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.

Captain America

OK, comics have "killed" Superman and brought him back, so why is Captain America going to be any different? I mean, hey, in the end, isn't this just a marketing ploy.

I've read articles about all this, and I was tired of this whole topic all ready, and thought I wouldn't blog about it. But Tony Norman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes a good column about it here.

He talks about buying some of the same Captain America and The Falcon comic books in the 1970s that I did, and how they awakened his political sensibilities.

"Ed Brubaker, one of the best writers in the business, wove just the right mix of melodrama, post-9/11 skepticism and intriguing plot twists into an unusually moving script."

OK, maybe it's not just a marketing ploy.

Above: Cap's first comic book dated March 1941. Art by Jack Kirby -- who else?!

Hat tip to Dad! Thanks Dad!

Murray the Bird: Week Five

OK, here we are at the fifth week of Murray the Bird, a comic strip that I drew up after leaving my "real" job. In this installment of a week's worth of strips, Murray worms his way back into the pet shop -- his "home" -- only to find you can't go home again.

• 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.

Zip & Li'l Bit

BAD NEWS: Trade Loeffler's Zip & Li'l Bit Web comic "The Upside-Down Me" is over. You can still take a look and read all 62 installments of this, one of the best drawn, most fun stories I've read. It deserves to see print as a graphic novel for all ages.

GOOD NEWS: Trade Loeffler's next Zip & Li'l Bit Web comic "The Sky Kayak" will hit the Net this September. I've been fortunate enough to see pencils of the next adventure, and it looks even better -- if you can imagine that!

MIke Lynch Cartoon in March 2007 Spectator Again

The Spectator magazine, a London-based weekly, has published a rather odd, rude cartoon of mine this week. See below.

Not that there's anything wrong with odd and rude.

So, here we are, looking at this fellow casually downloading DEBBIE DOES DUBUQUE, right there, in front of his spouse . This all is just so rude -- and wrong.

Especially with her casual attitude.

Look at her. The woman looks annoyed, not shocked, not surprised. And she's the one equating Internet porn addiction with shoe-buying addiction. Maybe that's why the cartoon was rejected so many times; maybe it was too strong a metaphor for the fashionistas out there. Maybe magazines with shoe ads were afraid of it.

The cartoon did not sell in the States (rejected by 13 markets), but those randy Brits knew a funny one when they saw it.

Happy Birthday, Sy Barry!

Many, many happy returns to this fine artist and truly great gentleman!

I'm fortunate to call Sy a friend. I can tell you that he really is one of these well-known pros who's just as nice a guy as you'd ever want to meet. A couple of times, I've asked him to run the Berndt Toast Gang meeting when I can't make it, and he never hems or haws. He's there, ready to help.

Sy's still busy, painting, and attending conventions, with fans worldwide. Happy birthday, Sy Barry!

Larz Bourne, Izzy Klein & Dan Danglo at the Famous Studio

I received an email to me from my friend Dan Danglo. I want to share it with you, and Dan said it was OK.

Some background: Dan Danglo was in the service in WWII, where he was the cartoonist for the 4th Air Force HQ newspaper. After the war, Brooklyn-born Dan was back on East Coast, penciling comics and doing the Wednesday afternoon gag magazine rounds in NYC. He sold his first cartoon to cartoon editor Lawrence Lariar at Liberty Magazine.

Soon, Dan's career became one of animated pictures, specifically: Felix the Cat and Terrytoons. Dan's ease and flow in his characterizations led to storyboarding and design work for the prolific studio for many years.

Dan is still working. He's now back to his old gig: selling gag cartoons! Cartoonists never retire -- not so long as there's a pencil and a piece of paper.

But, I digress. Let's go back to the 1950s and Famous Studios.

Sometimes, you hear names -- but so rarely do you get a chance to attach a face to them. Above is a rare photograph from Dan's collection. I added the hyperlinks to his description. Here's Dan:

------------------

Mike:

This photo was taken in the 1950s, in the Famous studio story dept. I shared an office with Larz Bourne, (the tall gentleman in the sweater... who had started in the business in the early Fleischer days..went on to create Deputy Dawg..and later story editor at Hanna Barbera...The Gentleman in the middle, in the vest, was I. (Izzy) Klein...One of the earliest cartoonist on the New Yorker...Disney animator..and story man in the next office..and the youth with them used to be me....

Pretty illustrious company. Didn’t realize at the time how lucky I was...Still am, being a member of the Berndt Toast Gang.....

Dan Danglo

------------------

OK, some further reading if you're interested:

Gene Deitch calls Larz Bourne "Terrytoons' best traditional gagman and storyboard artist" in his HOW TO SUCCEED IN ANIMATION essays at Blogspot.


An essay on Paramount/Famous Studios titles from the Cartoon Research team here.

