page of photos and caricatures of cartoonists here.

Craig Yoe's Arf Lover's Blog is a wonderful collection of cool stuff. I always wind up spending time looking at old gag cartoons, old comics and other items of delight that Craig has.

Stripper's Guide by Allan Holtz is not as racy as it sounds. Lots of great old comic strips here.

Barnacle Press is a trove of old features from the comics pages.

Arnold Wagner's Cartoonology always has the insider stories about cartooning and comics.

Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog tends to be more about post-war illustration, but the site is such an interesting place to visit and it's full of vintage material, that it's worth a looksee.

NCS Division Awards

Mad mag's Tom Richmond has posted the art for this year's Reuben Awards. And hang around his site for the complete list of NCS Division Award nominees.

Battlestar Season 3 Gag Reel

BATTLESTAR has been renewed for a full 22-episode season, including "a special two-hour extended event that will air during fourth quarter 2007." Good news since the season ender airs tomorrow.

Just found this: BSG has a gag reel which may or may not reveal a spoiler. Link here.

Hat tip to Brian Fies' sister's Kid Sis in Hollywood blog!

Happy Birthday, William Shatner

Happy Belated Birthday, that is.

Mr. Shatner turned 76 yesterday.

Trekmovie.com has some video salutes.

On the Road

I'm on the road the rest of this week. I was driving yesterday afternoon, listening to left wing talk radio and then right wing talk radio. And then I got tired of all the yak yak yak and tuned in an oldies station -- REAL oldies -- like Crosby, Sinatra, etc. Ahh. That relaxed me.

Not going to have a chance to blog for a time.

I think there will be an announcement about a memorial service for Jay Kennedy. Check the other blogs ....

Talk to you next week.

Jay Kennedy, Editor of Cartoonists, Artist and Newspaper Archivist, 50

The New York Observer has an excellent write up on Mr. Kennedy's life by David Foxley here.

Hat tip to Dirk Deppey at Journalista!

Nick Bertozzi's Leave Behind

Nick Bertozzi, whose book THE SALON is coming out next month, has a cool alternative to a business card. He has a long, accordion style card that unfolds to show Nick's sketches and some contact information. A great idea and a fun alternative to a plain ol' business card.

Photo of leave behind card "LE SKETCH #03," with my sweet cat Roo for scale.

Salicrup, Lynch & Loeffler

Just a note to say what a grand time I had talking about comics, science fiction, the frequency of dirty jokes in Shakespeare and all sorts of things with my friends Trade Loeffler and Jim Salicrup at Dempsey's Pub last night while my wife played some traditional Irish music (with about 20 other musicians).

We talked about the old KIDS magazine, where Jim was first published -- as was CURTIS cartoonist Ray Billingsley and SIMPSONS producer Tom Gammill. We talked about 1970s Marvel and Mike Ploog and Jim Mooney and Ross Andru and Mike Esposito and then-art director John Romita. We talked about reimagined stuff. We are living in a time when old stuff is "reimagined" and some turns out good (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and some not so good (our take on the upcoming STAR TREK XI). We talked about Jim's upcoming TALES FROM THE CRYPT that will be out soon. Trade and I drank beer, but Jim, recovering from a slight cold, drank Diet Coke.

A fun night, which ended late (and that explains why I'm late in posting this AM). Thanks for dropping by guys!

New US Postal Rates Effective May 14, 2007

The rates are going up for US Postage retail rate letters effective May 14. 2007.

But if you are sending out cartoon batches, like I do, and paying for a couple of extra ounces -- the rates are actually going down.

A letter -- regular first class mail -- increases from 39 cents to 41 cents beginning May 14th. The per ounce rate, however, drops from 24 cents per ounce to 17 cents.

So, a 3 ounce package that costs me $0.87 today, will only cost $0.75 in May!

Rates and fees tables here. USPS decision posted on their Web site.

Jay Kennedy by Tom Spurgeon

A wonderful write up about the life of Jay Kennedy by Tom Spurgeon, with lots of quotes from family and friends. Go read.

At Least They Didn't Ask my Name

I was talking to Mark the other day about Big Chains v. those Mom & Pop Stores. I like the stores where the people there have a stake in keeping me as a customer. More and more of the stores in my neighborhood are chains, where young, transient, disgruntled people work for a while, save up just enough money for a new video iPod or whatever, and then leave. None of them know nor care about helping us. A lot of these big stores just don't care much beyond getting that sale (see Mark Evanier's write up on the soon-to-be demise of the CompUSA chain), and if you do get any attention while you're there, it's attention forged in corporate meetings. Such was the case at Staples last month when the employee had to say four corporate-speak kinda things to me while I bought my overpriced ink cartridge.

