Gene Hazelton Original Art

Years ago, animator/cartoonist Gene Hazelton mailed some original cartoons to Maggie Marker and her siblings. Now, 35 years later, Maggie pulls out that old envelope of his originals and shares some large scans of the art for The Flintstones and Yogi Bear newspaper comic strips at her blog.


My deep thanks to Maggie for letting me know about this project. Gene's lovely letter to the Marker children is a great introduction to what a syndicated cartoonist does.

Review: GOOD GIRL ART by Ron Goulart

Prolific author Ron Goulart wrote one of the best books. His history of comic strips in America THE FUNNIES is one of my all-time favorites. When I heard about his latest book, I thought that Goulart was wasting his time.

GOOD GIRL ART is a large, over-sized glossy trade paperback full of good girl art from comic books of the 1930s through today. What's Good Girl Art? From the Hermes Press Web site:

"The term refers not to magazines that contain drawings of virtuous girls but rather to those featuring good drawings of attractive women. These pretty girls are most often scantily, sparsely or provocatively clad."

We're not talking about girls that are "good," we're talking girls that look good --designed to appeal to young men.

One of my favorites is Madame Satan, a woman who hunted men down so she could deliver their souls to her master, the Devil (who else?)! Darn silly stuff. Ironically, she first appeared in Pep Comics, the title that would showcase the squeaky clean Archie.

The art is particularly great fun to look at, of course. From the cover by Frank Cho to Sheena to Vampirella, flipping through this volume will show you the people at Hermes took a lot of time and care with the lush visuals, focusing on published and very rare original art. The art is particularly well photographed -- I love looking at originals and all their blemishes are there to linger over.

Along with the GGA visual sizzle, Mr. Goulart provides plenty of steak. And the themes of the book are with us today.

There are a couple of books out about the government crackdown on torrid comics in the 1950s, but none of them do the scholarly job that Ron Goulart does in linking the cause of the publishers (sales) with the effects of their good girl art (corrupting America's youth).

"Packaging, as with most mass market products, is almost always an important factor in selling. At Standard [a comic book company], it had obviously been decided that Good Girl Art was now selling better than Superhero Art and that was what went on the covers. The idea was that you could trigger an impulse to buy more easily with the image of a young woman in a bikini than with one of a muscleman in mask and cape."

Goulart paints a picture in the chapter "The Wertham Crusade" of an American public ready and eager to accept the assertion that comic books, "the bastard offspring of newspaper comics,*" were the cause of growing juvenile delinquency.

This is, of course, again, darn silly in hindsight.

I was wrong when I said that Mr. Goulart was wasting his time on a frivolous subject. Even now, we have trouble sorting out decency in a free country.

Are there really a dozen Danish cartoons so indecent that they are the direct cause for riots and deaths and cannot be shown in the newspapers or on TV? Do creators have the right to produce what they want? Should the Web be censored?

GOOD GIRL ART has, of course, some great and rarely seen art by Matt Baker, Lee Elias, Bob Lubbers, Nick Cardy and many others. It's the scholarly Goulart who gives this big book some serious historical heft. An excellent addition to your bookshelf.


Paperback: $29.99 ISBN #1-932563-88-1, 224 pages, color, 9" x 12"
Hardcover: $49.99 ISBN #1-932563-87-3, 224 pages, color, 9" x 12"

*Time Magazine, October 4, 1948, as quoted in GOOD GIRL ART.

Bill Griffith Video Interviews

From COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL (1989):



From a local NBC TV station in Hartford, CT (2002):



Another local interview from Hartford, CT TV (2003), which includes the ZIPPY theme song:

MORE BOBBY SOX by Marty Links

Above: Marty Links circa 1954 from her bio page at Lambiek.

Animator John Kricfalusi has posted a number of Bobby Sox single panel newspaper cartoons at his blog. Go and see!

Some background:

Bobby Socks (later retitled Emmy Lou, after the bobby socks craze was moribund) was the creation of a female cartoonist, Marty Links, who passed away in January.

"By the way, if you happen to be confused by the the given name of the cartoonist, you're not alone. So, apparently, was The National Cartoonists' Society, of which she was one of the first female members. Correspondence from the Society was addressed to 'Mr. Marty Links' even after she'd given birth to her first child. She offered to send them her bust size."

- from Don Markstein's Toonpedia

Shaenon K. Garrity has a tribute to Bobby Sox's creator Marty Links here.

Hat tip to Journalista!

Photo of Marty Links at left from the Heritage Series site.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES by Nina Paley

SITA SINGS THE BLUES is a new movie making the film fest circuit. It was animated by my colleague Nina Paley. I knew her when she used to cartoon on pieces of paper, but then she began animating. All by herself she did this. Over five years it took to make. Here's the trailer:



Nina's blog.

H/t to THE BEAT!

SOUTH SEA CARTOONS compiled & edited by Harold Myers

A selection of desert island cartoons from SOUTH SEA CARTOONS, a well-used Ace Paperback, compiled & edited by Harold Myers and copyright 1955 by Avon Publications Inc.

This book, as you have astutely observed for your own self, is a theme book. There are challenges with this narrow and not so deep theme. You will realize within moments why there aren't any companion cartoon cliche books from Ace like THE BIG BOOK OF BOSS CHASING THE SECRETARY AROUND A DESK CARTOONS or PRISONER SHACKLED TO THE WALL CARTOONS, etc.
"What goes on on a desert isle -- and what comes off???" reads the back cover blurb. Above is an unsigned (and well drawn) wordless cartoon the epitomizes the tone of the book. Ahh. The 1950s, back when being pervy was fodder for laughs!

"Been here a while?"

I really like a lot of the line work in the cartoons. It's crisp and looks professional. Problem is -- most of these cartoons are unsigned. Those that are, I don't know the cartoonist.

"Keep it up, Dearie, the wind is rising"

Above is a cartoon that had an interesting gag -- and it reminded me of brass player cartoony pal Mark Anderson as well.

"Oh no! Not chewing gum here too!"

The woman in the background seems greatly amused by this fellow getting annoyed. One touch that I liked was the drawing of the clenched hands; each one in a slightly different position, just like it would be in real life. The cartoonist who drew this is not afraid to draw. A good working-in of the palm in the background; a necessary visual tell to let us know we're on a desert island.



Above: a rather lush and large island, with the typical gag of the desert island guys and gals.





One of my favorite cartoons from the book. There's another cartoon that has a similar gag (see just below), but this one (one of the few to showcase that a woman also has her needs) is put together with such an expert reclining figure. Look at her dainty left foot, dangling languidly, as she smilingly daydreams.

"But aren't there any male mermaids?"

Does it make sense for a desert island to have a cactus instead of a palm tree? It's the only cactus in the book, except for the partially obscured on on the cover. I like the little fish jumping out for a brief ogle.

"Alright, already! Have your daily track workout, but not all day!"

It's good to keep yourself in shape. Above, a good gag about what to do with all the time on your hands when shipwrecked.

"Dearie, I have some great news for you!"

Another cartoon about what has gone on over time on a desert island.

"And now the mast is installed and all we need is a little bit of cloth."

Looks to me like he has more than her. I look at this and am confounded by the crosshatching. Is it a sky effect? A twig canopy?

"I don't know why we're running ... in a week we'll probably be chasing him."

Another concession that sex runs rampant on these "nautical but nice" (quote from the frontispiece) South Sea islands. A nice conceit that the lady chasees may soon become future chasers. One mistake: cropping off the top of the seminal palm tree. Now it doesn't read like a palm tree and the only way I know it's an island for sure is because it appears in the book SOUTH SEA CARTOONS.

"Hands off! It's for Daddy's birthday!"

And, last but not least, let's include a cannibal gag. If SOUTH SEA CARTOONS were published today, there would be Lost and Gilligan's Island references in place of these politically incorrect cartoons.