Above: One of Dan's storyboards from his site.

Thanks, Dan, for sharing this with all of us!

Mike Lynch Cartoon in March 2007 Harvard Business Review

I love those wacky corporate ideas. You know, the button-down corporation decides it's going to do something "fun" for its people (free snacks in the coffee room, weekend rock climbing, etc.). Sometimes it does not work out.

Case in point: Mick Stevens drew a classic one 13 years ago. And here are a couple of cartoons that I've drawn, making fun of weird company ideas to enhance the employees' existence. I'll start with the cartoon that's in this month's Harvard Business Review:

Actually, the idea for the cartoon came up one day, and it came easy. That was unexpectedly nice. However, I remember holding my pen over my 100% Recycled Paper Robert Bateman Spiral Bound Artist Quality Sketch Pad, puzzling and hesitating over how to depict the idea. It took a while to resolve. Finally, just adding some windows to the office, so we could see the not happy results of Face Painting Friday filing by, was arrived at. It took longer than it should, but there it is. Hey, as long as the final result looks effortless -- and funny.

A couple more cartoons; below is a cartoon taking a shot the now-classic Hawaiian Shirt Day. I remember being in a small town bank on a Friday, and the whole staff was wearing khakis and golf shirts. Next to each tellers window was a sign letting customers know that even though there were no crisp white shirts and conservative ties, that it was still OK to do business. A patron must've complained.



And, below is one of those "Take Your ________ to Work Day" cartoons. I should've drawn the chimps all with diapers on. That would've added a subtle hint of how dreadful this wacky corporate idea was.

Regardless, one of these three cartoons failed to sell, and, yes, the chimpanzee one is that loser of the batch.

Drawn to Success # 22 by Guy Gilchrist

Cartoonist Guy Gilchrist not only draws comic strips (NANCY, THE MUPPETS, MUDPIE, WHEN ANGELS SPEAK), he's also the namesake behind the Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy in Simsbury, CT. The GGCA not only has continuing cartooning classes, but Guy will be taking on full-time interns soon. If you stick around on the GGCA main page, you can watch some video of Guy drawing.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing is to point out his writing: Guy's column titled Drawn to Success. He tells me that every time he's at a convention, fans ask if there will be a book collection of the column. Each column talks about different aspects of cartooning.

Take a look at DtS #22 titled "Giving That Little Extra." It's about what to do when you really, really, really want a cartooning gig ... and you've done all you can to get it. What can you do to get the editor's attention?

Welles & Shatner: Voiceovers

Some years back, I was at my Dad's when he announced, "Listen to this." And he played a cassette tape of Orson Welles going through a painful recording session. Welles was complaining about the insipid writing of the commercial he was taping and driving the director nuts. It was highly entertaining and, despite my questions, Dad never revealed where he got the tape. It was, so it seemed, his little secret.

Or so I thought! The recording, of this long-ago session, is, in some areas of the Web, well-known in Welles circles. I had no idea that other people out there knew about it and some knew it by heart and some even converted it to MP3 files!

So: a couple of behind the scenes links are here of actors William Shatner and Orson Welles harassing voiceover directors -- a couple of decades apart, natch.

A longer version of the Welles recording is here, and there's a nice writeup on him and the lost AMBERSONS footage. There's a terrific site devoted to THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS here.

Hat tip to Mark Anderson for the initial heads up, as well as THE BEAT.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE "Farley" License Plate

Following the footprints of MUTTS (if I was more of a punster, I'd writing "following in the pawprints," but I'm just not that big a punster), now FBOFW's Farley the dog character will be on license plates. E&P has the story.

Murray the Bird: Week Four

Here's another week of Murray the Bird strips, a strip proposal I drew up soon after leaving my 9 to 5 job for full-time cartooning.

I forgot how seriously packed with plot this strip was. Murray sued for his freedom, became an indentured servant, and now that he's gotten out of that (see the first strip), he's gotta find gainful employment.

The most fun is looking at Murray's expressions. Sometimes he really looks like an odd bug or creature rather than a bird, but that's OK. It's all fun.

Oh, the idea of two employees not getting along (one a proven, valuable key to the business, and the other a dispensable newcomer) is based on my true office experiences. The boss firing both of them was, I thought, a very funny idea. And, sadly, I'd seen it done in the real world.

• 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.

ALL NEW: Tales from the Crypt

News I Missed Last Week Department: Hey, Papercutz Editor-in-Chief Jim Salicrup is gonna bring back the TALES FROM THE CRYPT comic book with all new stories! He blogs the announcement here. I'm excited!

Some art for the new book can be found at the Papercutz site. And there's links to the new Nancy Drew movie too.

(Photo of Jim Salicrup (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tales of the Crypt) and Stan Lee (What? I gotta put here in these brackets WHO Stan Lee is? What are you? Living under a rock or something? Everyone knows who Stan "The Man" Lee is!))

