Nimoy's New STAR TREK Movie Endorsement

Above: the STAR TREK movie teaser poster distributed at last Weekend's San Diego Comicon.

Everyone who cares all ready knows about the new STAR TREK theatrical movie in 2008 and the meeting of the Spocks at the San Diego Comicon; the new Spock and the old Spock.


Above photo of Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto from the Trekmovie blog.

But my concern is that the franchise will be changed into some effects-laden big budget action-oriented silly bombast with little of the human, morality tales that made STAR TREK what it's famous for.

(Well, yes, that and tribbles and Klingons. But I digress.)

And when I read this, and it gave me hope:

"Nimoy's endorsement of the movie and especially the script is no small potatoes. In my conversation with him a few years ago, he referred to Star Trek as a "beached whale," helplessly flopping around. But he noted that whenever the situation was most dire, something or someone saved the Star Trek galaxy with a new infusion of creativity. He apparently believes this movie will do it again.

"He also told me as he has told others that Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was his Star Trek statement. Note that he didn't say Wrath of Khan. He pointed out that The Voyage Home had almost no violence, yet it was dramatic. I'm assuming that if the new script was nothing but special effects battles, he wouldn't be endorsing it."

From The Soul of Star Trek blog

I think that "Captain Future" (Yeah, that's his handle; he's the writer behind the Soul of Star Trek) is right: having both of these guys in the same room was a great way to cool divisiveness. And getting Nimoy's blessing is something that they consciously chose to get.

And Paramount is gearing up the merchandising, remastering both the old TREKs and the TNG episodes for HD-TV distribution.

Here's hoping that Shatner and whoever will be the newer, younger Kirk will have their photo op soon.

The new STAR TREK movie begins shooting November 2007. It's release date is Christmas Day 2008.

Alan Gardner "Daily Cartoonist:" Tired of Editorial Cartoonists' Whining

Alan Gardner, who runs the Daily Cartoonist site, complained yesterday that editorial cartoonists are "whiney."

"When I wrote last week that today’s editorial cartoonists are “infatuated by their own victim status” this is an example of what I mean. ... I got to assume editorial cartoonists would get more milage [sic] out of a positive campaign rather than the tired and so far unsuccessful, self-destructive woe-is-me path that they’re currently on.

"I apologize (somewhat) if I’m coming across as a back street [sic] driver (one that is no longer in the car itself). I have a great passion for editorial cartooning and it would be a tremendous travesty if the art was to disappear completely - but looking in from the outside, the messaging that has come from the community is reminiscent of the Debbie Downer character on Saturday Night Live. Always negative. And who wants to associate with someone always bringing things down."

I watched several of the panels from the AAEC conference (it was on C-Span) and felt that the organization, and the editorial cartoonists, had a lot of positive ideas for furthering their profession.

H/t Journalista!

Cartoon Stock Houses

Do you know about cartoon stock houses? There are a number of them, easily findable on the Web. They offer searchable databases of cartoons for clients (but that no longer makes them unique).

And they use cartoonists, obviously.

When I write that the stock houses "use cartoonists" that I really should italicize the word "use."

Most stock houses take 50% of the sale. Now, I just draw funny pitchers for a living and I'm no mathematician, but that's, like, half of your money if you're a cartoonist.

When I was first approached by a stock house, I was honored to be asked. It was a nice ego boo. I had only been cartooning a couple of years. The guy that ran the place (no names) had seen my Web site and liked what he saw.

But I didn't like the fact that it looked like this stock house and I would be competing for the same markets. Although, when I brought this up with the owner of the stock house in a phone conversation, he assured me that there were "my" markets and the stock house's exclusive markets -- and never the twain shall meet. I did not agree with him. I didn't sign the contract.

In the past year, I have been told about a very well known stock house trolling for clients by visiting major magazines and doing a pitch. These stock house reps, armed with a PowerPoint presentation and low, low prices, hold a meeting with editors and owners of the mag. The reps' goal is to get that mag to sign a contract to buy their stock exclusively, usually at cut rate prices, and stop dealing with individual cartoonists like me.

Of course, it's a free market. But if I was an editor, I would not buy from them.

The editor who told me about this (again, no names) assured me that the mag did not choose to go with the stock house. The editor felt that their publication would lose their unique editorial slant by going with a stock cartoon content provider.

But the stock house cartoon reps are out there, trying to do what all of us in business do: expand our markets.

One thing I want to point out is that there are independent cartoonists out there (I'm thinking of my pal Mark Anderson) who offer easy searchability of funny cartoons. And at least, when you buy direct from a cartoonist, you are supporting 100% of the guy, and his family, that you found so danged funny.

Mark Tatulli: Believe in Yourself

There is a statistic -- I don't know if it's true, but here it is -- most cartoonists' careers last 6 months.

Whether you're a comic book artist, a graphic novelist, or manga girl -- it's not easy to do the work, and then try and make a living off of what you do.

Mark Tatulli, creator of the HEART OF THE CITY and LIO comic strips, wrote about what it's like to be a working cartoonist on the pro/am cartoonist board The Wisenheimer. I thought it was one of the most heart-felt and true stories of working hard to achieve a goal that I had read. So I asked Mark if I could share it here, and he gave me permission. Here's Mark:

Let me tell you my little story...got a minute?

In 1995, I was "syndicated" by Lew Little Enterprises with a little comic strip called BENT HALOS. I wrote and drew it for 18 months and I put my all into that thing. My ALL. By the end, I had two clients ... the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Philadelphia Inquirer, daily and Sunday. I was pulling down about $200 a month drawing a strip 7 days a week, color on Sunday, all while maintaining a full time job in the video post-production field. One day in '97 I remember walking into the kitchen and I said to my wife, Donna, "Honey, I just can't do it anymore. Not for this small payback." She said to me (and I'll never forget it), "I understand what you're saying, Mark, but I hope you know that you may never be syndicated again." I was devastated, hurt, angry, crushed, depressed ... but, really, I had no choice.

The next day I quit, making it official with a faxed letter to Lew Little, which he accepted and signed. And I immediately starting working on another strip. Taking what I had learned in those past 18 months with me. That was April. By June I had another strip concept. I remember because my air-conditioner broke and I didn't have the money to get it fixed. I mailed out to the syndicates and by July I had a response from Universal Press. By September I had a development deal. By December I had a signed syndication deal for HEART OF THE CITY. I launched in November of 98 with 56 papers. Since then it built to 113 papers. A nice number but not enough to make a living, and so I continued to work full time in the TV business and do my little strip.