Tom Tomorrow

4/26/08, Johnny D's, Boston MA - Tom Tomorrow (AKA Dan Perkins), Mark Parisi, Mike Lynch

On Saturday, April 26th, Tom Tomorrow spoke at a National Cartoonists Society New England Chapter get together. This is the NE chapter's "Post-Post-Post Holiday Party."

Tom Tomorrow is not his real name. He's actually a regular Midwestern guy named Dan Perkins. But Tom Tomorrow was the pen name he used in his 20s and it stuck. The name of his editorial cartoon is This Modern World. It can be seen at Salon, and some other sites. But Salon gets it first. Dan encouraged us attendees to go to Salon and register, so they can comment on the cartoon.

A couple of highlights:

He showed us some really early cartoons, including his first ever published illustration from a 1983 Des Moines Register. His pay: nothing, but at the time he was so happy to be published, he didn't care. He also showed some early strips, drawn in what he called his Kliban-influenced style, before he moved toward his "found art" style.

Known for his wordy cartoons, he showed a jam strip he did with Bill Griffiths, who also draws the very wordy Zippy. He also showed a large number of his This Modern World cartoons. We got to see Keith Olbermann read "Bill O'Reilly's very useful advice for young people, as channeled by vile left-wing smear merchant Tom Tomorrow," from the November 30, 2007 editionof the TV show Countdown.

As I mentioned, Dan's cartoons can be seen in a lot of places (The Funny Times, The Village Voice, etc.), but what I didn't know is that The Huffington Post, which will post a This Modern World cartoon from time to time, does not pay for content. In HuffPo's case, to paraphrase Dan, that makes it 25 years of working "for the exposure." Ugh!

1949 King Features Exhibit Cards

Via my inky pal's Mark Anderson's Andertoons blog is a set of 22 promotional 1949 King Features Exhibit Cards. I agree with Mark, I've never seen anything like these and assume they are tied into a promotional aspect; placards for newsstand display, for instance. They do provide a fun glimpse at the comics nearly 60 years ago.

Related: 1949 Famous Artists & Writers King Features Syndicate book.

Easy Gardening

We got nine cubic yards of compost for our raised beds. The dumptruck dumped it here on Monday. We have three 6x12 raised beds. It took me about an hour to fill up one of them. Then my neighbor drove over in his back hoe. That's him, above. He filled the other two in five minutes. Wow!



I got connections!

Now to figure out what to plant! We're using the rest of the compost for planting flowers along the side of the house.

Magazine Gag Cartoons Online UPDATED

Or, if you prefer, Magazine Gag Cartoons Without Papercuts.

I'm asked if you can see magazine cartoons online. What with the price of gas, this is a good, frugal question! I think pretty much everyone knows that there are New Yorker cartoons online, but what about the other major markets?

Here is a list, in no particular order, of magazines and where on line you can see the magazine cartoons (if the have them online, that is). I would alphabetize this list for you, but I am lazy. Please forgive! And if anyone has corrections, please let me know!

• First for Women This grocery checkout line mag which runs anywhere from one to maybe four cartoons, is published every three weeks. The cartoons are not online. They run cartoons about overworked moms, crazy things kids say, clueless dads, and some low-lying puns.

• Women's World Ditto.

• Good Housekeeping is getting out of the gag cartoon business, despite what they say. No longer publishing original submissions, the Hearst-owned monthly runs four New Yorker cartoons per issue. But there are no cartoons in the May issue. I was told last year that they are still in the gag cartoon buying business, but I still don't get my SASEs returned.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Why oh why is Hearst buying content from Conde Nast (New Yorker's parent co.), one of its big competitors?

• The New Yorker You can click and see the slideshow for the current issue, as well as their caption contest cartoon. New Yorker buys all rights.
  
  
• Playboy has no online cartoon content for the gen pop. Their content might surprise: it's a great mix of some racy, sexy cartoons, as well as some really funny general cartoons. Playboy buys all rights.
  
  
• Prospect (UK) Prospect is a monthly magazine of ideas. In March, they began showing their single panel gag cartoons online, beginning with their April issue. This month, the cartoons are missing not only for the current May issue, but they were also scrubbed from the April Web page.
  UPDATE APRIL 26, 2008: I was promised by the editor that the cartoon will appear and -- BEHOLD -- they have, at least in part. The cartoons are up for the current May issue, but the April cartoons are still AWOL. They are still having trouble converting the JPEG color palate to that limited GIF colors, making the cartoons look grainy, washed out and off-hue.
  
  
• The Oldie (UK) from their Web site:

"What is THE OLDIE?

"RICHARD INGRAMS WRITES: 'After editing Private Eye for over twenty years, I decided in 1992, along with a group of friends (Auberon Waugh, Alexander Chancellor and Stephen Glover), to launch The Oldie. The aim was to produce an antidote to youth culture but, more importantly, a magazine wih emphasis on good writing, humour and quality illustration. Sixteen years later, The Oldie can well claim to be a success story, attracting some of our best writers, illustrators and cartoonists.'"

I've sold a few to The Oldie, but they are hard market to crack -- as is the Spectator (UK).

• Wall Street Journal Above is a free link to its editorial page with its long-running five-day-a-week Pepper ... and Salt gag panel.
  
  
• Barron's No cartoons online for this premier business weekly. This is too bad because they have some terrific ones!
  

• Harvard Business Review Above is a link to the current issue. You can navigate by going here and toggling the drop down menu on the right, that will take you as far back as July 1995.
  
  
• Punch This is a link to the Punch Magazine cartoon library. Punch folded in 2002, and its obviously not a market today, but there is an extensive digital library of images from its history, which began in 1841.
  
  
• Reader's Digest RD doesn't have a place to read the current cartoons per se, but there is a newsletter site where you can browse through some of their recently published (the last 5- 6 years) cartoons.
  
  
• Saturday Evening Post is aimed at an older readership, and publishes a good number of cartoons in every issue. The mag has a "Cartoon of the Day" at the page and I don't see a backlog available. Please tell me if I'm wrong since they would have one of the world's largest backlogs! SEP runs a lot of family-friendly cartoons, with emphasis on kids and moms, and they like fishing gags a lot too. Warning: SEP pays on publication.
  
  
• Spectator (UK) This UK weekly runs up to a dozen cartoons a week. The interface for viewing the cartoons is not the best, and sometimes the reproduction is unnecessarily dinky. Quirky editorial comments appear in call out boxes as you hover your arrow over the thumbnails, too.

Of course, a number of magazines have gotten out of the magazine cartoon business: Better Homes & Gardens, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, etc. I'm not showcasing some specialized markets like The Chronicle of Higher Education or Hustler. Some markets, like Medical Economics, I just don't know much about and haven't ever seen the actual magazine.

Again, if you have some corrections, if you see omissions -- please let me know.

A tip of the hat to Pletch for letting me know about Prospect's site in the first place. He heard it from Dave Carpenter, who told me about the WSJ link.

Lunch with Delgado, Weber, Piro & Lynch

At eleven AM last Friday, I was watching some Larry Semon comedy shorts with live piano accompaniment. It was part of Mirthquake, a 4-day long annual silent comedy festival in Manchester, NH. Semon was a cartoonist turned comedian. He was big in the 1920s, but forgotten now. A very young Oliver Hardy was the heavy, and the films stuck to the hero-fight-villain-rescue-girl formula. Most of it involved chases, pratfalls, and lots of mugging. It's eighty years later, and the Semon shorts do not look as innovative as they must've looked back then. Richard M. Roberts writes astutely about Larry Semon's career here, and why Semon is forgotten now.


Above: Roy Delgado and Stephanie Piro.

Anyway, here's the background on last Friday: Stephanie Piro and I drove across the state of New Hampshire, to Manchester, to meet with gag cartoonist Roy Delgado and King Features cartoonist Bob Weber. We got there early to see some of those silent movies, and then we headed to the local Irish pub Shaskeen to talk cartoon shop talk.

Stephanie is one of King Features Six Chix, and she also syndicates the humor panel Fair Game. She has a variety of great t-shirts and other items in her shop. I own many of them!