Lack of Female Role Models in Children's Animation

Actor Geena Davis (yeah, she's called "actor,' not "actress" -- go figure) spoke at the National Conference for Media Reform about the lack of female characters in animation by Disney, Warner Brothers and Hanna Barbera. The program Democracy Now! carried the video of her presentation tonight. Ms. Davis, an Academy Award winning actor, is the founder of the See Jane foundation.

"On the Looney Tunes website, they list twelve characters, and only one of them is female, but it’s the great one. It’s the one you all love and remember the best: Granny. She’s the one who owns Tweety, and she has to leave so that the story can happen."

And there's more that I'm tempted to quote from, -- but I don't want to spoil it. Even though there is some tongue in cheek in her presentation, she makes her points about gender equity. I had forgotten how funny Geena Davis is. (I never saw the TV show where she was president. Was she a funny president?)

Transcript here. But if you click on one of the links for a streaming video (at the top of the page), it's more fun to see her dry delivery and actually view some of the graphics. It runs maybe 12-13 minutes.

UPDATE: The ever excellent trove of animation blogging, Cartoon Brew, had the story earlier in the day. I didn't see it. Always worth a peek, the CB site always elicits comments from pros and animation lovers. I urge you to go there if you want to see some reaction.

Murray the Bird: Week Three

Hello again. It's time for another 6 of the Murray the Bird comic strips. In this series, Murray sues for his freedom and inadvertently places his friend in jail. It doesn't work out too well. But Murray being Murray, he will come out on top.

Maybe one of the reason this strip was rejected: my main character speaks Latin.

• 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.

Gilmore Girls/Outer Limits/TNT's Monstervision

It's a TV mash up entry! It didn't start this way, but it's the way it turned out.

I wanted to share some OUTER LIMITS clips I found. Then I thought, "Who remembers THE OUTER LIMITS?"

I remember a character in the TV show GILMORE GIRLS quoting an OUTER LIMITS episode and one of the other characters (one of those gawrsh darned cute Gilmore Girls) asking what that was. Thanks to the Internets, one can find ANYTHING -- so here's the dialogue:

Lorelai: This whole morning has been a little Twilight Zone-y.
Luke: Or Outer Limits-y
Lorelai: What?
Luke: Great show. Just as eerie, same era but no one ever references it.
Lorelai: Oh, I'm sorry, I don't speak geek.
Luke: Yep, stepped right in it.

(script found at the TV.com GG Web site.)

Like I said, this is all to introduce a discovery. I just found some OUTER LIMITS clips and behind the scenes comments by Leslie Stevens, Harlan Ellison and Robert Culp here. This is a compilation of videos, originally produced in the 1990s for the Monstervision series.

"Demon With a Glass Hand," a second season episode written by Harlan Ellison and directed by Byron Haskin hit me like a sack of wonderfulness when I was ten years old. It was weird and wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. It was (as Ellison says in the clip) a film noir piece, about a man with no memory, and a glass hand. All he knows is that he is being hunted. I remember being wowed by it, despite the fact that the aliens looked pretty lame. The black raccoon eyes and shower caps they wore betrayed how shoestring the OUTER LIMITS budget was. Regardless, it was fun to find some of the people involved with the production talking about that episode.

Some background on Monstervision (one of Stephanie's favorite shows):

Monstervision was a regular late night TV series of horror/SciFi movies with host Joe Bob Briggs wisecracking (and being more entertaining than the schlock you were watching). Some fan comments on IMDB here. He has a fan following because he's funny and he actually has a lot of knowledge about the movies that he skewers. This, of course, lets you in on his sincere affection for schlock -- which means, he's like you: if he wasn't hosting a show with dumb monsters, he's be home, eating popcorn, watching the dumb monsters and slashers and zombies, like you.

I used to watch every once in a while, and loved the description of the movies. Here's a bit from his intro to the movie of BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER:

"We have: Twelve dead bodies. One dead fly. Multiple heart-staking. Neck-biting. Fingernail-chewing. Weenie-slicing. Eight zombies. Nose-punching. Arm-ripping. Cat-snacking. One vampire brawl. Flaming face. Flagpole through the gizzards. Two motor vehicle chases, with crash. Gratuitous cheerleader practice, with Funky Chicken. Kung Fu. Bimbo Fu. Electrocution Fu. Three stars. Check it out."

Joe Bob sings about Monstervision here.

Some commercials for Monstervision here.

End of TV talk ... for now!

Murray the Bird: Week Two

And here's the second week of this comic strip about an angry bird.

Looking at this work from 2000, I see that it's starting to get a little more loose and I'm spotting a few blacks here and there, making it more interesting to look at. This is the first week with continuity, and I always wondered if people would really be interested in following a long story rather than the gag a day format. Regardless, it was a fun week to write.