Flash forward to 2005. I get laid-off from my TV job in January and have enough money to last me to October. So I gotta get moving. I come up with a new strip concept and bounced it off the wife (by the way ... wives; good to have in a clutch situation). Donna loves the idea and says I should run with it. She's always been such a great support and if it hadn't been for her I don't know where I'd be. Two weeks before the Reubens in May and I want to have something to show my syndicate; a solid pitch. So I write and I write and I come up with 7 solid daily strips and one Sunday and a pitch concept. I'm ready to go. As Yoda would have said, "On this, all depends."

First, I showed it to the head of sales at Universal, John Vivona. If he says he can't sell it, I'm not gonna even bother showing it to the big wigs. So he looks at my kit, strip by strip, and he says, slowly (or at least I remember it that way) ...."Yep, I can sell this ... oh, I can sell this." So, on Sunday, the day after the Reubens ceremony in Scottsdale, Arizona ... at 8:00am (the sun was already broiling and I had the sweat to prove it), I pitched LIO to Lee Salem over cigarettes and coffee. Lee looked at my samples with the trained eye of an expert poker player and said, "Yeah, I like it. But I can't give you contract based on 8 strips. Let's see what else you can do with this."

So I went home with new vigor and turned three months of roughs in two weeks. By the end of the summer I had a great development deal. By October I was putting together roughs for the sales kit. We started the sales campaign in January and by May 2006 I launched with 100+ newspapers. Then THE BOONDOCKS quit. And FOXTROT went Sunday only. I hit 200 papers by January 2007. A Reubens comic strip category nomination by May. I'm now at 285 papers and counting, 14 months after launching! Who would have thought it possible?!

So what's the point of all this? Well, back in '97 I thought it was all over. I had to give up my dream out of necessity. Sales weren't there and there was no money and it was too much work, the same reality so many of us face in this crazy business. So I stopped that strip ... but not the dream. It wasn't the end. Great things were to come because I was a cartoonist with passion and determination. And while now I would never recommend to anyone to start comic stripping for a living (it's just too much of a crap shoot to become successful, and I had the benefit of good timing ... but then again, you never know), it's never over when it's over. There are so many opportunities for cartoonists. And you're never too old. I was 43 when I launched LIO, a lot older than the average mook just getting started in the comics-biz. But it took 10 years to get here. The simple truth is you just have to believe in yourself. Today ends, but tomorrow starts something new and better.

Incidentally, it's 2:50am when I write this. I just got done working. This is the hardest I've ever worked in my life. But I love it. God help me, I love it so

.
Another link: A LIO-centric May 2007 podcast interview with Mr. Media here.

Happy Birthday, Jesse Marsh!

Jesse Marsh would have been 100 today.

One of my favorite comic book artists. Love that inky line! Best remembered for his Tarzan work. Above panel from Dell Comics' TARZAN No. 3 (May-June 1948) courtesy of The World of Jesse March Web site!

H/t Comics Reporter!

Wish Kevin McVey the Best!

NJ NCS Chairman Tom Stemmle reports that cartoonist Kevin McVey is undergoing some physical therapy due to a recent illness.

"I thought it might lift his spirits if we, on an individual basis, send him either a note of cheer, a drawing, or a greeting card (but not necessarily a 'get-well' card-since he is getting well)," suggests Tom.

More info. at the NJ NCS blog.

Web Sites Down

"Go ahead and laugh, but this baby hasn't crashed since 1961."

The Web sites I manage (my own, HeyKidsComics.com, and the NCS Long Island chapter BerndtToastGang.com sites) are going from old and lousy server to new and improved server.

They will, therefore, be down from time to time.

Berndt Toast Gang Meeting July 26, 2007

It's the last Thursday of the month and time for the Berndt Toast Gang get together! Above: a tableful of Don Orehek original drawings. Gorgeous work!





"I'm on this new diet. You can eat anything and still lose weight"

Don is a prolific Playboy cartoonist. Someone asked, Where are all the girls, Don? Don is known for his beautiful girls! All of the cartoons that he brought were conspicuously G-rated! So, Don sketched a gorgeous blonde in her birthday suit, passed it to me, and I put it on the display table.


Adrian Sinnott and Don Orehek


I came in with a boxful of comics to give away. Helen Murdock-Prep promised to give a couple of them a good home.

The BT running gag: Al Scaduto introduces his friend ...


... Jumpin' Joe Giella.


Above: Mike Lynch & Adrian Sinnott hold up a Union Suit.

Above: Frank Springer, Mort Drucker, Joe Giella, Sy Barry

This was a surprise gift from the Gang to me.


Above: Bunny Hoest and Al Scaduto

The suit has everyone's signature and cartoons and is now so amazing to look at that of course I can never, ever wear it!


"Forget Archie Girls ... Here Comes Mike L.!!" by Stan Goldberg


John Reiner adds a martini-sporting Leroy Lockhorn.



Another BT tradition: Al Scaduto sings.


Al was singing a song of farewell to me. I'm leaving NYC.

If all goes well, I'll be moving by this time next month. More anon.


Bunny Hoest has a much bigger smile than me!

My shirt says "Building a Better World With Comics" and it's drawn by NH cartoonist Marek Bennett. You can buy his t-shirts here.


Above: a great wordless Don Orehek cartoon. This was what traffic was like on the way home!

My sincere thanks to the Gang for the incredible surprise. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much.

Of Percy Crosby, creator of SKIPPY, I Sing

From the 1976 30th anniversary NCS Reubens Journal: Bob Dunn recalls "the Charlie Schulz of his day," Percy Crosby.

Now I don't know if all these are true stories or tall tales. Regardless, there is a reputable place to fins out more about Percy Crosby: Joan Crosby Tibbetts, Mr. Crosby's daughter, has a wonderful site, Skippy.com, where you can get to know all about her father and SKIPPY.

Big Little Books

The Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog shares some scans of Big Little Book covers here and here.

"... Tiny Tim was being taken by two other mechanical men straight to cruel Zorax, King of the Boogaboos."

I think I use Zorax to clean the bathroom sink this morning. More about the "famous comic strip Tiny Tim" here.

Take a while to poke around the blog for some great Sci Fi pulp cover illustrations and some early Wally Wood stories this month.

2007 Festival of Cartoon Art: Graphic Storytelling

Dateline Columbus, Ohio: In just 3 months from today, the 2007 Festival of Cartoon Art begins!

Take a look at the link for the list of speakers. This is going to be a good one. Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday, Ray Billingsley

Above photo from the 2006 Bunny Hoest party: Ray Billingsley, Mike Lynch, Archie's Stan Goldberg

Cartoonist Ray Billingsley, creator of Curtis, hits his landmark 50th birthday today! Many happy returns, Ray!

Ray's interview with Mr. Media here, and here's an update on that same interview.