Roy Delgado is one of the most published gag cartoonists today. His new book A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE NEW YORKER, in which he talks about what drives him and his multi-year campaign to get published in The New Yorker.


Mike Lynch and "Moose & Molly" cartoonist Bob Weber.

Bob was showing us a Sunday section of a Trenton newspaper that a fan had given him. There, at the top of the page was "Moose," and underneath was his son's comic "Slylock Fox." Right there, on the same page: Bob Weber, Sr., and Bob Weber, Jr.

Note: There are three Bob Webers actively cartooning; the two above, and Bob Weber of The New Yorker magazine.

We had a good time, talking about cartoons and projects and editors and so on.

Roy told us about his job before cartooning: head of his own sign making company. The drive that he had in that job has now been transferred full-time to his cartooning career.

The hours passed too quickly by.

On the walk back to the car, we went past this old timey soda shop. It had seen better days.

We walked inside. Yup, there were stools and an old marble counter. I saw an Al Ross cartoon from the 1970s on the wall . All right, Dilbert and Far Side I have seen -- but I've never seen anyone tape up a 35 year old Al Ross cartoon.

I asked if I could take a photo. I got the fisheye look from the woman who ran the place, then she shrugged her shoulders and made an "Eh!" sound. I took this to be an OK.

"Winning is crucial to my retirement plans."

Amen!

Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Winner Announced

Juana Medina, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, has won the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship. Administered by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation, the $5000 award will be presented at the annual NCS Reubens dinner on May 24, 2008. More from Daryl Cagle's site here.

Congratulations, Juana!

MOST OUTRAGEOUS Review

Steve Duin writes a thoughtful review of MOST OUTRAGEOUS THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF DWAINE TINSLEY AND CHESTER THE MOLESTER by Bob Levin.

I know nothing about the life of the late Dwaine Tinsley. The fact that the book cover looks like a plain brown wrapper is your tip-off that this is a guy who was the cartoon editor for Hustler magazin. He was best known for drawing the "Chester the Molester" cartoons.

In 1989, he was arrested on several charges, including child molestation. The accuser was his stepdaughter, "Veronica."

"'To those in the front lines of the war against child sexual abuse, Dwaine must have seemed the Target of the Decade,' Levin writes. 'He worked for the most despised magazine in the country. He had created the most reviled character in cartoon history. And he thought child molestation -- the most loathsome bogeyman than rattling our national imagination -- a fit topic for humor ....'"

The harrowing trial went forward. Tinsley claimed that Veronica was a cocaine addict who wanted money and a car. When Tinsley didn't acquiesce, she made up a story about being abused.

Neither stepdaughter nor stepdad backed down from their stories. 3,200 of Tinsley's cartoons were allowed into evidence.

Read the whole review here.

H/t Journalista! (Get well soon, Dirk!)

Kal on Kal

More on Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher: in the video, he talks about his life as a cartoonist, and some particular stories behind some particular covers of The Economist:

Ed Sorel Interview

I missed this interview of cartoonist/illustrator Ed Sorel by Zina Saunders that was posted last week. He talks about starting Pushpin Studios with Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser -- and not being able to draw until he was in his 40s (!):

"That was when I realized that my sketches have more artistic value than my finishes. My wife and I did a book called, 'Word People', which was about people whose names became part of the language like Sandwich and Boycott and stuff like that. And there turned out to be 60 or 70 such people. When I did that book, I resolved that I would do it direct, without tracing. And I think for the most part I did. So suddenly I had a book that looked like nobody else’s, sort of like a signature. If you don’t trace you get a signature.

"I'd realized that tracing was death and I tried to do more and more direct drawing, which is possible to do if you don’t have to have too much information in the picture. If you don’t have to compose Custer’s Last Stand, you can work direct; if you have to paint Custer’s Last Stand , then you have to do a lot of preparation and a lot of tracing. And composition is always very hard for me. That’s why I do a lot of parodies of great painters, because they figured it all out and all I have to do is make fun of them."

I was stunned to see how critical Sorel is of his own work. I really like it, and find his sense of color to be wonderful. Now I know that he is one of those fellows (like me) who chooses to draw right there on the page, with no pencil foundation, to maintain the vitality of the pen line!

Portrait of Sorel by Zina Saunders.

Ed Sorel Web site.

Steve Brodner's "Naked Campaign" Videos

Here's another great chance to see Steve Brodner draw, as well as comment about, the "content-free road to the White House." This is part of The New Yorker's "Naked Campaign" outstanding series of videos by Gail Levin.

Brad Bird on Management

We have all had some bad bosses. I've had a lot of bad bosses. The kind who would blame HIS boss for me not getting a raise that year. The kind that would berate me in front of colleagues and then take me aside to apologize profusely in private. The kind who would take steal my ideas. The kind who told me I was so invaluable to the company that, this year, I could not take a vacation. (I quit that job.) I could go on. We've all been there, right?

Mark Mayerson's Mayerson on Animation blog gives us a peek at Pixar director Brad Bird's management techniques and how he was able to make such good movies by NOT being one of those kinds of bad bosses.

"Before I got the chance to make films myself, I worked on a number of badly run productions and learned how not to make a film. I saw directors systematically restricting people’s input and ignoring any effort to bring up problems. As a result, people didn’t feel invested in their work, and their productivity went down. As their productivity fell, the number of hours of overtime would increase, and the film became a money pit."

Kal Presents The Debate We'd Like to See

From The Economist's editorial cartoonist Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher comes a parody of The 2008 Democratic Debate:

Please Do Not Buy This Book

Some nasty news. Some book publisher in China stole a bunch of art from a Web site and has now published it in a fancy $100 coffee table book. See Luc Latulippe's My illustrations, stolen and published in new book.

Also see his update here.

Hat tip to John Martz & Mike Sterling.

HOW TO BE A SUPER SECRETARY

From the must read A Hole in the Head blog, my pal Johnny C. gives you the HOW TO BE A SUPER SECRETARY 1950s brochure, complete with kitschy (and uncredited) two-tone drawings. He's even added a whole PDF of the entire brochure!

Some selected things a Super Secretary is not to do:

• Chews gum
• Smokes at her desk
• Bobby socks
• Tactless in correction others... even the boss
• Her slip always showing
• Egotistical...smart but not smart enough to hide it

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 22, 2008 WSJ

Today's Earth Day edition of the Wall Street Journal has a cat cartoon of mine. This cartoon actually has a couple of themes, or keywords, that could be associated with it: cats. technology, ring tone, relationships. Sometimes a little bit of serendipity occurs and a cartoon could just as easily fit in a technology mag as well as a cat lovers publication and a women's magazine. And, like some cartoons, there is a bit of a personal touch in the drawing.

I was thinking that you can put anything on your ringtone these days, and so the gag was a natural. The cat "Sebastian," was modeled after my sweet Bertie, a tiger cat of ours who hung out with me in my Brooklyn studio, while our other 2 cats slumbered the day away in the bedroom. He was a great cat, who fought diabetes the last five years of his life. We had to give him injections twice a day.

He passed away a couple years ago. So, it's nice to pay a little personal tribute in a cartoon. I named the cat Sebastian just because it seemed like a funny name -- and more cat-like than "Bertie."

Maybe five years ago, Bertie was on my board. This is, literally, a board that I draw on. He was startled (by some noise outside -- probably a garbage truck going over the Pacific Street speedbump right outside our apartment), and he scrambled away, scratching the living hell out of the board. The board surface was ruined. So, I flipped the board over and started using the other side. I still draw on it, and the deep scratches are still there. I'll always use it, of course, and think of Bertie -- and of all of our other sweet cats (Gus, Opie, Max) who have come and gone.


Above: From a few years back, going clockwise; Bertie, Opie, Mike.

I better go and pat our three current cats: Roo, Sam & Trout now ....

Two from Evan Shaner

Here are a couple of mash ups by Evan Shaner that have been making the Webby rounds, in case you didn't see them. His Ketcham take is darn good!


