This Year's Reuben Award and NCS Division Award Nominees - Complete Listing

Below is the complete list of nominees. The updated list will soon be available at the National Cartoonists Society Web site.

This year's Reuben Award nominees:
Dave Coverly
Al Jaffee
Dan Piraro

This year's National Cartoonists Society Division Award nominees:

Magazine Illustration
Daryll Collins
John Klossner
Tom Richmond

Book Illustration
Nancy Beiman - “Prepare to Board”
Sandra Boynton - “Blue Moo”
Jay Stephens - “Robots!”

TV Animation
Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez - Creators - “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” Stephen Silver - Character Design - “Kim Possible”
Richard Webber - Creator - “Purple and Brown”

Greeting Card
Gary McCoy
Glenn McCoy
Dave Mowder

Newspaper Comic Strip
Paul Gilligan – “Pooch Café”
Jim Meddick – “Monty”
Richard Thompson – “Cul De Sac”

Editorial Cartoon
Gary Brookins
Michael Ramirez
Bill Schorr

Newspaper Illustration
Drew Friedman
Sean Kelly
Ed Murawinski

Feature Animation
Brad Bird – Director – “Ratatouille”
Sylvan De Boissy – Character Design – “Surf’s Up”
David Silverman – Director – “The Simpson’s Movie”

Gag Cartoon
Benita Epstein
Mort Gerberg
Glenn McCoy

Comic Book
Nick Abadzis – “Laika”
Bryan Lee O’Malley – “Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together”
Shaun Tan – “The Arrival”

Advertising Illustration
Jack Pittman
Tom Richmond
Tom Stiglich

Newspaper Panel
Chad Carpenter – “Tundra”
Glenn & Gary McCoy – “The Flying McCoys”
Kieran Meehan – “Meehan”

Congratulations to all of the nominees. The winner will be announced at the 62nd Annual NCS Reuben Awards banquet on May 24, 2008.

SUPERMAN Co-creator's Heirs Compensated

Well, not quite. But a Los Angeles federal judge has put Jerry Siegel's heirs on that road.

"A federal judge here [Los Angeles] on Wednesday ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel — who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130 — were entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to the character."

The NY Times is reported on this Saturday, but today's Journalista! has more of the history and copious links to the story.

Siegel and Shuster created Superman in the late 1930s. After trying to sell their creation to the syndicates and failing, they cut up their daily strips and pasted them onto boards to be published in Action Comics #1. They were paid $130 and became work-for-hire creators for National Periodical Publications (later named Detective Comics, or DC Comics; then, later, bought out by Time Warner). This was standard industry practice then. They watched as Superman became a licensing phenomenon, and the corporate types get rich. They would have died in poverty had not Jerry Robinson, along with the National Cartoonists Society, publicized their plight and shamed Time Warner to compensate the two men.

For more background, one of the best books to read is MEN OF TOMORROW by Gerard Jones.

62nd Annual Reuben Award Nominees

From the National Cartoonists Society site:

The nominees for this year's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year are "Speed Bump" creator Dave Coverly, Mad Magazine Veteran Al Jaffee, and "Bizarro" Creator Dan Piraro. The winner will be announced at the 62nd Reuben Awards Ceremony, to be held in New Orleans May 25.

And nominees for most of the dozen NCS Division Award categories have been announced. The list should be complete in the next day or two. More here.

UPDATE: Related: a New York Times Al Jaffee interview.

Away from the Drawing Board

We're off on a plane ride. Have a great weekend! See you on Monday.

NEW John Stanley Web Site!!!!

Great news: a new Web site's in town, and it likes John Stanley!

The Stanley Stories Web site has a lot of unseen stories and "Stanleyisms."

Related: Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine presents a story from Dunk & Loo #2

Big hat tip: Comics Reporter!

Dark Horse publishes Little Lulu reprints -- they're up to their 18th collection!

Bill Wenzel Illustrations

Ooh! Go and look at some Bill Wenzel book illustrations courtesy of Goofbutton.com!.

Big hat tip: Journalista!

Cartoon Class, March 2008, Milton, NH

Above: the students are given a gag line and then asked to draw what it suggests. This is "He has money to burn."

Time to look at some new cartoonists. Here are some scans of just a few of the drawings that we produce in the local cartooning class that I'm teaching once a week. There are up to a half dozen guys, all junior high and high school age -- and all of them are ready and eager to draw!


Above: another caption. This time the young cartoonist was given "He's eating me out of house and home!" and the image above was the result.


Above: my version.
One thing to keep in mind is that most of the guys take what they've drawn home with them. Sometimes, sketches are left on the table, and that's what these are: the dregs of the cartoon class. But these are good dregs!


Yes, we spend some time talking about musculature, but it's not as fun as anthropomorphic dogs with vests and ties!

We try to put character into all of our sketches. Look at the cool posture of this guy.


One of our warm up exercises one day was to play the Exquisite Corpse game, where one person draws the top and another person (without seeing what the other person has drawn) draws the bottom. Then you unfold it and see the resulting character. No, I don't know why it's called Exquisite Corpse!!!

But I think that the game is at its best when you are drawing a cartoon head. Below are a few examples from about 60 or so drawings that we all produced in about 10 minutes of playing:


Look at the detail: those buttons in the collar and the strips on the tie. That mouth is INSANE! And great crossed eyes!


I drew part of some of these. Above: I drew the fellow's chin and mouth and shoulders. Those crazy bloodshot eyes (and the cigarette & blacked out tooth) are all from one of the student cartoonists. Great imagination!

I drew that tongue and goatee, and, as you remember, the guy who drew the top had no idea what the bottom of the head looked like. I thought a couple of these, including the above, just looked great!


Whacky hair!
That's my writing, letting the student cartoonist know to draw the bottom of a head. I doodled the top.


Above: "Hey you kids! Stay offa my lawn!"


Above: a sweet young thing with a dimpled chin.

Goofy guy with a dopey hat and bowtie.
I like a lot of the characters! So many of them suggest that they could be used in comic book stories! And we have another class this afternoon! More cartoons! More great characters! And in 10-15 years, these guys are going to be my competition!