Fred Allen Quote

"Within the hierarchy of the little men there is no man who can outlittle the minor executive in a large corporation who treats his authority as he treats a tight suit. In a tight suit, he is afraid to make a move. With his authority the minor executive takes the same precaution. There are thousands of these negative men in the places where minor executives conceal themselves in the labyrinths of the big corporations. They use the clam philosophy. If a clam never sticks its head out it is never overtaken by trouble. "

-- TREADMILL TO OBLIVION by Fred Allen

Illustration of Allen by Al Hirschfeld, as if you couldn't tell.

The Captain's Women

Series of trading cards I've never heard of before, full of great lines between Captain Kirk and the Babes of Trek! I'd never seen them, and stumbled on them by accident. I think that these are great. Love the "What is ... love?" line. Better Kirk show you than Picard, you little cute drill thrall, you!

But none of those women, despite their wanton ways, will come between a captain and his vessel!

Spock: The antidote to a woman of Elas, Doctor, is a starship. The Enterprise infected the Captain long before the Dohlman." -- Elaan of Troyius by John Meredyth Lucas


Big hat tip to Mr. Balihai!

And, just to make it clear that we do not consider Captain Kirk a big il' Playboy horndog, consider Laura Goodwin's Women of TOS site:

Here's proof that Kirk was NOT a playboy and Star Trek was NOT a sexist show. It was an anti-sexist show: one of the first, and one of the all-time best.

Hmm. Well, click here to judge that she makes her case.

Sergio Aragones 1972 NYC Phil Seuling Convention Drawing

Hey, it's a couple days until the sold-out San Diego Comicon. I'm not going -- but in honor of the Con, here's a blast from the past -- back before Hollywood and Sony and WWF and big business discovered comics:

The Booksteve's Library blog shares a huge pin up of a 1972 Phil Seuling comic book convention by Sergio Aragones. A wonderful drawing, as per usual for Mr. Aragones. One to linger over!

The slice reproduced here is just a small bit of the huge drawing, published back in THE MONSTER TIMES that same year.

More Gag Cartooning Questions

I got a couple of emails recently with some good questions. Here are some of them.

What's a cartoon batch?

I mail in a "batch" of 10-15 cartoons, with my contact information on each cartoon. I send finished copies. No penciled roughs. No originals. It's sent to the art director. I include a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope).

How does an editor contact you if he/she wants a buy?

Depends. Some of them send you a note in your SASE. Sometimes they'll email.

How do you find gag cartoon markets?

This was my big question when I started out. I went to the library and my local big chain bookstore to look at magazines. I found that there were a number of business and women's magazines that used gag cartoons. I wrote down the art director's name and address, and made notes on the kind of cartoons I saw.

I also found out about a small press Xeroxed publication that listed all of the cartoons that appeared in all of the magazines every month, with a description of the cartoon and cartoonist. It was expensive, but I subscribed. After the third issue, I saw that the magazine actually listed fewer markets than I had seen -- and some of the information was wrong, outdated or missing. I was so disgusted with the quality of the thing that I'm not mentioning the name here. It was, for me, particularly useless and waste of my money.

After a while, I had a lot cartoons that had done the rounds. So, I would send batches to publications that did not have cartoons.

I've always wondered, of all those Conde Nast magazines -- why does only one magazine, The New Yorker, have cartoons? Maybe all an editor needs is to actually receive some cartoons and they might think about running them!

Most of the time, I struck out. But I found that it was a numbers game, I could -- and did -- sell cartoons to magazines that did not have cartoons. I even got a regular gig at one magazine for over 2 years as their regular monthly cartoonist. It ended when the editorship changed.

I would avoid being lazy about looking for markets. So much of the information I see on the Web is outdated and wrong. Go see what's selling now.

If I'm mailing in my cartoons, how do I know the editor's looking at my work?

You don't.

Hey, you depend on the kindness of strangers.

I remember one guy told me that he would send in a batch of 10 cartoons to the New Yorker with his SASE. He took note of the order of the cartoons that he mailed, and always looked to see if they were in the same (assumption: not looked at) or mixed order (assumption: looked at) upon their return. Another cartoonist would fold one of the cartoons in the middle of the outgoing batch to see if it came back opened-up when it was returned.

Me? I just figure that the editor is there to do his/her job. So, I assume that my cartoons are looked at and given professional consideration. I'm not going to lose sleep over thinking that there are people out there who aren't doing their jobs.

How do you decide where to send your cartoons?

I send them according to whether or not the cartoon is appropriate for the market. I also pay close attention to payment. Most magazine have a set payment for their cartoons. And if I have a batch of business cartoons, it goes to the magazine that pays the most first.

After sending in cartoons for a while, do you sell more based on your now-friendly rapport with the editor?

Ha ha ha!

No.

Oh, I wish that I could say that all you have to do is be friends and the cartoon editor will buy more just because, you know, now we're pals and so forth and so on -- but that hasn't been the case. Not for me. I'm friends with a number of editors and go thru times when I sell regularly, and then there are months where there are no buys at all.

Besides, I'd rather that an editor buys a cartoon because it's FUNNY -- not because of WHO I am. The readers don't care -- they want FUNNY.

I've seen the piles of cartoons that The New Yorker has. This week, when I drop off my batch for their consideration, I'll be putting my cartoons on a pile along with (to name just two) Barbara Smaller and Pat Byrnes. Each has been published frequently in the NYer, and each submit every week. The majority of their work is rejected.

More gag cartoon Q&A here.

My pal Mark Anderson has an excellent business savvy guide from his Andertoons blog titled
The Gag Cartoonist's Business Plan.

Workaday Life of a Cartoonist: Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson shares an answer to the number one question that cartoonists get asked: Where do you get your ideas?

I want to shout out to Mark and thank him for his kind words about this here blog. Mark is, at this moment, frolicking with his family in the vacationy wilds of Wisconsin. He deserves it -- but the guy is still blogging every day!

This drawing here, a blown-up doodle from my sketchbook, illustrates an atypical gag cartoonist, sadly mulling over those shopworn cliches: desert island, boss chasing secretary, shackled prisoner. I drew it when I didn't have any ideas.

And my take on the "Where do you gut your ideas?" question from my old MySpace blog is here.

Richard Burton as Captain Kirk

It's Friday, so I'm indulging in TREK, 1970s style:


Courtesy of Booksteve's Library, we can relive a 1976 issue Crawdaddy Magazine as its cover story wonders "Can Star Trek be put back together again?"

There was that time when TREK was dead during the 1970s. Occasionally, there would be rumors that the show might come back. Obviously, some of the high points were the animated series and the naming of the first space shuttle "Enterprise."