The Fantastic Four reimagined by Hank Ketcham (scroll down).

The Peanuts gang as Watchmen.

Cartoon Consultants Calendar for April

Hey! Here's that cool Cartoon Consultants Calendar for April over at Craig Yoe's blog. You can tell by his headline that I was nagging him to put it up on his blog by the title Cartoon Consultants Calendar for April, okay Mike Lynch? It's full of great ideas for gag cartoonists!

Here's Craig's description:

"From 1952 this was a guide for gag cartoonists and their writers. It’s set up four months in advance so it gives ideas to creators who can work on and submit ideas that will be printed down.. The calendar is illustrated by Jack Markow whose work I like a lot. I’ve included a little auto-bio thing he did in another publication put out by Cartoon Consultants. This is all fun to look at, but seeing it might actually have some practical use for the gag cartoonists out there still slugging it out. So, I will post a new page on the first day of each month for the rest of 2008."

Thanks, Craig!

In case you missed them:

Cartoonist Consultants Calendar for January

Cartoonist Consultants Calendar for February

Cartoonist Consultants Calendar for March

OFFICE LAFFS Edited by Charles Preston

Above: The OFFICE LAFFS cover. The woman is saying, "Thanks for the raise, honey!" The gag line, which was at the bottom of the cover, got accidentally unscanned due to slovenliness of the man at the scanner (me).

Since when did Bennett Cerf's name sell a book of cartoons? Well, not recently, that's for sure.

Here's a collection of Wall Street Journal cartoons titled OFFICE LAFFS*, copyright 1957, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. This is the first Crest printing, February 1957, which I have mercilessly bent the spine of to scan in for you. You see? Nothing is too good for you!

"Save 88 cents for the milkman."

Doug Follette showcases the undermining, dead end marital relationship at the heart of a WSJ reader. Follete drew the most distinctive sucking-on-a-lemon pouted lips in cartoon history.


Mr. Stamaty with a nice to look at clean line style. Look at all the wonderful details in the kitchen. His son, Mark Alan, went on to cartoon as well!
Above: Dad looks too happy about reading the dry contents of the Congressional Record to his child. Today, Dads have no time to read to their children, and so C-Span is merely streamed on the kids' computer the kid's heard snoring. The cartoon is drawn by Sid Gordin, who created the cartoons along with Vicky, his wife, so (to quote Orlando Busino) "hence the signature 'Sivic.'"




Above: another unhappy marriage cartoon. This one is by Martin Giuffre. I could not, for a moment, figure out exactly where we were supposed to be. It took a few extra seconds.


The one and only Mort Walker, in one of his most reprinted gag cartoons: the quintessential WSJ Salt ... and Pepper cartoon.

"Well, stupid, there's four days work we don't get paid for!"

You see? Not only does management get a poke, but labor as well. John Gallagher wields the ink on this good cartoon. related: John Gallagher is one of the featured cartoonists in 1000 Jokes magazine #79.

"Who's the new man?"

Serrano, who drew the lovely juxtaposition of the wispy smoke rings and the piles of paper, is like so many gag cartoonists; a name on a page, with so little more information on the Web.



Above: Another Serrano cartoon, with some good composition. If he had made the choice to put black on those shoes, or do a grey wash on the suits, then the visual gag would be lost.

"If we can get a subsidy we can give this country what it needs, a good five cent cigar."

Scott Brown draws some cigar smoking board members in a gag that's lost in time. I like how we can see every cigar and every cigar's wisp of smoke clearly.

Above: Brad Anderson of Marmaduke fame, with a breezy styled wordless cartoon that would enrage the unionized waste management people for that guy's building.

"Parasite!"

Follette, once more, with one of the funnier cartoons in the volume. Look atthe Book Ends Salesman, crouched and ready to make a sale in the wake of the Book Sales Salesman. I admire the gag so much.

"Don't be upset if my wife gives you a nasty look, boss.
She doesn't know about those last two raises."

Bob Schroeter; another cartoonist showing us the life of deceit that husbands lead. Again, I'm beholden to Orlando Busino for being able to recognize Mr. Schroeter's signature, which fluctuates from legible to hieroglyphics from cartoon to cartoon.

"I got the worms -- let's go!"

What I noticed here is that Mr. Folette disavowed the showing of the sunrise, a clock, or anything else that would be a "tell" as to the time of day. The expression on the Dad's face is all you need.


Jerry Marcus -- the one and only -- with a joke on the WSJ Cartoon Editor himself.



* from the indicia: "OFFICE LAFFS was originally published by E. P. Dutton &Co., Inc., under the title HEY, CAN'T YOU FORGET BUSINE$$? and this new and expanded Crest edition is reissued at 25 cents through arrangement with that company. "

1949 King Features Cartoonists

Courtesy of James Lileks comes the Famous Artists & Writers King Features Syndicate book. A promo designed to showcase its 1949 talent stable, this book is a great find of unseen art, as well as bios & photos of 53 cartoonists.

Related: James Lileks' The Institute of Official Cheer page.

Big hat tip to Comics Reporter.

CORA'S BREAKFAST

Beginning today, Cora's Breakfast, an all-ages comic by Nick Abadzis, will appear in The Guardian for six successive Saturdays.

Its bright colors, friendly and intriguing character design, make this a fun read. The Cora's Breakfast link above opens a PDF of the first chapter (three pages) of the story.

Nick's graphic novel LAIKA has been nominated in for a National Cartoonists Society Division Award, as well as not one but two Eisner awards (Best Reality-Based Work and Best Publication for Teens).

My thanks to Nick for the heads up on this.

Penciling and Inking Cartoons

"How do you learn to draw?"

The old story goes that you get a big stack of paper, as tall as you are, and take a sheet of paper off the top, and draw on it. Then you take another piece of paper and draw. And so on, drawing on every page. By the time you've gotten to the very bottom of that tall stack, you've improved!

So, you get the bad drawings out of your system. Pretty soon, you can look at a piece of paper and see how you want your picture to be composed.

Speaking for myself and my drawings, I always liked my pencils and hated my inks. I decided that I "freezed up" when inking. I was tracing my relaxed, sketchy pencil line with a static, mechanical, boring line. The ink line made, I believed, everything look dead. It wasn't fun to look at.

I had been drawing with a pencil since I was a kid. Using a fancy schmancy ink pen (a bowl tip Hunt dip pen nib or a Pigma Micron pen or whatever) caused me to hesitate and worry: the ink is PERMANENT and IMPORTANT -- BE CAREFUL! And so I was careful, and my inks were there, but they weren't fun to look at.
"The Macaroni Trio" cartoon, an early Mike Lynch Cartoon from BBC Music Magazine above, shows my heavy inking line. The instruments are too close together with this layout -- not apparent to me when penciling. They don't stand out individually with the addition of the heavy inks paid on top of the spritely pencils. You have to really look for a few seconds to see the fiddle and the bass and the piano. An extra few second to decode a gag cartoon is not good!

I realized I had to keep cartooning, and couldn't just stop in my tracks and try inking a big stack of pencilled cartoons until I got better. No time to draw stuff just for myself. I had to solve this quickly, and still produce salable work.

I was talking to R.J. Matson who, at the time, was head of the NYC National Cartoonists Society Chapter. If I remember correctly, he said he inked entirely with fancy Waterman pens -- the ones that go for a lot of money. But, he said, he loves the looks of his pencils better. They're more free, more full of the energy of drawing.

Well, there it was. That's what I wanted! A lively line line that looked like it was drawn, not traced! I wanted my cartoons to look fresh, like they were out of a sketchbook.

Sure, I can draw in pencil and scan the pencils in to PhotoShop, ratchet up the contrast and -- boom -- it looks like an ink line. But my originals would look pretty pale. I had all ready realized that there's money to be had in selling originals. And potential buyers want what they saw in the published version. Pencils would not look right.

I draw on heavy 24 lb. typing paper. It's not very expensive. And it doesn't bother me to throw away a drawing that isn't going well.