The drawing of Murray in the first panel of the last strip looks particularly pathetic. But, in my opinion, the character design is a bit too simple; Murray is looking less like a bird and more like some odd, made-up creature.

• 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.

Mike's World and Welcome To It

My cartoonist pal Mark Anderson's 3 year old son has put together a depiction (using his preferred medium of Duplo blocks and toys and stuffed animals) of my NYC habitat at the Andertoons blog.

I'm honored and flattered ...

... But I'm still wondering about that blue guy in the bedroom with my wife, Stacy, and our 2 kitties!

Stacy denies ever meeting a blue M&M, and has referred me to her counsel.

Thanks, Mark, for inviting this level of distrust into my personal life!

Hank Ketcham at Today's Inspiration

Leif Peng, the pro illustrator (and heckuva nice guy) behind the Today's Inspiration blog, showcases the work of Hank Ketcham. Leif's blog is consistently in my personal top 5 blogs.

Noel Sickles to a young Hank Ketcham:

"Looks as though you're scared of that pen." he chuckled. "You seem a bit tentative, afraid you might hurt it."

The last week of Feb/first couple days of March is the "Art of the Inked Line" week at Today's Inspiration. Some terrific reading. Thanks Leif!

Hat tip to Journalista, which is where I first read about it because I hadn't been to TI in over a week. Stupid me.

Happy Birthday, Will Eisner

Craig Yoe's Arf Lover's blog has a nice self portrait of the man in his birthday suit. Mr. Eisner is, of course, creator of the modern graphic novel, as well as the man behind THE SPIRIT.

Will Eisner would have been 90 years old today.

Didja see the teaser for the upcoming Eisner documentary?

Button on the right is for sale here.

Spider-Man 3 Exclusive Preview at NBC.com

I haven't actually seen the footage yet, but this is a limited time kinda preview for the new Spider-Man movie. The clip is supposed to disappear tonight, so peek at it now.

I heard about this during last night's all new episode of HEROES (the S3 preview made the hour even more geekalicious). The bad news: no more new episodes until April 23rd!!!!!

Murray the Bird: Week One

Murray the Bird was a comic strip proposal I drew up 7 years ago.

I liked it. It was a fun strip to write. I remember drawing it after leaving my "real" job at Deloitte to become a cartoonist. It was, essentially, a rant strip.

Some of my favorite British TV shows (AB FAB, FAWLTY TOWERS) are, essentially, rants. And after working in the business world, it was nice to get a little hostility off my chest as I nervously began what I wanted to be a new part of my life.

Above: the first week of the 6 weeks' worth of strips.

Without my knowledge, a colleague who was in possession of a copy of this work, showed these strips to some elementary school kids just last month. The kids, he told me, wanted to read each and every panel. And they loved Murray.

I always liked Murray too. And so, here he is, again, for the first time on this blog.

• 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.

Marvel & Jeep: Make Your Own Comic

You can make your own Marvel comic over at this Jeep Patriot Web site. Brandweek has the story by Steve Miller.

"Those who are selected as being particularly proficient in developing the story will get co-author credit on a 28-page book of the completed story, which will be published in late March or early April."

Kawase Hasui

I went to the Carnegie Museum's show of Japanese prints on Saturday. I know NOTHING about Japanese woodcuts, but liked what I saw.

The show, now in Pittsburgh, is on view through April 15, 2007. Lots of good stuff. The colors that these artists used are so pleasant to linger over, so vibrant; it's hard to believe that some are 50 or 100 years old. Kawase Hasui was just one of the print makers honored, and I wanted to share a sample of his work today. These images were pulled from the Hanga Gallery site.

To Mary Worth, with Love

A lovely salute by Barry Alfonso to the endurance of Mary Worth from today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

"In this era of quick spurts of hype and flash, when an 'interactive Web-based serial' like 'lonelygirl15' can become the Flavor of the Nanosecond, Mary Worth stands apart as a true exotic. More than anything, it impresses by just continuing to continue."

My friend, artist Joe Giella, on drawing the King Features strip:

"It was hard for me to get used to doing this strip," he continues. "I'd been drawing super-heroes for a long time, and I don't think anyone has thrown a punch in Mary Worth in 30 years. I said, 'There's nothing going on here.' But now I'm into it."

Additional goodies:

Salute by local resident Bob Braughler, who blogs about her. Love this passage:

"Human despair is to Mary Worth what giant artery-busting sandwiches are to Dagwood Bumstead, or beating the snot out of a bad guy is to Spider-man. It's what gives meaning to their pathetic little lives."

Meet the cast of Mary Worth

Q&A with Writer Karen Moy

Hat tip to my Dad! Thanks, Dad!