So, there you go: some cool new young cartoonists to cleanse the old cartoonist palate a bit.

Steve Brodner: Person of the Day

My friend, the prolific award winning illustrator Steve Brodner does a daily blog titled Person of the Day, which I subscribe to. Every day you get a fresh image and some fresh thoughts from Steve.

Today it was 4000 Persons of the Day, with a drawing of a few of the soldiers who have died during the war. This originally ran in the NY Times.

It was simple: a Steve Brodner drawing of the soldier, their name, date they were killed, and then, their own words.

One of the most moving pieces to commemorate and humanize that number "4,000."

From today's New York Times article:

Specialist Daniel E. Gomez, Army medic, killed July 18, 2007:

“A few days ago I realized why I am here in Baghdad dealing with all the gunfire, the rocket attacks, the IEDs, the car bombs, the death. I have only been here going on a month and a half. Already I have seen what war really is... but officially its called “full spectrum operations.” No I don’t down Bush, he is my CinC, and I think he is doing an good job with what Clinton left him. I don’t debate why we are involved in Iraq. I just know why I am here. It is not for the smiling Iraqi kids, or the even the feeling of wearing the uniform ( it feels damn good though :) . I am here for the soldier on patrol with me.

But why are you there in the states. Why are you having that nice dinner, watching TV, going out on dates..”

Here is his letter to his girlfriend, to be read in the event of his death:

“Hey baby. If you’re reading this, then something has happen to me and I am sorry. I promised you I would come back to you, but I guess it was a promise I could not keep. You know I never believe in writing “death letters.” I knew if I left one for my folks it would scare them. Then I met you. We were supposed to meet, darling. I needed someone to make me smile, someone that was an old romantic like I was. I was going through a very rough time in Iraq and I was startin to doubt my mental state. Then one day after a patrol, I go to my facebook and there you were...

"I can’t stop crying while I writing this letter, but I have to talk to you one last time, because maybe the last time I heard your voice I did not know it would be the last time I heard your voice....

"I Love You. Go be happy, go raise a family. Teach your kids right from wrong, and have faith, darling. I think I knew I loved you even before I met. I love you, Katy. * Kiss * Goodbye”

Link to the handwritten letter here (PDF).

National Cartoonists Society Luminaries

Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog spent every day last week on one particular National Cartoonists Society member. Here are the links in case you missed any of Leif's always terrific entries:

Hank Ketcham

John Cullen Murphy

Dik Browne

John Prentice

Al Dorne

FOREVER FUNNY Edited by Bill Yates

Above: Jerry Marcus gives us hints that Day One of this particular marriage is tendson-filled in the above cover cartoon for FOREVER FUNNY, A Dell First Edition (#93) that sold for 25 cents when it was published in 1956. It's copyright 1956 by F. B. Yates.



Look at the wonderful erect posture of Stan Hunt's businessman. He is a no nonsense go getter and he will have no nonsense this anniversary ... this anniversary, which, I predict, will be spent at the club playing solitaire game after solitaire game, downing scotches and sodas, all by his erect lonesome. He also would not approve that I didn't take time to get rid of the gutter shadow on his cartoon. Ah well. Suffer, businessman, suffer!


Just how long have girl scouts sold cookies? Well, above is a brownie circa 1956. She and her cookies are being tossed out of a mean boss' office. Violence against children and/or women -- even if it's cartoon violence -- is a no no and this would be perceived as too hostile to sell in today's market. Regardless, I thought Shirvanian's cartoon was hilarious!

Chon Day shows us a fellow who is having a bad day and trying to solve it with drink. Cartoons that poke fun at drinking and violence (see the boss-kicking-brownie cartoon) are hard sells nowadays.



Above is one of my favorite cartoons in the book. Al Johns depicts a befuddled ticket taker on a Metro North train (probably bound for Westport, the Connecticut town of so many cartoonists back in the day).



Dave Gerard's marriage is a lot like mine. Except for the pipe. Well, the pipe and the doilies. And there should be a couple cats in there somewhere too.


American Legion Magazine still publishes cartoons. Here is Jack Markow with a desert island cartoon. Markow wrote a couple of great How to books about cartooning, including my favorite, CARTOONISTS AND GAG WRITERS HANDBOOK. More lazy not-magic-wanding-the-gutter issues here. My bad.

Mr. Day's cartoons are wonderful studies. His upper middle class people may wear a tie to read a book, but they still got whacky problems.



I like the dancing style of the hubby on stage. It's such a small image, and his face is away from us, but you can tell by the body language that Al Johns depicts that this fellow is (a) having a fun time, (b) a great hip swayer, and (c) three sheets to the wind.



Ted Key with an all seeing eye looking in on our newlyweds. Scroll down for Dick Cavalli's similar take on this.



Don Tobin with a joke about entertainment technology. Most of the TV I watch I wish I could fast forward with a little horizontal control at the bottom ... but TVs don't got that YouTube toggle at the bottom of the screen. Nice to see technology transition issues have been around since after the war.


I love cartoons that suggest a whole other world of events. What did Harry Morton do to this woman to make her marry a guy just to spite him (Harry)? Mr. Chon Day knows, but he ain't tellin'.


Above: another Chon Day. This cracks me up. It's one of these moments-before-chaos-erupts gags.

Stan Hunt's shaggy-dog-story lengthy gag line lulls us until the wowzer of a last sentence. I liked the guy here, his lower face covered by the paper as he half-listens.



Shirvanian shows us the neighbor from hell in the above economically drawn cartoon. Look at the sense of purposeful movement in our man's tread.

The only editing error in the book is that Dick Cavalli's gag (above) and Ted Key's are way too similar. The giant head of a goofily grinning guy wearing a polka dot bowtie is intrinsically funnier than the spooky big eye in Mr. Key's, which reminded me of the big Salvador Dali-designed eyes in the dream sequence from Spellbound.

Above: Bill King inserts cartoonist Jack Davis' name into this gag from the back cover. I don't know if this THE Jack Davis, the great cartoonist, but, in reality, Davis is a big bear of a guy, so her comment is factually true. If you're chilly, get a little sugar from Mr. Davis. You won't be sorry.