If I stop penciling, and just ink directly, maybe then I could get the line I wanted. And I could then eliminate the penciling altogether. Sure, I may have to toss a lot of the drawings, but I draw pretty fast. And, there would be no erasing. With no penciling and no erasing, this new method could, if I was able to master it, be a time saver.

So, I started to draw on a white piece of paper with no penciling, deciding that if the drawing turned out OK, it was a keeper. And if the drawing didn't work, I would toss it. I drew as fast as I could, but taking a bit of time to picture the composition in my mind.

Above: a rejected cartoon -- for reasons you can figure out. (Although I did get a lovely compliment from Matt Diffee when he happened to see it.) Looking at the tree and the doodley bits of people in the background, I could see that the line was not labored or dead. I don't know if you can see what I mean, but I can.
I started just drawing whatever I could think of. A particularly unpleasant trip to a Target store at Christmas inspired the little card idea above. Again, no pencils; just a micron pen and some wash. Everyone at Target looked dreadfully unhappy, and I was glad I captured that.

"I'm J. Harold Phipps and I meet or exceed my media hype."

J. Harold Phipps is maybe too sketchy, but I do like his body language: leaning into his gait as he walks swiftly toward his networking target with his pointy hand. I don't think I could've achieved this vitality with penciling first.

Above is another of the hundreds of drawings that I've done with no pencil foundation. Again, I think I'm fortunate that I can look at a piece of paper and see what I want where. I think that it becomes easier and easier to manage layout the more you draw.


So, that's my little production secret: no penciling. I like the line I get when the drawing tool is actually drawing, y'know? And, after doing a lot of drawings like this (maybe not as many as would be in a six foot high stack), I'm able to draw faster and I'm not afraid of the ink pen! I don't think it's for everyone, but drawing without pencils really freed me up, gave my cartoons a better look, and made me happier.

And, yes, I do recycle all those crumpled up drawings at the local recycling facility!

POPEYE: Bobby London's Final Weeks

Every week I hear about cartoon controversies (Tom Spurgeon has Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update a couple of times a week; the latest one is here). They have been going on since before the Muhammad cartoons.

Here's a little info. about the big Popeye controversy from 16 years ago with, so far as I've been able to tell via Web searches, the unseen final weeks of Bobby London's tenure on the strip. Maybe you've heard the story, maybe you haven't. Regardless, here is the background on what happened, as well as the strips themselves.

From 1986 until he was fired in 1992, Bobby London had a dream job: drawing POPEYE for King Features Syndicate. When asked if Segar was a seminal influence on him, London replied:

"Segar was, as far as my career, as far as making a decision to be a professional cartoonist, Segar was the seminal influence in my career. I've been drawing cartoons since I was four years old. I grew up as fascinated with the Max Fleischer Popeye because I used to get beat up by big, fat kids all the time, so naturally I sort of gravitated to Popeye because he kind of took care of all the fictitious bullies in my head. But as I got a little older, as I reached junior high school age, I stumbled upon the legendary E.C. Segar version, which I had heard about from my dad, when he would talk to me about it, and, uh, he regaled great stories of Olive Oyl's mysterious little brother, Castor Oyl, and...the Sea Hag and a lot of other characters, so when I actually saw these old strips, I was mesmerized, and it joined the ranks of some of my other favorite old-time strips that I admired at the time, like Mutt and Jeff, and Barney Google, but I would chance to say that it really took front and center in my imagination."

-- from S.C. Ringgenberg's 1992 interview with Bobby London at the Comic Art & Grafix Gallery

Years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Bobby London. We got together a couple of times, when he lived in NYC. I heard his story of how this was his ultimate gig, to follow in the footsteps of Popeye's creator. He was picked to continue the strip by Bill Yates, who had learned cartooning via a correspondence course with E.C. Segar himself!

In 1992, London, who, at that point, was both writing and drawing the strip for six years, introduced a Home Shopping Club storyline for Olive Oyl. Thus begins the below controversial and, so far as I understand, final three weeks of the Popeye strip under London's direction. They're scanned from copies of proofsheets, so the quality is not great.

Popeye is copyright King Features and is currently drawn by the one and only Hy Eisman.




There you have it. Please make up your own mind.

Saturday is Shred Day at Holy Rosary!

If you're in the Dover, NH vicinity (and if you don't know if you are, then you probably aren't), drop by the Holy Rosary Credit Union on Saturday. It's Shred Day!

And it's free to one and all, even if you're not a HRCU member!

• 5 box maximum per person/business
• Drop it off or stay and watch

And, just to make it all the sweeter, there's a FREE Hot Dog Lunch 10:00 am - 12:00 pm!

No, I'm not making any of this up! Not a dream, not a hoax! How the Pope could not include a visit to HRCU Shred Day is such a danged Papal oversight!

P.S. I really am a HRCU member.

COLLEGE LAUGHS

Above: Cartoonist Bill Riley gives us a socko cover for the first issue of COLLEGE LAUGHS (1958). Really, after seeing this, you don't need me to explain what the mag is about, now do you?

"It may not be that much -- you know how lousey [sic] you are at math."

Above: the first page of the bimonthly digest-sized magazine. It's a cartoon with a signature that I cannot for the life of me decode. You know you're in for a lax editorial style when there's a misspelling right there on page one.

COLLEGE LAUGHS is copyright 1958 by Candor Publishing Co., Inc., S.W. Canton, Ohio.

"Now get out there and toss those curves!"

One of the delights about COLLEGE LAUGHS is that it's heavy on early Don Orehek cartoons. Don is not only a favorite cartoonist of mine -- as well as a fellow Berndt Toast Gang member -- I'm happy to say he's also a friend. No way are his cartoons lax. They are full of energy and purpose!

"Hello, Miss Benson? This is Peter Smith ... Peter ... P as in the person you met last night, E as in evening out like you promised, T as in taking it for granted you meant it, E as in eating at your favorite cafe, R as in ready. Are you?"

Above: Bill Riley with a rather lengthy (but enjoyable) gag line. Remember when there were pay phones? Remember when there were phone books? Remember when guys wore bow ties and carnations?


Above: a great Orehek drawing. The fawning guy (just look at his limp right hand); the woman, leaning back, smiling, as she delivers the ego crushing news to that poor schlub.

"I only came out here with you because I heard something about neck and neck. When do we get to do that?"

Bill Riley shows us a rather pedestrian scene of a young woman and a young man. But whatta woman! The line is a zinger.



"Da -- What no comic books?" Don Orehek's "Gene Yus" is a six page set up for what could be a series of cartoons. Alas, this is only a taste of the character, whose chubby cheeked face is in a perpetual snobby superior sneer at people who like comic books. I also like the politically incorrect comic conceit that mentally slow people begin every one of their sentences with a "da."

"Look I got an 'A' in Biology."

Above: fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Jim Ruth has a number of cartoons in COLLEGE LAUGHS. This fellow, with the uncool Jughead style hat, has the most un-come-on line ever.

"It's been a lovely evening, let's spoil it."

Above: Dig Don lighting the above cartoon from the floor ala a horror movie. Note our man leaning in, his legs ready to scramble toward her, while she has her knees locked together. No one can draw a girl in a tight sweater like Don Orehek -- but, hey, I'm sure you've noticed that by now! Great line too. Did I mention I love Don's cartoons? Did I?

"He keeps giving me looks. I'm wondering if he considers me intellectual or dumb?

I really liked the gag above. Very ambiguous, and very much what being in your 20s is all about: choosing what you are and what your place is in the ol' world and all that. Whew! That's way too much philosophizin' for a blog about cartoons! Don uses that bell tower shape (there's one just like it at Brooklyn College) to let you know we're on campus.

"It may not look so good now, sir, but a long walk in a driving rainstorm would make a world of difference."

Bob Campbell draws a cartoon about campus fashion that's beyond me. I do like the very simple lines on the right, noting suits hung on a rod and a sales table. It simply, and with ease, shows you where you are.

"I'd be delighted if it didn't mean we have to start going steady."