STAR TREK PHASE II was announced by Paramount in 1977. It was to be the flagship series of a new Paramount network. All of the actors, except for Leonard Nimoy, were hired. Scripts were written, sets were constructed, a special effects company was engaged. All was go.

Paramount cancelled its plans for the network. Of course, 10 years later the network did go forward and Gene Roddenberry launched STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION.

But back in 1977, rumors started that TREK would be revived as a movie. And movies, so they say, require movie stars -- not TV actors. Who is going to pay to see people they can see for free?

Of course, now, most of us do not get TV for free off the airwaves. We pay. And it doesn't bother anyone that, for instance, that guy from the old MOONLIGHTING TV show is in a big action movie or that guy who was in the NEXT GENERATION is heading the X-MEN.

Heck, the main reason that Paramount decided to do a movie is because they saw the receipts for Fox's STAR WARS and scrambled around, asking, "What do we own that's like STAR WARS?" And STAR WARS had, really, no one in the cast. Maybe Peter Cushing was the only recognizable face in it. The rest of 'em were unknowns!

Back 30 years ago, the thinking at Paramount was that there was a line between TV and movies. For a while, the rumors were that Richard Burton would play Captain Kirk. Yeah, really! Richard Burton! As a kid, I never believed it. There was only one guy to wear that orange velour costume!


There was a Save the Star Trek Cast drive assembled (if I remember correctly) by Bjo Trimble and her Star Trek Welcommittee. In the end, the cast was, of course, all reassembled. Dor one, they were cheaper than Burton. And I think that's the reason why, in an initial 1979 theatrical promo, we get to hear Orson Welles remind us that EVERYONE is back, and he lists them all and we see them on the screen. And if Welles tells you, it must be true!

But part of me would have loved to have seen a clip of Burton doing a Shatner impersonation. And who else would be in it? Anthony Quinn as McCoy? Peter Finch as Spock?


P.S. STAR TREK was originally out of Desilu Studios. Here part one, part two and part three of a color promotional film with Lucy & Desi about their studio. It's absolute fluff, but fun to watch. Looks to be taped off of someone's TV screen.

P.P. S. There is new commentary, covering things not discussed by the previous Robert Wise commentary, for STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE. You can download it and listen while watching your 2-disc collector's item STTMP DVD set. Trekmovie.com has the background and links.

The Mad Magazine Illustration That Nearly Killed Evan Dorkin

Above: detail from Evan Dorkin's illustration for Mad Magazine #480.

Some amazing work by comic book writer & illustrator Evan Dorkin which he shares here. I get carpal tunnel sympathy twinges just looking at the inky detail work he's done. The issue's on sale now.

H/t to Comics Reporter.

Richard Erdoes: Jokes Jokes Jokes

Found at the Community Bookstore: JOKES JOKES JOKES Selected by Helen Hoke, with illustrations by Richard Erdoes. Published in 1954 by Franklin Watts, Inc., 699 Madison Avenue, New York 21.



As you can clearly make out, JOKES JOKES JOKES had seen lots of use in the 53 years before I found it. I thought I'd show you a bit of this tome today. First, the good news:


The endpapers! As soon as I saw them, I knew I'd buy the book. Love Erdoes' style.


Above: the next page. Just that one goofy guy with a hat and wearing a bowtie. A bowtie, for goodness sake! Kinda creepy, huh?


Now you can see that this is part of a series.


More great cartoons. They're like part cartoon, part 50s design.


Above: the bad news. Here's the first joke of the book. The drawings may have aged like fine wine, but these jokes -- I don't know!




OK, that's all for JOKES JOKES JOKES today. Just like "Joe" likes his school -- we, too, are closed!

Mike Lynch Cartoon in July 2007 PROSPECT and 14 July THE WEEK Magazines

Above: This month's PROSPECT magazine, for sale in the UK, and a some of the larger US newsstands.

The saying goes the fine artists look down their noses at commercial artists, and commercial artists look down on the cartoonists -- but the cartoonists don't care. Why? Because they're having too much fun.

And one of the reasons this is a fun profession is the organic progression -- the viral effect -- that a good cartoon can have.

I sold a cartoon to PROSPECT magazine (UK). Here it is:

"The bar charts show our clients overwhelmingly prefer pie charts."

PROSPECT came out at the beginning of the month. Someone at THE WEEK saw it and, before my second cup of coffee one morning last week, I had an email from a THE WEEK editor. I sold the cartoon again to their publication.


Lee Salem, the now Executive Vice President and Editor over at Universal Press Syndicate, said in an interview that "the good stuff floats to the top." That was certainly true of this cartoon that more than one editor thought was worthy of committing a portion of their cartoon budget.

Remember Interstitial TV Slides?

Hey, I remember when the TV station would show a still slide in between the show and the commercial ....


Take a look at these Interstitial TV Slides at the Cranched for Now blog.

Joe Kubert & Sons Exhibition

Above: DC Special #5, December 1969. 68 pages for 25 cents! Image from the Grand Comics Database.

Lots of Joe Kubert in the news! And why not? He is part of a museum show:

Michael Uslan is interviewed about the museum show "Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of American Comic Book Superheroes" at the Montclair Art Museum. Joe Kubert, and his sons, will have an exhibition of their comic book work. Bill Ervolino wrote the story for the North Jersey Media Group.

Comics Are a Kubert Family Legacy by Asbury Park Press writer Mark Voger.

Joe Kubert on the profession:

“Anyone who wants to do this,” he says, “has to be sitting at that drawing table anywhere from eight to 10 hours a day, six to seven days a week in order to achieve the kind of quality necessary to be deemed a professional."

-- from Drawing a Strong Living From Superheroes, a great profile of Joe Kubert and his school, which is, unfortunately, locked behind a subscription-only wall.

Homer Simpson Upsets Pagans

From The Sun.

H/t BoingBoing.

Gag Cartooning Questions

Some questions I've gotten recently ....

When you're drawing a new character or something you haven't drawn before -- is it difficult?

Yes. I'll draw it the wrong way a couple of times before I can get something that's good. Cows, for instance, are a problem, despite my having lived on a farm when I was little. Obviously, there are a lot of good Web search engines to use for reference, so it's easy now to draw, for instance, a WW1 infantry soldier or a particular car or something.

What is the format for magazine gag cartoons?

I draw on a piece of typing paper. I place it horizontally in front of me, so most of my cartoons are kinda horizontal. I use good quality typing paper. Right now, I'm using a 24 lb., 92 bright, 30% recycled paper. It's cheap and easy to store. Don Orehek turned me on to Micron pens, which will take a wash immediately. No smearing!