I think I'll just buy online ...

Jeeves in the Morning

The Voco Clock will awaken you with the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry's voice:

"I'm so sorry to disturb you, Sir, but it appears to be morning. Very inconvenient I agree. I believe it is the rotation of the earth that is to blame, Sir."

Then "Madam" version is forthcoming.

I assume it's not called the Jeeves clock since the Voco people do not have permission from the Wodehouse estate to use the name. But seeing as Fry is known as the fellow who most recently portrayed the butler, the implication is that you have a butler with the pedigree of a Jeeves.

But, of course, unlike all of us, Bertie Wooster did not have a reason for getting up.

A gentlemanly tip of the bowler to Dad! Thanks Dad!

1966 BATMAN Flick Given 2007 Trailer Treatment

Imagine you get a campy old movie and are told to serious-it-up.

Someone over at Fox took the 1966 Batman movie and made this very serious, dark 2007-looking preview. It's running on the Fox Movie Channel, and I've been looking for a link to it for a week.

Large tip o' the hat to Tom Richmond for finding it. Thanks, Tom!

Jay Kennedy

Some more links regarding Jay's life:

NY Times obit.

The Daily Cartoonist: "Cartoonists React to Jay Kennedy's Passing."

Library Card Catalog Generator

Look! I found a Card catalog generator! What fun!

Big thanks to Kevin Cannon over at the Big Time Attic blog,

And don't miss Xander's How to Make a Mini-Comic entry.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Little Lulu

Because I can't pour out a glass o' Guinness and hand it thru the screen, here's a St. Patty's Day Little Lulu comic.

Big tip o' the cap to Michelle and her Little Lulu page.

To the left, the first volume of the Little Lulu reprint books from Dark Horse Publishing, available in bookstores and online.

King Features Editor in Chief Jay Kennedy Dies in Drowning Accident

Some links:

The Hearst corporate site has an obituary for editor-in-chief Jay Kennedy on its Web page (left hand side of the page, under "News").

Dave Astor writes about Mr. Kennedy's life at Editor and Publisher.

Brian Fies, whose eloquence is superior to mine, writes about him at his blog.

He was, as so many cartoonists told me on the phone, and as I read on the blogs, a gracious gentleman who knew his stuff. This is truly a sad loss.

Jay Kennedy Passes Away

Jay Kennedy, Editor-in-Chief at King Features, passed away yesterday while on vacation in Costa Rica. The cause of death was drowning.

No other news. No funeral arrangements as yet.

Just heard this morning. Terrible, trgic, unexpected news. Hard for me to get my head around it. Like a lot of cartoonists, Jay sent me personal notes when he returned a submission. He was a proponent for cartooning and had a very sharp mind.

My condolences to his family and friends -- hundreds strong.

Photo from the Hogan's Alley collection of 2006 Reubens convention photos.

Reimagining Bill Ward Cartoons

Femme Fatales magazine has taken some old Bill Ward gag cartoons (a cartoonist best known for the busty ladies in his cartoons) and Photoshopped real women into them. Here's Aria Giovanni, who Playboy calls a "pin-up girl."

Hat tip to Playboy mag, where I read about this. (Yeah, Playboy is reporting on what a rival mag is doing. Go figure!)

Thanks to Becca over at the No Smoking in the Skull Cave blog -- the only place on the Web to see these "reimaginings." Click on the above link for some more.

"Robbie Rist is by far one of the most talented human beings on planet Earth. I've been a fan for years."

If you watched TV in the 1970s, or, for that matter, watch reruns today, then you know the face of child actor Robbie Rist (far left). Rist was a popular actor, appearing in The Brady Bunch, The Bionic Woman, Mary Tyler Moore, CHiPS, Galactica 1980 and others. He was cute, perky and credited with ruining TV shows. For instance, he appeared on the final handful of episodes of Galactica 1980 and The Brady Bunch, cementing his rep as a cute kid who caused a television program to "jump the shark; to die.

"'The most reviled character on television,' is how he describes his series-killing run. 'I'm one of the poster children for JumpTheShark.com. I've never talked to the guy. Maybe I should and thank him for the career boost.'"

I chanced upon this Washington Post 2006 entry "Catching Up with Robbie Rist" by Liz Kelly, and I had a sadistic urge to share it with anyone, someone. The good thing is that Robbie is making a living with his music. May Jonathan Lipnicki be so lucky.

Headline above is an actual comment from the article.

Sometimes the Internet is a scary place.