UPDATE: Some early Chon Day cartoons at Eli Stein Cartoons!

Before They Were Stars

Above: a 1950s era Johnny Hart gag cartoon -- back when "Hart" was spelled with a drawing of a heart.

Here are a handful of gag cartoons by some of the best cartoonists around. They're all from the book FOREVER FUNNY edited by the one and only Bill Yates, and copyright 1956 by Mr. Yates.

Two years later, former USAF veteran Johnny Hart launched the comic strip B.C. In 1964 he followed it up with The Wizard of Id, co-created by Brant Parker. Hart would win a half dozen awards from the National Cartoonists Society, including the "Oscar" of cartooning, the Reuben Award.



Above: Hank Ketcham, making you to say the bad word to yourself! More great Ketcham work at: The Art of the Inked Line from Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog. More about Hank Ketcham: a Ketcham tribute page at the Dennis the Menace site.


Kansas born Mort Walker was a prolific gag cartoonist, even back in the early years of Beetle Bailey (1950 - present) and Hi and Lois, co-created with Dik Browne (1954 - present). A multiple-NCS Award winner (including the Reuben Award), he tirelessly advocates the medium, putting his time and money into the National Cartoon Museum.



Vahan Shirvanian was and still is a much-seen gag cartoonist with over 50 years of sales -- and still counting! I wish he had a Web site! Here he is with an early bigfoot style.


Al Ross with a cartoon, nowhere near the sketchy, coffee-nerves style he would later develop.

Even more Al Ross and even more sketchy cartoons here.


Bob Weber was an assistant to Dick Cavalli on his strip Winthrop before, in 1965, he began his own King Features comic strip Moose & Molly.

Above: George Booth before he developed his own George Booth New Yorker style. George is from Missouri and still is just a nice, Midwestern guy.

OK, admission time: I have to admit that the inspiration for today's post comes from We All Have to Start Somewhere by Eli Stein, and in the first installment he shows some early Mischa Richter cartoons. Please go click on it.

Thanks, Eli, for the idea to share some early, stylistically different work from these cartoonists. And I apologize publicly for taking your idea.

TGIF from Rufus

Here is happy Rufus (or "Roo" for short) to let you know to hang in there baby, Friday's coming!

Wait a minute. Don't bother. It's here.

Silly Roo! No more blog entries for you until you learn your days of the week! And sit up straight!!! To quote the previous blog entry: posture, posture, posture!

Speedball Booklet circa 1956

Above: Ross F. George reminding us that when you use Speedball it's "posture, posture, posture" that makes all the difference.

Here are some scans from a 1956 Speedball pen booklet from the files of my dear ol' Dad. He probably gave me this when I was first struggling with pen and ink at the age of 9 or 10. Copyright is most likely with the Hunt/Speedball people. The front cover is missing, and the indicia along with it.


I had a lot of these nibs when I was kid and tried my best at inking and lettering.


I am in awe of cartoonists like Guy Gilchrist and Orlando Busino who not only are natural born great cartoonists, but are master letterers too. Look at all the knowledge you have to store in your noggin!


So, most of the book is like the above: examples of different lettering styles with a little cartoon stylus moving around, showing you how the letters are created. Page after page of this!


Above: some cool price ticket signs. As the book progresses, the imagery gets a lot more interesting.

Above: Charles Stoner gives us this great inky nature drawing. The text is correct: if you want to master your pen, then draw without penciling first.

More on Mr. Stoner:

"After working for various agencies in Philadelphia, Mr. Stoner joined Hunt Pen Co, (later Hunt Manufacturing Co.) in 1935 as advertising director, retiring in 1971. While at Hunt he wrote two books, 'Pen Tips on Cartooning' in 1939 and 'Beautiful Italic Handwriting Made Easy' in 1977. He also edited the Speedball Textbook from 1935 on. In 1968, he won a National Packaging Award for Hunt products for artists."

The above is from The Record Herald (Waynesboro, PA) obituary for Mr. Stoner who passed away this month, on March 9, 2008. There will be a public service in April. I didn't know about any of this until I began Googling his this morning! My condolences to the Stoner family. What an amazing artist!




Above: 3 pages of stick figure motion cartoons. Whoever drew this sure looked like he had a fun time doing it. These would be ideal to show kids who want to learn to cartoon.

And here is a color section showing examples of "progressive steps in making a poster for screen process reproduction."

I liked these little mini-posters and wonder if they were real or just created for the book.

I picked this Speedball book up out of a stack of stuff the other day and wondered why I had kept it for so long. I haven't looked at it for years. After paging through it, I could see why! Lots of great illustrations and a glimpse back at some skills that are going by the wayside.

Big hat tip to Dad for today's blog entry! Thanks, Dad!

DBR Media 2000-2008

DBR Media, a syndicate founded by three former King Features Syndicate staffers, has ceased operations, citing overhead as its main hardship.

Although a formal press release has not been forthcoming, a mass email was sent to DBR contributors. It was signed by Diane Eckert, Executive Editor, and Brad Elson, Director of Operations of the Altamonte Springs, Florida-based syndicate.

Here is a portion of the email to contributors:

"As you know, DBR Media has been experiencing very hard times. We have left no stone unturned in trying to keep everything afloat ....

"Unfortunately, we have no choice at this point but to shut down operations. We are well aware of the many sacrifices everyone has made in addition to our own personal sacrifices. There are no sufficient words to say how grateful and honored we are that you are part of DBR’s family, and that is what we consider you.

"Please know that every effort is going to be made to compensate you. Money is still owed to us from clients. We are hoping to recover that.

"It has been a journey of eight years. Despite the hardships, it’s been a pleasure to work with you. Your talent and dedication are what’s made most of this possible to begin with."

DBR syndicated comics, puzzles and text features.

The world of comics and cartoons and editors that work with them is a small world full of very good and kind people. Very sad that it's a little bit smaller now.

Arthur C. Clarke 1917-2008

Influential science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke passed away Wednesday in Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90 years old and had been suffering from breathing problems. He had also been living with a "post-polio condition" for the past twenty years.

New York Times obit.