Back to the format. Most magazines just don't care. They can shrink the cartoons and make them fit via graphics programs like Quark, no problem. A couple of magazines may ask for a change. Playboy will tell you how many columns wide they want the cartoon. The editor will help you translate picas (the measurement for magazine columns) to inches. As mentioned before, Wall Street Journal publishes cartoons in a teeny weeny petite square, so the cartoons must fit that format. Below is another example:

On the left is the original that I drew, and on the right is the WSJ redraw. I always simplify the image for them since the space is dinky.

Do you draw all your cartoons in black and white? Do the publications color the cartoons or does the cartoonist? If the cartoonist colors them, then how? By hand? Computer?

I draw my submissions in B&W. I don't mail penciled roughs, which was the habit a generation ago. Now I tend to mail out finished cartoons, with wash tones. A big reason for this is that some magazines tend to change cartoon editors and I'd rather have something that looks like the finished art in front of them.

When an editor buys a cartoon, then he or she may ask for it to be colored. In general, magazines pay more for color.

The cartoonist does the coloring. I use PhotoShop, but that's not the rule.

I was talking with a cartoonist -- a cartoonist whose been in the industry since the 1950s -- and he was bemoaning that he didn't have ANY computer knowledge and how everything is all done on computers now. I told him that I thought he was mistaken. I still draw on paper and scan it in to the computer. So he counters with, "Yeah, but all the coloring -- it's all being done on computer." I happened to have a copy of Reader's Digest with me. Paging thru it, I found one cartoon that was colored on the computer (mine). The rest of them -- 5 cartoons -- sure looked like they were colored by hand. I know Dan Reynolds does all his coloring by hand.

John Stanley's KOOKIE

More cool than a new beret or Jack Kerouac stopping his car and leaning out to ask YOU for directions! Above: detail from KOOKIE #2 from 1962.

"The In Crowd" shares couple of issues of KOOKIE from the early 1960s at his I'm Learning to Share! blog.

KOOKIE was created by John Stanley. Mr. Stanley is best known as the writer/artist who 's responsible for all those LITTLE LULU comics. If you can't get enough of those Maynard G. Krebs beatnik style characters who snap their fingers instead of clapping and and call everyone "man," even if the person is a woman (How wacky!) -- then you will grok this!

It's great to see these full color cartoon covers, as well as the fun zippy cartoon style of this comic, which was finished by Bill Williams.

Another link: Steve Stiles writes about LITTLE LULU and John Stanley's contributions.

Hat tip to Stephen Kroninger.

Monty Python Wall

Go look.

My favorite: Bicycle Repairman!

H/t Steve Smallwood.

Nicholas Meyer Interview

Riveting interviews (text & video) with the man who made THE WRATH OF KHAN (which made its debut 25 years ago last month) over at Trekmovie.com.

TREKMOVIE.COM: Do you know JJ Abrams?

NICK MEYER: Yes I was at his bar mitzvah. He is the son of my friend Jerry [Gerald Abrams]

TREKMOVIE.COM: Did you know Star Trek II is his favorite Trek movie

NICK MEYER: No I didn’t but I am glad he likes it.

Doug Marlette on C-Span BookTV Today

The late editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette will be on C-Span2 BookTV at 5pm EST today. This 49 minute presentation from 2001 will showcase his editorial cartoons, and he'll talk about his first novel, THE BRIDGE.

C-Span2 allows you to watch online here.

Happy Birthday, Ernie Colon!

Happy birthday to Ernie Colon -- and many happy returns!

Hat tip to Comics Reporter.

I Tell Two Friends and They Tell Two Friends and So On and So On, Until It's on German TV

This is how the viral blogosphere effect works: Johnny C. unearths a 1947 Life magazine article and this makes for a great entry in his Hole in the Head blog about famous cartoonists trying to draw their famous creations with their eyes shut. He posted it on Sunday.

OK, since I'm a regular reader of Johnny's great blog, I post a link here, on the Mike Lynch Cartoons blog. Journalista! posts a link to Johnny's blog with a hat tip to me. Drawn posts a link. Newsarama posts a link. And then BoingBoing posts it.

Now it's Friday, and Johnny's blog entry is on the Ehrensenf (Extra Sharf!) Internet TV show! I don't know where they saw it, I don't know German (except for restaurant German; like asking if the beer is on tap and where is the men's toilet), but there is our hostess, showing us Johnny's blog entry. Just click on "blind zeichnen" at the Web page to see it.

And now here I am, reporting on the reporting; letting you know that Johnny's gotten a ton of hits. This is the first time I've seen something like this go "viral," as they say. It's weird!

UPDATE: Johnny's reaction on his rollercoaster ride to blogdom fame here.

This Toon is Your Toon

THIS TOON IS YOUR TOON is a handy pocket-sized collection of cartoons that Stephanie Piro and John Nolan edited. You can only get it this week at the 10th Annual Woody Guthrie Festival. The book is a fund raiser for the Oklahoma Chapter of the Huntington's Disease Society of America.

Steph and John are at the festival now, enjoying the event after their long, dusty long cross-country drive from New Hampshire. (Actually, it probably didn't take them too long what with the way John drives.) My friends Patricia Storms and Rod McKie have more information about THIS TOON at their blogs.

I'm not that familiar with Woody Guthrie, and I had to reveal to the aforementioned editors my absolute ignorance. What kind of cartoons are you looking for? "Woody was concerned with social injustice," I was told. Well, I have some of those kinda cartoons.

Since you may not get a chance to get to Oklahoma before the book sells out -- and it's not on the Web or in PDf format or appearing in the Diamond Catalog or on eBay -- below are some of my cartoons that appear in the book:


Above: The first cartoon I sold to a national publication (National Review) way back when.


"Sanders, I just sold your soul. You weren't using it were you?"

This is what Sanders gets for not reading that contract! First published in Prospect Magazine (UK).


"Come in, Thompson. But before you get any time with me, you'll have to watch a short advertisement."

Another evil bald boss. Originally published in Harvard Business Review.


"Ten more minutes of media manipulation and then it's off to bed."

In my mind, I hear my mom's voice in this punchline. First appeared in Wall Street Journal.

"Hopkins deserves to be fired, but we can't touch him since that endangered owl began roosting in his office."

This cartoon was originally in The Ladders.com Web site, and an original of the cartoon was just sold at the Art for Animals auction for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

I want to let everyone know that Steph and John put a ton of work into this great book. They really deserve recognition for their efforts. And the cover is by my friend editorial cartoonist Tom Stiglich, who donated the original cover drawing to be auctioned off at the Festival.

Doug Marlette Remembrances

I went looking for Doug Marlette's book about the life of a cartoonist (IN YOUR FACE -- and a very good book it is).

I bought a copy years ago, after I had first met Mr. Marlette.

