"NO COMMENT" by Shirvanian

"NO COMMENT" by Vahan Shirvanian, a prolific cartoonist who lives and works in New Jersey, was a primarily wordless strip. It's copyright 1981 by King Features Syndicate.



Above: a lazy dog and one of those machines that shakes your belly. Does anyone have one of these any more? Is there a company that makes them still? Just wondering.


"No Comment" is a "whimsical, preposterous" strip, with maybe only a few characters that reappear from time to time. The emphasis here is on a four panel wordless gag coming out of left field. For instance: the magical bunny's whistle gets our magician a cab.


And the next day, we're in the African veldt watching an explorer do ... uh ... paperwork. I actually am looking for one of those big tack things for my desk for all my receipts. Again: are these even made any more? Do they have a name? I don't know.


Above: a racy result from the vibrating gong! I had to look twice to understand what the heap was in the bottom right hand 4th panel.


Above: one of my favorites with, what looks like, our big silly dog again. Always looking for ways to ease his life. These drawings are bold and look like they could take the drastic newspaper shrinkage no problem.


Again, back in the jungle with an odd bit of a gag. I like the ape's expression as he is looking forward to his lunch.


A nice touch: the cat standing on tip toes as he CLANGS! the cymbals.


Above: anything can happen in NO COMMENT.

Mr. Shirvanian is alive and well, and lives in the beautiful wilds of Northwestern New Jersey. His cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker, Reader's Digest, Harvard Business Review, Playboy and many, many other publications. He is now in his 62nd of a professional cartooning career!

He taught fighter pilot gunnery in WWII before enrolling at Seton Hall University, where he majored in English while attempting to sell cartoons at the same time. His first sale was to The Saturday Evening Post in 1946, and he has been a success ever since (he has been named best cartoonist of the year ten times by Highlights for Children and the National Cartoonists Society.) Shirvanian enjoys hiking the trails of New Jersey and watching old movies in his free time.
- from the Reader's Digest Meet the Cartoonists page.