Above: More Don Orehek! This is one of my favorites. A great gag line. She's gonna keep the thing no matter what!
Above: the only page of ads in the mag, emphasizing the 3 most important things you can learn from "Sensational Book Bargains:"

1. learn to love,
2. learn to dance
3. and learn to fight!

The end back cover with a parting 2-tone Don Orehek cartoon, full of sexy girls! Oo la la! What a fun magazine.

John Martz Draws His Mom's 1968 Yearbook

John Martz, who is absolutely mad (but in a good way I think, maybe, probably), did a little drawing project. Well, not little -- it's danged big -- and it was just for fun:

"Last year I redrew my mother’s entire high school yearbook from 1968—over a thousand heads. Good cartooning, to me, is all about simplification, and this was a fun experiment in distilling each person’s likeness down to a simple cartoon version and learning to draw efficiently, with both speed and as few details as possible."

Here I was thinking that last week, when I posted about drawing 80 characters was a biiiiig deal, Johnny goes ahead and, tempting some serious carpal tunnel, draws a thousand! I'm eating some serious Canadian dust.

See all 1000 heads at Flickr.

Buy the book.

Big hat tip to Journalista!

Oddball Comics LIVE Presented by Scott Shaw!

If you've ever visited Oddball Comics, an affectionate and very informative site about real life oddball comic books and the people who created them, then you'll be happy to know that Scott Shaw! (Yes, it's spelled with an exclamation point!) has taken is Web site on the road. Here is some video of his presentation:



More here:

Oddball Comics Part 2 - Lucky
Oddball Comics Part 3 - Space Western
Oddball Comics Part 4 - Sardineland
Oddball Comics Part 5 - Bizarro
Oddball Comics Part 6 - Popular Teenagers
Oddball Comics Part 7 - Supergirl and Calling All Boys

RELATED:

Fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Dan Danglo emailed me about his comic book BACHMAN THE MASTER RAILROADER. He wrote:

Mike: I came across this accidentally....Thought you might like to use it your blog...Best, Dan

You bet, Dan. For the whole story go to Scott Shaw!'s site Oddball Comics and click here.

Charles and Linda Preston Interview

"Meet the Prestons: Editors who entertain and inform us" by Norm Ritter of the York County Post Star, recounts the life of the man who brought daily gag cartoons to the stuffy ol' Wall Street Journal. And he also does puzzles and acrostics and so on.

"The Journal now has five cartoon slots each week for which Preston fields about a thousand submissions.

"'I've looked at more cartoons than anyone in the history of mankind,' he says."

Let's see, cartoon editor at WSJ from June 6, 1950 to present. Yeah, I think he's got the record!

That reminds me, I have a Rapunzel cartoon on my desk that I have to redraw for the WSJ and the Prestons! Anyway, I first sold to WSJ maybe 8 years ago now, and Charles has always been accessible. Linda is also just the nicest person. She always puts a note in to say hi. Nice to know that my new neighbors (they live in MA, and summer in ME) are so friendly.

Related: "Funny Side of the Street" cartoon collection at that Harvard Business School Baker Library. That's where I snagged the caricature of Mr. Preston.

Related: Cartoonist Eli Stein on Preston and the WSJ, "my first sale to a major market."

Related: selected photos of Preston-edited cartoon collections from Christopher Wheeler's site.

Big hat tip to Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter for catching this one.

Cover Letters

When I first started to cartoon, I knew nobody and knew nothing about the business. Since I had been unsuccessful in selling a comic strip to the syndicates, I decided I would try for magazine cartooning.

I knew I could find the address of the art director of a magazine by looking in the masthead. I knew to really look at the publication to determine what kind of cartoons they might like. I knew if I worked hard, I could make a go at getting published.

But what about a cover letter? They don't know who I am.

I only did a cover letter maybe the first year that I drew magazine cartoons. I wrote all the usual things, telling editors:

• my name,
• that I was a full-time freelance cartoonist,
• that my work had all ready appeared in _________, ________, and __________,
• and that I was able and willing to do other stuff, like illustrations, in addition to cartoons.

Heck, the "full-time freelance cartoonist ... willing to do other stuff" description was really just code for "I just quit my day job and am scared out of my ever lovin' mind that I will never see another dime, so I'm willing to mow your lawn, drive the kids to Gymboree, clean out your septic tank, etc."

I tried my best at mentioning places where my work had appeared that might impress. I had done computer graphics work for a number of large companies in NYC. It wasn't cartooning, but I mentioned it.

Along with the cover letter in the manila envelope (cheaper than the white envelope) would be a batch of 10-15 magazine cartoons for the editor to look at, along with a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

I would mail cartoons to magazines for months. Every thirty days, out would go another batch, another SASE and that same old cover letter.

After a while, I got rid of that cover letter. I was getting tired of including the thing, even though I knew that it reassured the reader who I was and what I was doing.

But, my batch of cartoons could speak for itself. It didn't need reassurance.

It took about 6 months before I made my first sale to a national magazine.

My thanks to Richard Blanco for suggesting this idea at the Andertalk forum.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 2008 PROSPECT

Above: on the left, Prospect's GIF, on the right, my JPEG.

I have a cartoon in this month's issue of Prospect magazine. Prospect is a monthly magazine of opinion and literature, based in London. I like Prospect. Always some thoughtful writing in there. Plus, they publish cartoons and isn't that nice? Well, it's more than nice. It's an added expense for them, as well as an extra editorial exercise, what with sifting through the submissions for the Prospect editors. But isn't it nice that a magazine is making the time to have some cartoons in it? I wish more did.


Above is my drawing for the mag. The gag -- this time -- came easy. I was just asking myself if spring would ever come. What if it did and it was all some illusion.

Above: Prospect's GIF, at their site, which shows a small slide show of that issue's current cartoons. This is the first month that they've done this (my thanks to Pletch for letting me know about the site), and, for some reason, the colors are all wonky.

But let me talk about magazine cartoons. "People love cartoons," I am told. So why aren't more mags buying?

I've posted about this on Mark Anderson's chat board Andertalk:

Most editors are now doing page layout. They pull a graphic (from Getty or some other online photo source) and then their graphic for their article done. They can then go to lunch, or go home, or run to the pub.

Let's say an editor chooses to contact a pro for an original illustration or a cartoon. . It's a lot more work on their part. It involves the call, an explanation, reviewing roughs, deciding on a final version, approving the finish, OKing an invoice, etc. All standard editor business -- except now, with photo resources right there on the Web, they don't have to.

"Why are cartoonist organizations letting gag market after gag market die?"

It's not their decision to make.

If readers and advertisers wanted cartoons, then the editors might take notice.

But cartoons, as well as illustration, require a lot more editorial steps than simply pulling an image from a stock house. A stock house, full of cheap pre-made, searchable images, is easy and there's time for lunch.

Most mags are aware of cartoons, but they don't want to spend the time and money. It's easier to run a house ad.

Comic Strip Ads

I like Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog more and more.

This past week he's showcased comic strips used in advertising. Click away at some of the great art and insights in case you missed this week:

• Comic Strip Ads - Delight of the Morons
• Comic Strip Ads: Something for Everyone?
• Comic Strip Ad Artist Tom Scheuer
• Meanwhile, On the West Coast...
• Smokin' Comic Strip Ads!

Draw 80 Characters in 15 Minutes

The challenge that I put to my cartoon class on its last day was to draw 80 different characters as quickly as possible. I handed out sheets of paper, all sectioned out in grids. In each grid was a word:

Robot, Mad Dog, Doctor, Baby, Cowgirl, Sea Captain, Superhero, Mugger, Artist, Teacher, Astronaut, T-rex, Frankenstein’s Monster, Police, Vampire, Nerd, Musician, Robot, Devil, Shark, Athlete, Goth, Caveman, Cartoonist, Cowboy, Baseball Player, Abraham Lincoln, Batman, Truck Driver, Businessman, Bunny, Martian, Fish, Hydrant, Lone Ranger, Mouse, Angry Waiter, Skull, Man with Big Nose, Snake, Bird, Clown, Hippo, TV, UFO, Guy with Beard, Runner, Cool Car, Unicorn, Lightning Bolt, Alien, Penguin, Chef, Presidential Candidate, Munchkin, Cartoon Sound Effects, Melting Snowman, Bee, Octopus, Crook, Fast Food Employee, Cactus, Lion, King, Ballerina, Rock Star, Spongebob, Lobster, Ostrich, Snoring, Skateboarder, Paperboy, Hydrant, Astronomer, Centipede, Bicycle, Charlie Brown, Santa, Mean Kid, Frog

Above: all 80, all done, in 15 minutes. Click to super-size!