I only met him once, about 7 years ago. There was a live taping of the Leonard Lopate radio talk show at the 92nd Street Y. I sat in the audience and listened to a couple of New Yorker cartoonists and a couple of editorial cartoonists talk about the medium. Afterward, I walked over to him and introduced myself. He was a gentleman and asked me a lot of questions about what I did. We shook hands. He said he was sure we'd run into each other again soon. I went out and bought his novel THE BRIDGE the next day. I found IN YOUR FACE, his 1991 behind-the-scenes of the cartoon biz, one of the best books about the industry, at The Strand a couple of months later.

I wouldn't see him again, but his friendly, warm manner stayed with me. I didn't know him, but I all ready liked him.


Anyway, so today I'm looking for IN YOUR FACE. The book wasn't in its usual place in the bookshelf. I looked around, and finally found it next to my side of the bed. I forgot! I had gotten it out a few months ago to reread a couple of chapters, and it had moored itself on the bedstand like a Gideon Bible (for cartoonists) since then. I told you it was a very good book.

There are more and more remembrances of Mr. Marlette and his work on the Web. Here's a link to Linton Weeks' article in today's Washington Post. There are more links there.

Thanks to Journalista!

From Chalk Talk to Animation

Above: a self-portrait of Canadian editorial cartoonist John W. Bengough (1851-1923), doing a chalk talk. "One of the first substantial figures in editorial cartooning ... also of secondary interest as a 19th-century social radical, to whom communalism, vegetarianism, feminism, antivivisectionism and prohibition combined in one vast utopian ideal."

I found a terrific video

From Chalk Talk to Animation starts with a description of Thomas Nast giving chalk talks in 1873, and how that lead up to chalk talk movies and animation. Included are THE ENCHANTED DRAWING (1900, Edison) with the "Komikal Kartoonist" Henry Blackton, and HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES (1906, Vitagraph), with Blackton again. The Library of Congress has more on the early animated films here.

The Web site History Illustrated posted the video. The site has a lot more about cartooning -- too much to take in casually.

Here's a post from the "cartoonists' self-portraits section:" The life of a cartoonist, by William C. Morris from the Spokesman-Review Cartoons (Spokane: Review Publishing Co., 1908).


And, juxtaposed with that, the public's perception.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in July 2007 Harvard Business Review

I got a letter in the mail from my editor at HBR. They wanted cartoons on long-term planning.

Long-term planning? What's funny about long-term planning?

I remember having a discussion with another cartoonist. He was telling me that he likes it when he get a narrow direction from an editor. My point of view was that I would rather draw up whatever I thought was funny, instead of being given a defined topic. After a while, I saw his point. At least I knew what the editor wanted. However, I did not envy the editor's job of sifting through all those long-range planning cartoons!

I drew a couple of roughs, added in a couple of other cartoons, and that was that.
"I think it's clear to all of us that when assembling this board, we were thinking long-term."

Above is the cartoon that HBR picked. I colored it and you can view it on their cartoons page. I'm in good company with a number of cartoonists that I know: Roy Delgado, P.C. Vey, and Kim Warp. I haven't met Teresa Burns Parkhurst or Chris Wildt, but I admire their work.

Doug Marlette Dies in Car Accident

Wrenchingly, sad news.

Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist and KUDZU comic strip creator Doug Marlette was killed in a single car accident this morning in Mississippi. He was 57.

The Charlotte Observer has the details.

More from E&P's Dave Astor.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter.

Playboy Cartoonist Robert "Buck" Brown 1936-2007

The AP reports that Robert "Buck" Brown, a Playboy cartoonist best known for his "granny" character, passed away due to complications from a stroke on July 2 , 2007 in a Chicago area hospital. Mr. Brown was 71 years old.

Sadly, I never met him. I just got my copy of the new Playboy in yesterday's mail and I was looking at Brown's cartoon in there and admiring his colors. He worked in acrylics.

Tom Spurgeon has a report here.

The History Makers has a revealing bio here.

Photo: Buck Brown and Playboy Playmate Helena Antonaccio

French Cartoons: Riotous Ribald and Racy

Here are some covers and cartoons from my "French Cartoons" collection. I think that in the 1950s French equaled sexy and racy. Well, by now, it all looks pretty quaint. I love these book covers!


Above is FRENCH CARTOONS, Dell 1954 paperback. "The best in saucy Parisian humor."

"You asked for more!" claims the back cover copy to the sequel published the following year.


And it goes on:

French comic artists lead the world in uncensored wit, satire, ribaldry, and -- most of all -- belly-laughs.

Last year Dell published the first crop (FRENCH CARTOONS, Dell No. 21).

We believe 160,000,000 Americans can't be wrong, so ... we now present -- MORE FRENCH CARTOONS

160,000,000??? Man oh man. French cartoons: once hot, now forgot!

The cartoons in these books are a little risque, if you're still in a 1955 mentality.

FRENCH POSTCARDS, an Avon book from 1955, is full of wordless sight gags.


The Lion Library published CARTOONS THE FRENCH WAY the same year. Nice to see Sempe on the back cover. He is still drawing, and can be seen regularly as a New Yorker magazine cover artist.


LOVE FROM FRANCE "Featuring the Greatest French Comic Artists" is from the Popular Library, 1956.


FRENCH AND FRISKY, "a Lion Book," is also from 1956.


Above are 2 cartoons from LOVE FROM FRANCE. Silly little cartoons, hardly risque these 52 years later, but still nicely done.


A lot of the cartoons are just gag cartoons, like the above terrific Sempe cartoon. I love the look on those kids' faces.



So, you get some that are a little frisky, and some straight up gag cartoons.

There are a couple of French bathhouse gags in the books. Above is the woman who craves attention and gives comfort to the gawker.

And, above right, we see the opposite of the gag.

Again, a lot of the cartoons in the books tend to be wordless. The hardest kinds of cartoons to think up!

A big hat tip to David King, who has been scanning some of his old cartoon book covers onto his blog. I know you don't know me, David, but please don't hate me for copying your idea!

Need to Find a Bathroom in a Hurry?

Gotta pee, but don't know where the nearest facilities are?

Use your web-browser enabled cell phone to go to Mizpee.com. Type in a street address and the city -- and you'll get a nearby public restroom -- complete with cleanliness rating.

I have no idea if this works. It depends (no pun intended) on the data you get. Is it good? Is it up to date? (I was just in lower Manhattan today and notice that the building where I'd rented a tux for the Reubens -- a building with one of those public bathrooms -- has been completely demolished. People, and buildings, to paraphrase Dorothy, come and go so quickly here.) Obviously, if you're on the West Side of Manhattan, and the phone thinks that the best bathroom for you is across the Hudson, then, well, that's a pressing problem!