Silly About Cats

SILLY ABOUT CATS was edited by Marbeth Reed. It's Copyright 1959 Doubleday & Co., Inc. and features "The Best Cat Cartoons from American and British Periodicals." So, if you do not find these too funny, I am very sorry. These are the best and you can't do better.
Above: a clearer version of Herb Green's cover cartoon, originally published in the Saturday Evening Post. That's the biggest dang cat I ever saw. Noted: husband and kitty have matching smiles.




Henry Syverson manages action, humor and, ultimately, a little bit of sadness, in this epic cat & mouse tale in 10 drawings. The book, as you'll see, is heavy on Syverson. He's a fellow who knows his cats. Click to supersize and really enjoy.


Al Johns (above) with a wordless cartoon depicting the cat/milkman struggle with the cats mounting a surge.


Mort Walker, he of the gorgeous pen line, gives us a cartoon that, once you see the cat with the bean bag musculature held by the Mrs., gives one a smile. The cartoon is funny, the goofy looking cat makes it funnier.



Above: Henry Syverson with an 8 panel wordless cartoon (read the four across the top, then the bottom four). Once again: another Syverson mini-graphic novel of a story.



Vahan Shirvanian composes a ballet of man v. cat. The cat wins, of course. I like his triumphant trotting pose in the final panel.


Above: more Syverson, one of the unsung heroes of cartoons. He was a mainstay at the Saturday Evening Post. If you described this cartoon to someone, I don't think they would find it funny. But seeing the cat's expression and the mouse peering over the corner, all zestily done to perfection by Syverson, makes this one a rowser.

Above: Gustav Lundberg. Dig the 1950s table & lamp detail. Even though most of those lines in the table do not meet, it still "reads" as a table.

John Gallagher with a usual doozy. Look at all of those doggy noses are bee-lined at the unaware cat. Adding that little bow on the kitty kicks this up a notch.



Henning Gantriis was a prolific cartoonist in his native Denmark. Virtually unknown in the States, here is a rare peek at one of his cartoons. It requires no caption, and is therefore accessible to people worldwide.


Above: we finish up with more Syverson. Just look at that silly cat and the way he washes each foot. I said if before and I'll say it again: the man knows his cats!

Wes Molebash on Zuda

ComicMix ran an interview with Web cartoonist Wes Molbash written by Rick Marshall.

Wes is an established Web cartoonist. He's drawn You'll Have That, a Web comic strip, for four years. I don't know if that brings in a living income for him. He decided to produce a new comic strip, The Litterbox Chronicles, for the DC Comics-run Zuda Web site.

Zuda demands all rights. Wes knows that he would lose his ownership of the cartoon he created.

Here are 2 paragraphs from the interview:

"I was listening to an interview with Kevin Grevioux, the guy who wrote the film Underworld, and they're interviewing him when the sequel came out, Underworld: Evolution. They asked him how much involvement he had in the sequel and he said he had no involvement in that movie. For the first movie, he didn't even have an agent. He basically threw it away. And they were like, 'Wow. Why did you do that?' And he told them something like, 'Well, the first project you have to throw away. You have to do it and you're probably going to get screwed, but at least you get your name out there.'

"And this did end up opening a lot of doors for him. Now he's writing comic books and he has a pretty good career screenwriting, even though he's probably not making the money off Underworld that he should have with that project. But because he didn't have a name before that project, he kind of got the shaft. That's how I'm feeling about this."

I think that if you want to give away all your rights, then it's your decision. If you truly believe that you have no option than to sign away your work, then that's your business.

But telling people "you have to do it ..." was dreadful.

There are fans who look up to the level of success that Wes has achieved. Some of them might be cartoonists one day. They need to know that it's not true.

You can make better, more informed choices.

Good luck to Wes. I don't know you, but I hope it all works out in the way you imagined.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Don Orehek ("Donnie O'Rehek" for today, if ye please) mailed the above card to us. I wanted to share it with everyone. Thanks so much for the card, Don!!! Nothing is better than getting an Orehek original in the mail as a surprise!
Above: a gag from the paperback collection of cartoons titled THE CARTOON TREASURY.

Marek Bennett Interview

Fellow New Hampshire cartoonist/educator Marek Bennett is profiled in a Concord Monitor article titled Quick on the Draw by Sarah M. Earle.

"Yes, comics tend to condense literature into bite-sized pieces, and not always the meatiest ones at that. But Bennett also believes they create important bridges. 'You're actively looking and creating connections: space, emotional, meaning, symbolic, thematic, time,' he said. 'You're the director.'"

Marek is one of the regional crusaders for creating comics, and he's now teaching not only kids, but their parents as well.


Above: one of Marek's shirts. I bought it from him at the last MoCCA Fest.

H/t to Comics Reporter!

National Cartoonists Society Luminaries

Congratulations to Leif Peng, who has been accepted into the National Cartoonists Society! Leif, being a lovely fellow who shares his toys, celebrates by showcasing some of the great NCS members, with rare (and occasionally titillating) scans of their work from his files, at his Today's Inspiration blog.

Up first: Hank Ketcham -- with more to come each day this week.

When Character Design Goes Bad

I found these little fellows, who are the cover boys for a childrens book, to be a little creepy. Just look at their swollen jowls and red noses and the lines under their eyes. It's the morning after for these lads. Kind of like a wrong-side-of-the-tracks version of those Kellogg's elves.


Those chaps are the dwarfs in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, copyright 1955 by Wonder Books, Inc. Illustrations by Art Seiden. My pal Leif Peng, at his Today's Inspiration blog, has a couple of great items about Mr. Seiden: a bio here, and some more art here.

OK, now I will concede that Mr. Seiden is a man of great talent, but the Wonder Books people must have told him to go as far off-model from the Disney version as possible. Miles off the Disney model. Whereas Disney made cute cherubs, they might have advised, make your guys chubby wee grubs.

They all have this bad boy Michael J. Pollard twinkle in their beady eyes. And that's just not the right way to look at Snow White!

Below is the book:

1969 Marvel Bullpen Photos

More at the always entertaining Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun! Blog.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Season 4

BSG premieres its new season 3 weeks from today, on April 4, 2008. Oh boy! Click to supersize the above BSG-style Last Supper.