The first time we did this drawing exercise, we picked a square on a page and drew that particular character, and then passed the paper on to the next person to the left so he could draw another one and so on and so on, in a round robin fashion until the pages (five pages, 16 squares each) were completed. It took us almost a half hour, even with me filling in some squares.

Favorites: Skull, T-rex, rock star, Alien, Robot, Mad Dog

Least Favorites: Presidential Candidate, Charlie Brown, Cowgirl, Lion

The second time, we did it in 15 minutes. OK, so the last minute there were the guys, all pencilling on the same page, as the others counted down the seconds. But we did it.

What was great about this exercise was seeing how fearless the kids were in drawing ANYTHING. I reminded them that they are cartoonists and as cartoonists, you gotta be able to draw a lot of different characters. It's not easy, but it's a learnable skill. And so many of the guys put in some great touches in their drawings: for "Munchkin," the Dunkin' Donuts donut holes that are brandnamed "Munchkin" are depicted; "Fish" is drawn as a grinning, snaggle-toothed shark with a knife and fork; look at the TV-14 rating for the "TV" square; the "Ostrich" laying an ostrich egg; the "Artist" painting a painting, complete with paint palette; the "Alien," with his UFO whirring around in the background. Some really wonderful, conscious choices made here to help communicate who these characters are!

(And, yes, I know there are 2 words above that are repeated. I need an editor!)


Related: Finish This Comic Strip!

Mirthquake April 17-20

A hundred years ago, there were no movies based no graphic novels. But there were comedy shorts based on comic strips!

The Mirthquake silent/early sound comedy film festival is next weekend in Manchester, NH. I didn't know about it until I got an email from cartoonist Roy Delgado. Thanks, Roy!

There are three days of FREE screenings during the day. The movies they show at night you gotta pay for.

Aside from a rare showing of the films of cartoonist Larry Semon, there will be a series of comedy shorts based on comic strips on Saturday, April 19th:

• At Your Service (A Hallroom Boys Comedy)[Federated Film Exchanges; 1921] Featuring Sid Smith and Harry McCoy
• Oh Ma The Rent Taker(?) (A Hallroom Boys Comedy)[C.B.C. Film; 1915] Featuring Sid Smith and Jimmie Adams
• Danger Ahead (Hairbreadth Harry Series)[Weiss Bros. Artclass Pictures; 1926] Featuring Jack Cooper
• Mickey's Big Game Hunt (Mickey "Himself" McGuire[Larry Darmour-F.B.O.; 1928] Featuring Mickey Rooney
• Buster's Nose Dive Buster Brown Series [Stern Brothers-Universal; 1926] Featuring Arthur Trimble and "Tige"

The Hall Room Boys (later retitled Percy & Ferdy) was a comic strip by a Nova Scotian cartoonist living in New York City by the name of H.A. McGill.

Above Hairbreadth Harry graphic from the Barnacle Press Web site, and fine site it is!

Hairbreadth Harry appeared in 1906, the same year as The Hall Room Boys debut. C.W. Kahles crafted a continuing story full of cliffhangers, a girl who needed rescuing from a bad guy. It was a precursor to the movie serial formats.


Above: Mickey Rooney as Mickey McGuire, in a photo nicked from Leonard Maltin's Journal. That's Billy Barty behind him.

Mickey "Himself" McGuire is a little bully character from Fontaine Fox's Toonerville Folks (1908-1955) comic panel. All seventeen of the Toonerville Trolley films (1920-21) were written my Mr. Fox and were the most successful of the Betzwood Studio. Only 7 of the films survive today.


Toonerville related: There will be a salute to actress Wilna Hervey, (see the above page from Motion Picture Magazine, December 1920) who played "The Powerful Katrinka" on May 3, 2008 at the Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, PA. More at the Betzwood Studio page.



Buster Brown, Richard Outcault's upper-crust scamp who would have a raucous multi-panel story where he ruined a tea party or something like that, and then, at the end, would stand solemnly (with his dog Tige) and profess what he had learned (see above). And then of course, there's the merchandising and the shoes and it all made Outcault rich.

Related podcast: Buster Brown's legacy, a 2002 NPR report.

All of these comic strip films are free and open to the public.

"Amateurs" Nominated for Professional Recognition Awards

Is stuff that you can get for free on the Web -- Web-made comics and Web-only videos -- is it as worthy as comics by paid print, TV and movie professionals?

Like the Magic 8-Ball says, All signs point to yes.

The Nebula Awards recently nominated a half-dozen science fiction scripts for award consideration, like they do every year:

"Children of Men" by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (Universal Studios, Dec06)

"Blink" by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, BBC/The Sci-Fi Channel, Sep07 (Aired on SciFi Channel 14Sep07))

"Pan's Labyrinth" by Guillermo del Toro (Time/Warner, Jan07)

"The Prestige" by Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan (Newmarket Films, Oct06 (Oct 20, 2006 -- based on the novel by Christopher Priest))

"V for Vendetta" by Larry & Andy Wachowski (Warner Films, Mar06 (released 3/17/2006 -- Written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and published by Vertigo/DC Comics))

"World Enough and Time" by Marc Scott Zicree & Michael Reeves (Star Trek: New Voyages, http://www.startreknewvoyages.com, Aug07 (Aired 8/23/07))

That last nomination, for a STAR TREK amateur film made by fans that's available for viewing on the Web, is causing some professionals to cry foul. And that same Web video is also nominated for a Hugo.

Time Magazine named the Web comic Achewood as Best Graphic Novel of the year; "... so profoundly genius it would be a crime to put it anywhere but on this list, and at the top of it."

Webcomics, graphic novels -- TV, movies, streaming Webcasts --amateur, professional -- does it matter to people who consume it?

It doesn't matter to Time, or the Nebulas or the Hugos.

Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!: The Ballad of Lieutenant D'Amato

I think we all know that if you're on the original STAR TREK and you're wearing a red shirt, then your days are numbered. A smart guy would choose another color shirt. The same color that Spock and McCoy wear! Yeah, that's it!

But that's no guarantee ....

Laugh out loud at The Ballad of Lieutenant D'Amato by Bully! Thanks for this, Bully!

Above: Photo of actor Arthur Batanides from STAR TREK (The Old Show), as "Lieutenant D'Amato," the Senior Geologist, in the episode That Which Survives from Memory Alpha.

Below: Photo of Lee Meriweather as "Losira," ditto other information.

"I am for Lt. D'Amato."

Related: Trekmovie.com rounds up TREK title sequence mash-up videos.

THE SECRET WORLD OF ROY WILLIAMS

Above: Roy Williams in a photo from The Mickey Mouse Club TV series. More at The Mickey Mouse Club Cast Web site here.

"Here's a great big guy that spends his days wearing a mouse hat and drawing cartoons for kids. What do you suppose he thinks of when the kids are asleep?"

I don't know a lot about The Mickey Mouse Club. I didn't watch it growing up. I did know there was a large guy who smiled a lot on the show. His name was Roy. He was an animator and a gag guy for Disney. This is a collection of his gag cartoons, copyright 1957 by Bantam Books.

I got as big a kick out of the fun hyperbole on the book as I did the cartoons.


Above: Roy's dedication page, in Roy's handwriting.