If anyone has successfully used this, I'd be interested. I've seen both men and women "go" in public and I don't want to see it no more.

H/t Daily News.

Gluyas Williams Web Site

Illustrator/cartoonist Gluyas Williams had a large body of work. He had a comic strip, illustrated books and magazine articles, and drew magazine cartoons for the old Life and New Yorker magazines, among others.

Mr. Williams also illustrated Ed Streeter's FATHER OF THE BRIDE book which was made into one of my favorite movies. I mean the Spencer Tracy version, not the more recent one. The above link will take you to the Turner Classic Movie site where you can see the original trailer to FOTB, which zooms in on the Williams-illustrated cover of the "celebrated best seller."

And now Mr. Williams has been brought forward into the 21st century with a terrific Web site, full of samples and transcriptions of articles. You need never say, "Gluyas Williams? Who he?" Go look!

Hat tip to David King's Sweaterthieves.com blog!

Chester Gould Draws Dick Tracy with his Eyes Shut -- and More

Life Magazine posed a question to some comic strip cartoonists: Can you draw your famous characters while wearing a blindfold?

My friend Johnny C. has the results on his Hole in the Head blog!

Some TREK Links

Some links and comments:

VOYAGER titles done in 1970s GALACTICA style.

Dilbert's Jeri Ryan Alarm Clock

Was it really 20 years ago? STAR TREK TNG's first promo. Note the couple of special effects shots in the beginning of this commercial are from the first 2 original cast movies.

Star Trek fan films are filling the void of no "official" Trek. A compilation trailer of fan-made films is here. Most of the fan films pick a show (TOS, Voyager, etc.) and then have their own characters, episodes, special effects and so on. And now there's a site, appropriately titled Star Trek Fan Films, that will guide you through all of them.

What's always amazed me about the shows is their attention to the look of the series. And I always wonder how many times they didn't buy the new car or go on vacation -- because all their money was being spent on buying velour or sculpting Klingon foreheads, etc.

Above photo from Starship Exeter, my personal favorite of the fan film genre.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in July 7, 2007 Wall Street Journal

"Oh, we never shoot the messenger. But we do take away his access codes."

Can you ever have too much Mike Lynch? For the second time this week, another "evil boss" cartoon from the Wall Street Journal. (First one here.)

This cartoon was mailed to six markets before the seventh, WSJ, accepted it.



Above is the version that I originally submitted. When I did the redraw, I got rid of that chair in front of the boss's desk. Too cluttered. I also just knocked in the boss's suit with black to make him the center of attention.

I remember in the documentary THE LINE KING, Al Hirschfeld said that sometimes drawings go well, and sometimes they don't. For this one, I had one problem.

For some reason, when I was redrawing the cartoon, the guy in the foreground consistently had a lightbulb head. I redrew it a couple of times. Each time: lightbulb head. I gave no idea why. Finally, I gave up and let the lightbulb head win.

Big tip of the hat to Pletch, who spotted the cartoon and emailed early about this. Thanks, Pletch!

AAEC Convention on TV [UPDATED]

Got up early, grabbed my mug of coffee. I turned on the TV and was surprised to see the mug of Editor & Publisher's Dave Astor on my TV screen. Dave Astor -- a print guy -- on TV! He was in the audience of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists convention in Washington, DC.

C-Span was showing video of Thursday's panel of cartoonists. Flemming Rose was speaking. This was an hour-long panel, and here's the description:

Panel --- Caricaturing A Nation: Americans and Muslims Draw Each Other
From ethnic stereotypes in Middle America, to riots in the streets of Kashmir, the reach of editorial cartooning has never been more evident.
Moderator: Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press
Panelists: Joe Szabo, editor, Witty World Magazine; Iranian cartoonist Nik Kowsar; Flemming Rose, cultural editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten

It was an interesting panel to wake up to, and it was a kick to see a few other people I knew in the audience. I'll be checking the C-Span schedule to see if it's rerun. Chances are there will be other events from the con that will be on. I hope that the AAEC site may have some video in coming days.

UPDATE: More convention coverage this afternoon beginning at 12:30pm EST. You can view a live stream of C-Span broadcasts at its Web site. Here are the 2 sessions that will run back to back:

Editorial Cartoonists on the Internet

A panel discussion was held about editorial cartoonists blogging on the Internet.

Moderator: Lee Judge, Kansas City Star. Panelists: Duncan Black, atrios.blogspot.com; Chuck Rose, deputy managing editor in design for USATODAY.com; Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World

"Blog Or Die!" was an event at the 50th Anniversary Convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

The Future of Editorial Cartooning

	Rall, Ted	Editorial Cartoonist, Universal Press Syndicate
	Priggee, Milt	Editorial Cartoonist
	Fell, Paul	Editorial Cartoonist, Artizans Syndicate

A panel discussion was held on the state of the editorial cartoon industry and future strategies. The moderator was Ted Rall.

"The Future of Editorial Cartooning: A Town Meeting" was an event at the 50th Anniversary Convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in Chronicle of Higher Education

"For the last time Billy, I assure you it's soft money."

The Chronicle of Higher Education, the industry publication for the college faculty and administration, publishes a couple of cartoons an issue. I have the above one in this week's issue.

OK, the guy looks a little like Cheney, but that was unintentional. Originally drawn in 2002, this cartoon went out in its little submission envelope 23 times. Each time, the little cartoon was full of hope; each time it was routinely rejected.

The Chronicle picked it up recently when I mailed the editor a copy (probably yellow with age by now). I always liked the gag, and I liked the look of hesitancy in Billy's face. The fact that we're gearing up for a new election cycle obviously helped the gag's timeliness. I was happily surprised they bought it.

I hadn't bothered to pause and look at the drawing in almost five years! I see that I drew a big desk and leather chair, like my Dad used to have. There's also a stand with a dictionary, another item that my Dad still has in his home. I wanted to get the feeling that this was this fellow's study, so I must've been thinking about what my Dad has around his office when I was a kid. He did not have a small dog, though. He currently has two gorgeous big dogs. But I digress!

This was drawn in my loopy, sketchy period in late 2002 with some kind of roller ball permanent ink pen on heavy typing paper. It's not as tight as I draw now, but I do remember drawing it without penciling. I like doing that and try to draw directly on the paper with no pencils most of the time. For some reason, inking in a pre-drawn pencil sketch gives me a thudding, boring, dead inky line that looks like I traced the art. Besides, then I have to erase. Didn't I tell you? I hate erasing. Complain, complain, complain!

This bald, white-collar boss-dad has been in a number of cartoons.