Catch up on the past 3 seasons in a quicky 8 minute vid at SciFi.com's BSG page.

Related (and very funny): Becca at her No Smoking in the Skull Cave blog gives us a hilarious series of photos in The Last Suppers of Pop Culture.

Also related: on April 13, Bear McCreary conducts his BSG score, along with James Callis (Gaius Baltar) acting as host, at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, which I would totally go to if I was living on that coast.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in Chronicle of Higher Education

I have a particularly hairy cartoon in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.

I'm in the company of a couple of excellent cartoonists: Carole Cable and Mary Nadler, whose work I admire.

I wish I could somehow link this obnoxious Lothario with higher education, but it would be a dreadful stretch of lies to even attempt to weave some sort of connection here. I have no idea what he has to do with a life in higher education.

I like the Chronicle and I enjoy (and, indeed, profit from) the fact that sometimes they'll purchase a cartoon just because it's funny. The above guy is the epitome of the gadget-obsessed dude who has no personal boundary issues during, or even prior to, the evening's date.

She should've told him she had to stay home, doing homework.

Ahh! I've woven the connection!

Getting an education would save you from Hairy Dude!

Thus here ends today's cartoon lesson.

THE QUESTOR TAPES (1974)

[Mild spoiler alert]

THE QUESTOR TAPES pilot echoed a lot of Gene Roddenberry's favorite ideas: an android trying in a Pinocchio-like way to understand what it is to be human, searching for its creator, and we even touch on a superior benevolent alien race that's attempting"to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society." Plus the movie has Dean Wormer (John Vernon), acting as bad guy, so it's got that going for it. Not to mention the ever-so-likable Mike Farrell and the commanding presence of Robert Foxworth as Questor.

The series, if it had been made, would have been a buddy series with Mike Farrell helping the android become a bit less of a fish out of water as they had a series of adventures.

The best of the post-TREK pilots, QUESTOR's themes were woven into the next 2 Roddenberry produced projects; principally the characters of V'ger from STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE and, I know you all ready know it: Data, from NEXT GENERATION.

Richard Colla, the director, is quoted in Retrovision Magazine's fond and thorough overview of the pilot titled Gene Roddenberry's The Questor Tapes: The Unfulfilled Promise:

"It was a wonderful experience for me," he says. "We were kind of reinterpreting Spock and Kirk, because that's really what it was -- the emotional side of man and the intellectual side of man and they come into conversation with each other. So what you really have is a character talking to himself, and that's delightful."

Above: the cover to the novelization by D.C. Fontana. Below, the pilot, cut into its requisite YouTube wee chunks:

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 1

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 2

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 3

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 4

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 5

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 6

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 7

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 8

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 9

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 10

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 11

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 12

A note on the Gil Melle music that's heard at a minute plus in: yes, that theme is the same music that Melle used for the later 1970s NIGHT STALKER series. Melle was so fond of that cut, that rather than see it forgotten in this unsold pilot, he played it for STALKER's producer Dan Curtis, who agreed and used it in the main title for the short-lived series. This is all from my memory of reading TV’s Biggest Hits (Schirmer Books, 1996) by Jon Burlingame.

Dave Stevens 1955-2008

Dave Stevens passed away from the effects of leukemia on March 10, 2008. He was 52 years old.

He was, along with Jaime Hernandez and Steve Rude, one of the talented newcomers to comics in the 1980s. In 1982, when he debuted his most famous creation The Rocketeer, I was in school and money was very tight. But for Stevens, I would forgo _____ (pick pretty much anything) just to be able to possess some of his amazing, cool comics.

At the time, I had no idea that the man had worked with two of my favorite names of an older school of drawing: Russ Manning and Doug Wildey. He was in lock-step with the old school technique, lovingly drawing old time planes and automobiles and gorgeous gals (natch!) in a grand, polished style for the new generation. We -- us young fans -- ate it up.

Tom Spurgeon has a wonderful biographical write up of the man and he has a mass of "collective memory" links to other salutes to Mr. Stevens, a name that will endure.


Above: oh yeah, another thing, Dave could draw these beautiful women. And he was, as you may all ready know, responsible for revival of interest in Bettie Page.

HUMBUG and TRUMP Book Collections

Reasons to get a second job: to pay for the upcoming HUMBUG and TRUMP collections of great satire by Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Russ Heath, Arnie Roth, Wally Wood, Al Jaffee and others.
It was over a year ago when, by chance, the subject of these two aborted satire magazines from the 1960s, was brought up with Arnie Roth. He mentioned that Humbug was jointly owned by four of its contributors, including Mr. Roth, and that it took a bit of time, but Gary Groth put together a deal to get it into print. I'm very glad he did.

PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN Edited by Charles Preston

Here are some cartoon from PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN Edited by Charles Preston. The cover is by Leo Garel.

This is copyright 1956 by Charles Preston. This is a Permabook edition published in January 1957.



Above: Mort Temes, who is alive and well in New Jersey, contributes the above. The self-satisfied expression on thew wiener dog is simultaneously funny and, well, speaking personally, just makes me feel a little bit queasy about that darn dog's boundary issues.




Bernard Wiseman, just by drawing a few lines on the grounds, suggest a wide city sidewalk -- probably on the Upper East Side.


David Pascal with a gag that's maybe not as fresh as it was 51 years ago, but I love watching the guy pantomime his interest and then zealous glee at riding the coattails of the performing dog.


Gallagher's cartoons are so animated, they deserve to be animated.



Pascal with another, very clever one. Those are darn big fish!


I enjoy Irwin Caplan's sharp, controlled line and his sense of environment. The dog's happy expression as he destroys what looks like a very nice table is great counterpoint.


Another Wiseman cartoon with a subtle juxtaposition style gag. The one line in the background suggests the sidewalk -- and that's all there is to the background. And that's all you need.


One of the great before he was one of the greats: Gahan Wilson, in an early cartoon, gives us an uppity actor dog. I always thought there was a touch of Silverstein in Wilson's older works.