Murray the Bird: Week Six

Hello there. Here's the last half dozen strips of Murray the Bird, a comic strip proposal that I did back in 2000. Looking at it seven years later, I find I'm enjoying as a reader. It's loud and silly. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd like to thank my friends and colleagues who have commented here, as well as the emails I've received support good ol' Murray. Thank you!

• Murray the Bird week one here.
• Murray the Bird week two here.
• Murray the Bird week three here.
• Murray the Bird week four here.
• Murray the Bird week five here.
• Murray the Bird week six here.

RAI at NY Comicon

Just a tiny little fluff piece from Italy about the recent NY Comicon.

The RAI International news magazine ZOOM visited the Comicon. There's video on this page (which may disappear soon when next week's edition of ZOOM appears). This segment, which aired March 11, 2007, is about 15:44 minutes in (switch to Real Player mode and you can toggle it to that minute mark), and lasts about 5 minutes. The report is in Italian, no subtitles.

The reporter, whose name is, I think, Olga Cortese talks about Tintin's 100th birthday; there's a shot of my friend Irwin Hasen; a Star Wars stormtrooper is interviewed; there's an interview with David Wohl who talks about comics' "visceral thrills;" Stan Lee is credited as creator of the Fantastic Four and other properties; "other Italians who work for Stan Lee" are interviewed (although pretty much all of them describe themselves as freelancers). One artist (maybe it was Lucio Parrillo) talked about how American comics readers, unlike the Italians, are interested in new styles, new ways to tell stories. That was nice.

If you're lucky to get ZOOM on TV here in America, it airs with subtitles. In NYC you can find it on CUNY TV.

Mary Worth Letter

The March 11, 2007 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette carried this nice letter responding to its recent Mary Worth article. The writer, who's emeritus professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon, tells the story of how he became a regular reader of Mary Worth. To my knowledge, the letter is not available in the Web edition of the paper.

Hat tip to my Dad for cutting it out and mailing it!

Unseen Kliban & Dedini Cartoons in Playboy

A full color, full page new-to-print B. Kliban cartoon is in this month's Playboy. Ditto an unseen Eldon Dedini cartoon (lovely bio and comments in obit titled "I never asked him to redraw" (quote from Lee Lorenz) here, from Emdashes blog).

Nope, no scans of the cartoons. Go buy an issue!

A Lotta Hank Ketcham

Happy Belated birthday to Hank Ketcham, born March 14, 1920. 31 years later, the first panel of Dennis the Menace appeared. Although he passed away in 2001, more and more of his work is being put into print. Fantagraphics' THE COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE series of hardcovers is continuing its series of reprints.

And take a look at some wonderful Hank Ketcham drawings at Craig Yoe's Arflover's Blog. This is all to get us excited by Craig's new release: CLEAN CARTOONISTS' DIRTY DRAWINGS.

Even more Ketcham:

Some notes on his early days from Today's Inspiration here.

Some scans from his sketches of Europe for I WANNA GO HOME here.

A new book collecting Ketcham's pre-Dennis the Menace gag cartoons, titled WHERE'S DENNIS, can be preordered here.


And lest we forget the Al Wiseman Blog, Bill Alger's work of love that's dedicated to exposing the talents of this long-time Ketcham studio associate.

Billy DeBeck

Rob Stolzer bought some original Billy DeBeck sketches and he shares them with all of us here.

What these are, is a mystery. No one knows the story behind these. The pencil sketches are not of Barney Google or Snuffy Smith, DeBeck's most famous creations.

When you first spy them on the Comicartfans.com Web page, they look like a series of cartoony life drawings. But they could, maybe, be a loose color pencil study for a comic strip proposal. Anyway, they're all drawings of characters in and around a Continental Hotel.


They're drawn on stationery for a Beau-Belle Products, 11 West 42nd Street, New York, NY. (My playwright great grandfather Austin Goetz also would snag stationery from hotels he stayed in and used the contraband to type initial drafts of his plays.)

11 West 42nd Street is just off of Fifth Avenue, across from Bryant Park and the NY Public Library. The building there is one of those tall post-war steel and glass monoliths. But, there is a lovely facade -- maybe saved by some historical precedent. Anyway, it dates back from another, more luxurious age. I took some photos on Sunday:


DeBeck is another cartoonist that is languishing and deserves rediscovery ala Frank King and Segar. His scratchy, nervous, inky bigfoot style echoes Herriman, but DeBeck is his own man. If you're interested in reading Brian Walker's and Fred Lasswell's informative book, Barney Google & Snuffy Smith: 75 Years of an American Legend, it's $45 used at Amazon -- but OSU has it for sale for $5.

My thanks to Arnold Wagner for the heads up. And a hat tip to Frank Pauer about where to get the book for $5.