Above: here he is from a few months ago, from Forbes magazine, dispensing a nugget of corporate wisdom. I like that Corporate Dad's laid-back look is accomplished by taking off his jacket -- the tie and vest remain on. And no rolled up sleeves.

The original was bought by an oil drilling company in Canada. Perhaps they put it up on the wall next to those corporate posters. That's a nice thought. Maybe, somewhere in the Great White North, there is a line of framed workplace inspirational posters that say SOAR and ACHIEVE and DELEGATE.

SINGLE AND LOOKING by Matt Janz

Matt Janz's strip OUT OF THE GENE POOL has been retitled SINGLE AND LOOKING.

Matt was the first person to win the Washington Post Writers Group "Finetoon Fellowship" in 2000 and get syndicated. I read his strip in the New York Daily News.

From the press release:

Writers Group Comics Editor Amy Lago adds, “The strips Matt drew about the pitfalls of being single were just better than anything else out there. When we looked at the marketplace of comic strips, there seemed to be all kinds of single-parenthood strips, family strips and relationship strips, but nothing that really spoke to the millions of people out there still searching for ‘the one’ -- or, for that matter, searching for any one. With Matt’s decision to focus on ‘single-hood,’ it seemed natural to change the name to something reflecting that."

SIR! Magazine, September 1954

"You're right, Mama -- we've lost our baby."

From the terrific Hole in the Head blog by Johnny C. comes a large group of scans from Sir! Magazine.

There are some great cartoons -- as well as some teasy photos of girls and stories about UFOs and a "New York School for Alcoholics" and ads with phrases like "Why Be Lonely?" and "Find Real Love! And Marry Rich!"

Thanks, Johnny C., for another great blog entry!

Open Road for Boys Cartoon Contest, March 1939

OPEN ROAD FOR BOYS magazine hosted a monthly cartoon contest. Orlando Busino was kind enough to mail a couple of copies of the contest pages which I posted here. Once again, I lean on Mr. Busino for some blog content and show his scan of the March 1939 cartoon contest, and the winners. Take a look at his notes on the page to see some of the names that would become big names in the cartoon world later.

It's too bad that there isn't anything like this today. Sure, kids can upload a cartoon to the Web, but it's an amazing feeling to go to a newsstand and see your work inside a real magazine. Back in the early 1970s there was a mag titled KIDS MAGAZINE that was "by and for kids." Several pros got their start as kids doing work for KIDS: CURTIS cartoonist Ray Billingley, Marvel, Topps and Papercutz editor Jim Salicrup, and SIMPSONS producer Tom Gammill.

Another big hat tip to Mr. Busino for today's content. Thanks, Orlando!

Happy 4th -- Have Some Links

A few items of interest, so I can fill today's blog with the hard work of others. Happy Independence Day.


Hot Stuff, one of the first comic books I ever owned, celebrates July 4th. My grandmother bought me an early Hot Stuff comic at a Rexall Drug Store in Cascade, MI. Above image from the excellent Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin blog.



My pal Mark Anderson explains why the above gag cartoon that he drew works.



My pal Mark Anderson bravely explains why this gag cartoon does not work.



Leif Peng shares some great school text book illustrations by Lewis Parker here. I dig the cool Fantastic Four-ish typeset used in the Under Canadian Skies cover. Side by side comparison:


Golden Age Comic Book Stories reprints some unseen Al Williamson art, and some old Flash Gordon ads for Union Carbide that he did. There are a lot of treats here, from comic books (Krenkel, Guardineer, Fine) to pulps (Frank R. Paul, Robert Fuqua, Hannes Bok).


Happy BBQ!

Mike Lynch Cartoon in July 3, 2007 Wall Street Journal

This cartoon was drawn in late May 2006. It took 6 months to sell.

"I'm set in my ways. I urge each of you to get set in my ways too."

The only nice thing I can say about this boss character is that at least he's telling his employees the truth -- which is more than he wants to hear from them.

More interested in loyalty than honesty, he is, obviously, an old ogre. Like Aunt Josephine said in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, "I like people who make me like them. Saves me so much trouble forcing myself to like them. " Of course, Aunt Jo had the reputation of being an old ogre, but turned out to be a kindred spirit.

Above is the first cartoon. That's the version that was sent to a half dozen markets, before Wall Street Journal bought it in November 2006. (And then there were eight months between the buy and it seeing print. There are a lot of cartoons waiting in the "Pepper ... and Salt" queue!)

As you know, WSJ prints the cartoon in a small, square format on its editorial page. The editors asked for a redraw with a "bold line" that would withstand the shrinkage.


And here's the redraw. I pulled this from the WSJ site. I have no idea why there's a period and then a question mark in the gag line. I made the boss's suit black so as to make him the focus of attention.

A big tip o' the chapeau to my pal Dave Carpenter for letting me know I had a cartoon in today's WSJ.

Happy Canada Day

OK, well, happy belated Canada Day. A day late, and a loony short, as usual!

Let's go to my pal Leif Peng's TODAY"S INSPIRATION blog and find out some history of Canada in comic book form!

Thanks Leif!

Open Road for Boys Cartoon Contest February 1939

OPEN ROAD FOR BOYS, a magazine that Jean Shepherd likened to PLAYBOY, so far as its ability to convey a world of "dreams, fantasies, incredible adventures" that captured the imagination of the depression-era kid, was part of American boyhood from the 1920s to the 50s. It showcased stories of rugged adventure, and was lavished with ads for model airplanes, roller skates, class rings, -- and of course -- ads for cartoon classes, with lines like:

• Do you like to draw? It's easy when shown the right way.
• E.C. SEGAR creator of "POP-EYE [sic]," CHESTER GOULD who draws "DICK TRACY," LANK LEONARD -- "MICKY [sic] FINN" and many other famous cartoonists and comic strip artists learned to draw during their spare time by following CARTOONIST EVANS' SIMPLE, EASY, INEXPENSIVE COURSE.
• Cartoon your way to success! Don't copy -- learn to originate.

Another way to get on the road to pro cartooning: OPEN ROAD magazine's famous Cartoon Contest. A number of youngsters who later became big-time cartoonists entered this monthly contest; names like Mort Walker, Bill Yates, George Crenshaw, Paul Coker, Jr.

You were presented with a "problem" cartoon and you, the aspiring kid cartoonist, mailed in a "solution" cartoon. Above is detail from the February 1939 issue where the winner was Mr. Eldon Pletcher! Click on the pages below for super-size versions.



A very big tip of the hat to cartoonist extraordinaire Orlando Busino for mailing me these copies. You the man, Orlando! Thanks so much!

Want more? Arnold Wagner has a 1932 Cartoon Contest from OPEN ROAD here.