I like Bill Harrison's foliage in the above cartoon. But those tracks don't look like women's shoes. Dig those trees along the top, one after another, and they stop before you see any leaves.



Jerry Marcus with his breezy inking gives us the moment before chaos erupts.



There are a lot of details in this Gallagher single panel cartoon. A lamp & table in the foreground left, a table with the doggy treats on the left, a planter in the background. They all have nothing to do with the gag (which made me laugh out loud), but they enhance the whole experience of looking at the cartoon. An experience which, according to my research, is about 3 to5 seconds long.



Above is Lee Lorenz, back before he was the The New Yorker's Cartoon Editor; back before he had found his brush & wash style. A bittersweet little story in 4 panels.



Eric Ericson gives us a very well dressed couple and their solution to kitty's clawing. They obviously have a large disposable income!


And finally, another Gahan Wilson cartoon to conclude today's visit with PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN.

Jack Davis Video

It's a little too pixilated and the sound's not the best -- but Jack Davis's drawings and Jack Davis the cartoonist do shine through in this video portrait of Mr. Davis focusing on his prolific output for his alma mater, the University of Georgia "Bulldogs" team. It runs over 6 minutes and it was for WAGA's PM Magazine TV show.

John ("Jack") Ruge

My pal Leif Peng focuses his Today's Inspiration blog on cartoonist John "Jack" Ruge, with a remembrance by illustrator/former Ruge student Larry Roibal.

"He would bring in his gag illustrations and pin them up along with the instructional newsprint drawings. It was a real treat to see that as a student because it was a practical application for good draftsmanship. His gag cartoons were not cartoony, they were beautiful studies in draftsmanship and anatomy that just happened to be funny (take a close look at his hands) ..."

WIT FROM OVERSEAS

WIT FROM OVERSEAS, a collection of wit (cartoons and prose) from various foreign periodicals. It's edited by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr. and is (I swear to goodness) copyright: 1950, 1951, 1952 by Farm Journal, Inc.; 1952 by Hulton Press, Ltd.; 1950, 1951 by The Elite Publishing Corp.; 1950, 1951, 1952 by Bradbury, Agnew, Ltd.; 1953 by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr.



I don't know the work of most of these cartoonists, so please excuse my ignorance. I'd love to hear from someone who may know something about these cartoonists.

Above: I love the old robots: all boxy, with knobs and gears and sometimes an old fashioned lightbulb for a nose. The cartoonist added that great big wind-up mechanism in back and it just is a wonderful gag. The smug reaction on the bearded scientist tells you that the poor robot is right.


Above: the drawing makes the gag. Click to really supersize the cartoon. Look at that detail! Look at all that patience to get it all looking right.



The above cartoon COULD be the way it all works. Maybe there's this WHITE CONCRETE, y'know? I recall an episode of the British comedy series THE GOODIES wherein one of the guys is making an old time black and white movie, and he truly believes that he must paint everything within camera range with black or white paint.


Above: you get a great feel for the space in the compartment. Yeah, it's a potty joke -- but one that's clever, and, international -- since it's wordless.


Above: Just look at the cartoonist's command of perspective and excellent reference. And this was before Google images!


Above: a creepy one that would plague me if I saw it when I was a tot. What kind of product are those statue heads using?


Above: some gorgeous work by a Mexican cartoonist. If anyone knows who the cartoonist is, please drop a line. Note to Mr. Hoopes: this wit is not from overseas, since Mexico is part of the North American landmass.



Above: a silly and twisted little cartoon. Who knew that umbrellas were so prim and proper!


Chaval is a name that I see a lot -- but I know nothing of the human being behind the pen. His bold, wordless gags work so well because they're all rooted in human behavior. Not necessarily the kind of behavior that would win you a merit badge, but human behavior nonetheless.


Above: the cartoonist Wiles (?) puts together this grand vertical composition with exacting precision.


It's the appearance of that one high heel -- and leaving their view to the imagination -- that makes this one so successful.



Above: a silly gag, but one full of good drawing: the watery squiggles, the spritzing leak, the Commander in full Napoleon pose.



Not only that, the divan looks like it's floating! An eerie cartoon that smacked of Edward Gorey or William Steig.



Above: life before the Internet. A sharply drawn cartoon by Starke, whose work I've seen in some other UK collections.


Above: another great silent gag, with just enough detail for you to see what's going on.



Chaval with another winner. Are there really big trucks, lugging wine all over France?



Above: a silly cartoon by some youngster named Ronald Searle!

GENESIS II (1973)

A "lost" Roddenberry pilot for your viewing pleasure.


Four years after STAR TREK ended, CBS broadcast GENESIS II, a new pilot by Gene Roddenberry. It dealt with Dylan Hunt, a 20th century man who awakens from suspended animation in 2133 -- and a brand new Earth.

Using the Sub Shuttle (photo above), Dylan Hunt (a name reused in the Roddenberry-created ANDROMEDA TV series) and the PAX Team of friends, travel from society to society, encountering different social problems and solving them.

The series was in development, and the first season was roughed out. But CBS pulled the plug, deciding to go with a PLANET OF THE APES TV series.

Mariette Hartley guest stars in the pilot, sliced into bite-size YouTube linkies below:

GENESIS II Part One

GENESIS II Part Two

GENESIS II Part Three

GENESIS II Part Four

GENESIS II Part Five

GENESIS II Part Six

GENESIS II Part Seven

GENESIS II Part Eight

Related: Roddenberry's 1970s projects from TVParty.com.

Eliot Spitzer

Above: a cartoon from a couple of years ago, riffing on Spitzer's then-reputation.

It's like this is all from the Ironic Punishment from Hell ...

Eliot Spitzer is a guy who made his name prosecuting corruption, and he was an advocate for women's rights (his #1 priority was introducing a bill that would declare abortion a fundamental right, regardless of a potential future Roe v. Wade Supreme Court overturn).

I voted for Spitzer for Governor. He had many enemies from his time as crusading Attorney General for NY, including some big businesses and powerful politicians.

I am now sorry to understand that one of this man's enemies is himself.

Harry Truman said, "Three things ruin a man: power, money, and women. I never wanted power. I never had any money, and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now."

Dealing with Contracts

"Reynolds, we now own all rights to your image. You'll have to pony up $100 to the company every time you look in the mirror."

Tim Broderick writes about book contracts. He'll tell you what an advance is a what a typical print run is. There's a lot of good first-time advice like this:

"You do not pay for copy editing or any printing, storage or shipping. That's the point of finding a publisher, they're in business to take a risk with you. If someone wants you to sign a contract that stipulates you pay for services or fees, they're not a real publisher. Run away!"

One of the first contracts that I was offered mentioned that I would be charged for all phone calls and faxes by the company. I didn't sign that contract!

More and more, I see contracts that want ALL RIGHTS. Even for an online cartoon illustration contest (like the recent New Yorker's "draw Eustace Tilley" contest or the monthly DC Comics Zuda contest), the rule of thumb of the powers-that-be is to procure all rights up front. So, when you upload your comics to these contests, you're agreeing that they may stick their finger in your creation and use it any way they see fit. And you, the person who created the work, no longer has any say in it.

Factoid: the three-part contract with DC Comics Zuda Web site is 6,085 words. The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words!

Hat tip to Journalista!

Jack Davis Video

From WAGA TV's PM Magazine TV show comes a profile of the one and only Jack Davis. Despite some of the crazy video pixilation and the so-so sound quality, Mr. Davis and his drawings are wonderful to see. The report focuses on his relation to his alma mater, the University of Georgia, and all of his drawings for the "Bulldogs" team.



Although there's no date on this, it sure looks like it may be a decade or so older.

FREE Comics Journal

The latest issue of The Comics Journal is, for one week only available for free reading online. Issue 288 includes:

• The Best of 2007
• Joe Sacco interviews EXIT WOUNDS creator Rutu Modan
• Interviews with Nick Bertozzi, Paul Karasik, Bryan Talbot, Peter Kuper, Cathy Malkazian
• A bunch of MISS FURY comics by Tarpé Mills
• Lots of reviews and columns

Mike Lynch on Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy Hall of Fame

Hey, Look! It's a Major Award!

No, not the kind in the movies (like the above infamous Leg Lamp Award from A CHRISTMAS STORY). I'm talking real life. Guy Gilchrist, who runs the Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy (but you knew that), has put added me to his Wall of Fame.



What can one say?! One blushes and looks to one's feet. Aw, shucks, Guy! I'm speechless!


Guy pretty much trumped the plaque with the above wonderful caricature that he drew on the box.

He sent me the plaque, and there will be a duplicate of the plaque on a wall at the Academy. I'll be in the company of some I'm-not-worthy names like Frank McLaughlin and Dick Ayers.

Thanks, Guy! Wowwee!

Factoid: When you type "major award" into Google images you get a page full of leg lamps!

I COULD BE DREAMING by Chon Day Part 2

Welcome to another peek at the collection I COULD BE DREAMING by Chon Day. Part one is here.
Above: a wordless illustration in the frontispiece of the book, with the tiny "CD" signature.


Above: an absolute deadpan lovely typical Chon Day cartoon. Some of these cartoons are missing his signature, for some reason, and this is one of them.



I always like cartoons that seem like they're part of a much larger, deeper, darker story.



Above: another prison gag with a quiet line.

"Now this may make you scream a little."

This made me laugh. One of the funniest cartoons in the book. I love the designerly composition of the dentist's tools.

"The finance company was here -- they took the baby!"

Thanks to deregulation, we may not be far from this.



Above: I like Naked Guy's purposeful gait.

Above: health cost issues have not changed.



Above: a subtle joke, implying that the moment before, Monsieur Restaurant Patron ordered an "oven-broiled tractor." Look at the economy of line as Mr. Day suggests the other customers in the background.



I have only seen this kind of thing in the movies, but apparently men on stilts advertising stuff was part of every day big city life.



"By far the worst Santa Claus this store ever had!"

And yet, the kids are still patiently (but nervously) waiting for their turn on Santa's lap. I would put this in my personal top 5 of the funniest cartoons in the book.

Don Cresci

A cartoony business message for Don Cresci:

Don, a potential client wants to contact you.

Please email me at fatcats3 [at] gmail.com.

WATCHMEN Movie First Look

More at PW's THE BEAT!

DILBERT Flourescent Light Covers

Sky-Scapes® are fluorescent light diffusers designed to reduce the harsh glare emanating from sterile existing fluorescent lighting.

And now you can have the head of Dilbert on them ...

not quite as bad as Bart Simpsons' Get a Mammogram, Man public health campaign, but getting there ....

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin
Originally uploaded by fantagraphics

Fantagraphics has posted a Flickr photo set showing their upcoming 2 volume set of Willie and Joe cartoons by Bill Mauldin. A wonderful package.

H/t to Comics Reporter!

Sketchbook Redux

OK, it's time to look into some sketches from the old Mike Lynch Sketchbook.

When wondering what to draw, many pick the family pet as an appropriate subject.



Above is Rufus, or "Roo" for short. This is a doodle of our large orange cat with the enormous head. He is a very large, sweet happy fellow.




With a successful cartoon, you must be able to denote some individual attitude in your character sketches. Above are two attitudinal types drawn from life.



Above: street scenes from Smith Street, near the Rocketship comic book store.


Sometimes an every day object like this parking meter should be noted for its form and details.


Above: a dog "mushing" along Prospect Park, with a roller-blading person attached, and wearing a backpack with a bouquet poking out. Yeah, real life sometimes trumps anything you can make up.



Above: women and their hair and what they do with it: cover it up! These next sketches were all drawn around the Prospect Park area of Brooklyn.



A quick study of what people are wearing. Again, I'm just going for some simple sketches for reference.


Adding some touches like a scarf or a "big bag" helps the naturalism of the cartoon.


Above: people in motion from a series of sketches taken while trying to stand unobtrusively in Grand Central Station. You can tell by their woolies that it was cold outside!




Rarely if ever do people notice some guy hunched over a tiny sketchbook. They probably figure I'm messing with my Blackberry.



Above: people in motion, using as few lines as possible.



Saving the best for last: Occasionally, my wife will doodle something in my sketchbook. Above: her version of Roo. Her medium is pencil. She draws Roo with his eyes closed and a blissful smile. Sweet Roo. I better go administer some pats on that big head right now ....

TNG/DALLAS Mash Up Vid

A mash up video using the Dallas theme and look to create a new TNG theme. This guy worked hard on this!



Tenuously related: a fan-made Galaxy Quest TV show title sequence using the Stargate Atlantis music. Well done!

Øistein Kristiansen

Via Channel News Asia is this clip all about cartoonist Øistein Kristiansen's show in Shanghai. Øistein's gallery exhibit is full of his drawings and is aimed at children. It's all very hands on, with many of the children happily drawing away.

"Slowly it dawned on me that I had a new mission in life: to share the gift of drawing and imagination. I wanted the whole world to draw!"

The exhibit, which was planned for four days, was such a success, it was extended for five more days.



His cartoon drawings are brightly colored and appeal to all kids and all languages. Look at those kids! So happy, and so immersed in drawing! I didn't know who Øistein Kristiansen until I saw the above video. He's a big star! He's the European Ed Emberley! Now he's on my radar! And now that he's gotten all the kids in Singapore to draw, I expect him to head toward us! Come on over, Øistein! And let's draw some robots.

Craig Yoe Interview

Beth Davies-Stofka interviews Craig Yoe at the Tower of Babble site. Craig talks about his book CLEAN CARTOONISTS DIRTY DRAWINGS.

"I had the pleasure of getting to know Charles Schulz a wee bit when I worked with him on a project, and at another time I visited his studio to interview him on his religious beliefs for a magazine. So I was pretty surprised to find he did a nude self-portrait, but it was his only 'dirty' drawing as far as I can tell. And when you look at it in the book his "completely nude" self-portrait doesn't even have a small suggestion of 'naughty bits,' so I get the idea he was pretty uncomfortable with the idea.

Craig Yoe has a terrific blog titled the Arflovers Blog.

Must reading for gag cartoonists: the Cartoon Consultants Calendar for March!

Big hat tip to Journalista!

Virgil Partch Cartoon Rip Off

Sometimes, there are cartoons that are deja vus. Great minds think alike and all that.

I remember talking to a cartoonist who, once he wrote down all of his ideas for magazine cartoons that week, he logged onto Cartoonbank.com to double-check to make sure that none of his cartoons were unconscious copies of previously published cartoons.

Regardless, there are times when magazine gag cartoons repeat themselves.

Obviously, if you think that the Great Cartoon Idea you have is not really most likely YOURS, then you should not draw it.

I try not to worry about it. Duplication happens. Even the places that can afford an entire fact-checking department, like The New Yorker, can't get it right.

For instance, you type in the words "cat heaven" into the Cartoonbank.com search engine, you will see identical wordless cartoons of a cat entering the heavenly gates via a small cat door. One was in the 7/22/91 issue, drawn by the UK cartoonist Kenneth Mahood, and the other in the 10/14/02 issue, drawn by Gahan Wilson.

Harry Bliss has a cartoon in the new Playboy that is exactly like a pretty famous editorial cartoon of Pulitzer prize winner Clay Bennett's (Clay drew Clinton wearing an "I'm with Stupid" t-shirt, with the pointy finger pointing down; Harry Bliss drew the same shirt on a jaunty lookin' dude).

And then there's Zach Kanin's cartoon in a January 2008 issue of The New Yorker that is an exact echo of a cartoon Don Orehek drew for Playboy a couple of years ago. (This one has a woman looking on as a plumber bends over -- and we can see he's wearing frilly underwear.)

I don't know for sure is these are intentional swipes. Only the person who drew the cartoon the second time could tell you.

Sometimes, though, you know for sure, deep down, that a cartoon has absolutely been pilfered. For instance, here's a 1952 Virgil Partch cartoon from True Magazine:


And here's one from the 1963 Cartoon Classics booklet:




Same angle, same phone, etc. as the later drawing above.

It's a rip off. You know it like you know a good melon.

Or rather, a rotten melon.

1963 CARTOON CLASSICS Pamphlet

CARTOON CLASSICS ("SPREAD JOY, GET GAY! OVER 200 LAFFS") is a 5 1/4" x 4" 50 page pamphlet, with 2 staples as binding. This item, which I got as part of a larger lot thru eBay, was stamped with a 50 cents price at the top. The space on the bottom, the right size to stamp a name and address, is a hint that this was meant as a gift from one businessman to another.


There are no credits, except for a notation on the bottom of the back page: NO. LL-3 COPYRIGHT1963. Most of the book is like this: a few bawdy, not particularly clever comments like a guy would say to another guy in a tavern, and then, a gag cartoon.

Some of the cartoons are clever and risque; all in the Playboy vein. Some are well drawn.


Other cartoons, like the one above, lack the polish of a professional cartoonist. And the gags are off.

The Chinese lanterns and crepe twists, wispily drawn above the door, almost as an afterthought, lead me to believe that this is a costume party and knight is a guy in a costume who retrofitted a tub spout onto his armor. A respectable gag. But it was hard to make it clear; the cartoon didn't "read" in the requisite couple of seconds, at least, not for me.



Above: another old joke, but deftly handled. And this is the pattern: some good drawings, some not so good drawings. A real mixed bag. Like most of the cartoons in the pamphlet, it is unsigned.



The shape of the lady of the evening is lost in the background black spotting. Nevertheless, a provocative gag.


The above cartoon seems well done; good composition, excellent detail, with a swift, easy line of someone who's comfortable with their ink line. It too is unsigned.


Above: some nice work, but the cartoonist has hidden all of the hands except for one thumb (hers). A lot of beginners will try to hide hands rather than show them.


Above: a simple gag, but once again, out of a possible 4 hands, only one is drawn.


The overworked liney background is competing with the figures and blurring the cartoon's impact.


Above: a body function cartoon that is more gross than funny.



Above: a badly drawn cartoon with some poor proportions on the man and a woman whose reaction is obscured because her head is too small.


Above: another oddly drawn cartoon. The woman looks like she is from a different cartoonist than the man. Perhaps she was traced. No signature again.