In 1925 Roy was hired by the Hyperion Studio after a short conversation with someone he took for the office boy (it was Walt). This was the beginning of Roy's lifelong personal loyalty to Walt Disney. Walt paid for Roy's training at the Chouinnard Art School, and took him on in the Art Department. As Roy's skill and experience grew, he was moved to the Animation Department, first as an in-betweener, then as a full-fledged animator. Roy's strength was judged to be as a story and gag man, and by the start of the fifties he had moved away from animation.

-- a snippet of Roy's bio from The Mickey Mouse Club Cast Web site. Now you know why he dedicated the tome to Walt.



A lot of the gags in the book are just zany. His line work is very breezy and bold. There's an ease to the line that comes with lots of years of drawing behind him.



Some of the ideas here are tinged with some sad truths, like the cartoon above. Both men look nonplussed about this chance encounter.


Some are racist, bad puns in today's light. As you can see, most of these are in the "stand 'em up, shoot 'em down" school of composition. The figures are posed in full view, usually in an establishing shot of sorts, with some locale details here and there.

OK, like the one above. I always admire wordless gags, but it took me a few seconds to notice the wee size of the shoe to get the gag here. Their clothes, the framed windmill, are all the clues to where these people live.


I thought a lot of these gags would look fine in Collier's or the Saturday Evening Post. So far as I can tell, none of the cartoons in this book had been published previously.


The above cartoon, with the fellow doing the double-take, exhibits Roy's animation drawing ability. The fellow's left leg, jutting out, askew, is a nice touch. (Dig the pedestal ash tray.)


What's interesting is that none of the cartoons are signed. Every gag cartoonist from the period signed their work. I liked the above gag a lot.


A lot of his gags depend on his drawing ability. The bold lines would be a big plus in today's market where print cartoons are usually shrunk mercilessly.


Like I said, some of the gags are just odd.


... And some are prescient today. Again: the clothing, the doorway -- these are all the clues to where we are -- something we must know to get the cartoon.


What an evil grin on the policeman's face!


Related: Roy Williams risque cartoons at Arflovers.

HONEY I'M HOME! edited by Marione R. Nickles Part 2

Above: the back cover.

This is the second post with cartoons scanned from HONEY I'M HOME! ("Hundreds of Jokes -- And the Jokes are on Everybody! Mirthful, Uproarious -- A cartoonist's-eye view of men and women in their frankest and funniest moments --"), a Bantam Books paperback edited by Marione R. Nickles, copyright 1954 by E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc. Part One is here.

Above, Bill Harrison explores a the theme of a doomed fishing excursion. (Looking at his signature, looks like it's time to replace your Hunt crowquill, Mr. Harrison!)




Above: a silly wife/hubby gag from Hank Baeb. I admire how clearly he draws the tools and the board with the holes. The fellow has obviously come down the steps, disturbed from after-work newspaper reading by the sound of the Mrs. drilling hole after hole. Expertly telegraphed gag cartoon!


Clyde Lamb showing what goes on every day at Penn Station and Grand Central, then and now.

Gutav Lundberg does a wonderful job on the background: just some flags and hints of the tops of other cars and -- voila -- an expert job at conveying the sense that you are in a car lot.

You can see a photo of Gus Lundberg courtesy of Eli Stein, as well as a gaggle of other magazine cartoonists, here.

Jerry Marcus shows is that Herbert Throckmorton does NOT give up. Additionally funny: the onlookers don't even notice Henry!



Above: one of the universal laws of being a parent. Charles Skiles' cartoon works then as well as now.

Walt Wetterberg drew the above cartoon, a corollary to the fishing cartoon above. I like his line; it's very easy and pleasing. Roy Delgado posted an original Wetterberg, and speculates on the pen used, here.


I like the father's nightshirt and slippers. Does anyone wear those any more? I don't know how, but Lundquist is able to make those inky swirls on the carpet without them taking over the composition of the cartoon.


I can't tell if Interlandi's cop is entranced by the lying, pretty young woman or relaxing while she tells her story. I think he may let this woman off.




Jim Whiting proves that there is no new history, just the history you don't know. People are still getting the big screens, of course, but it's so they can watch SAW III or I KNOW WHO KILLED ME or other such drek.


Harry Mace's cartoon made me laugh. I really like the knowledge behind his drawing. The top and bottom angles of the fence, with its subtle angle toward the vanishing point, along with the complementary angle of the lawnmower, as well as the matched juxtaposition of the small figure in the middleground (wife who's egging it on) and the larger figure (angry mowing hubby) in the foreground, combine in correct perspective to give us a sense of depth.

Now who said you don't earn anything from cartoons?


Glenn Bernhardt conveys the horrors of waking up. Dig those separate beds and the ugly little fluorescent lights clamped on their headboards. Yipes!



Vahan Shirvanian's cartoon shows us that a lot of little ink lines can telegraph a good wordless gag.

The above Stan Hunt gag I like very much, but I get a strong sense of deja vu here. I've seen this gag before ... Hmm ....

Oh, it was reprinted in the paperback FOREVER FUNNY edited by Bill Yates and was featured right here on this blog on March 25, 2008.

Mark Anderson Interview

Above: Jaw thrust determinedly outward, hands on hips, Mark "Andertoons" Anderson is ready to leap the Conde Nast building in a single bound! A photo from Mark's visit to NYC in the Fall of 2006.

The Business Owners' Cafe site, "A Fun Approach to Serious Business," interviews my fellow cartoonist and pal Mark Anderson.

What's the toughest part of running your biz?
Explaining to people why their ideas for a cartoon aren't usually very funny. You get a lot of "is there a way we could work our mission statement into the punchline?" Oh yeah, that's a laugh riot!

What's the most fun part?
That "A-HA!" moment where you just crack yourself up and know that your cartoonist buddies will hit themselves in the forehead for not thinking of it first.

Anything you would have done differently?
I probably should've quit my day job sooner. I was surprised how much more art I could get done when I was downsized.

More here.

I really liked the interview. There are certainly times when a client wants to edit a cartoon, and if it's funnier, I don't protest.

And, Mark's "A-HA!" moment is my favorite moment too. I like the writing better than the drawing these days!

And your style, your cartoon drawing style that is, will never mature into your own unless you can produce a lot of drawings. Quitting my regular job was a key to making this happen -- and producing good, consistent, quality cartoons.

I'd like to thank Mark for thanking "Mike" publicly three times. I'd like to, that is, until I realized that there was no last name mentioned, so ... of course he meant Michael Landon, Michael Landon, and Michael Landon.

Damn you, Anderson!!!

But, I gotta admit, Mr. Landon does have great hair.

Finish This Comic Strip

Above: National Cartoonists Society Division Award nominee for Magazine Illustration Daryll Collins (Thanks Daryll!) tries his hand at solving our three comic strips. Details below:

As you may remember, I posted three comic strips without a final panel.

The alligator strip:


Astronaut strip:
And the Rapunzel strip:

My cartoon class, composed of teenage guys, all took a shot at resolving the strips with their own funny last panel. Here are just a few of their solutions:

Above: the large, lightbulb-head alien smilingly tells us that it's "My second one."


For the Rapunzel strip: our man gets to the top, only to be confronted with Rapunzel's dang answering machine!


Above: Rapunzel plummets, taking out our protagonist in the process!


Above: for the alligator strip, the trusting tooth-cleaning bird is chomped to death, feathers flying, and a second evil little bird has appeared above, sprinkling even more condiments.

I thought they were all great, and, just look: all of the guys stayed on model. Now let's look in on some pros and amateurs from across the Web who also played:


Above: Dan Beyer with a confused bird!

Above: Brian Moore surprises us with a narcissistic bow-tied alien giant.


Above: Dan Beyer once more, with a biiiig surprise for the Rapunzel strip. This one made me laugh out loud!



Above: Ray Betancourt goes where no man wants to go. Look at the crooked mouth and big eyes on the guy. He's gonna hurl! This made me laugh out loud and also gross out a wee bit.

Above: Richard Blanco with what I hope is a nice strong 2-ply roll. I like how cross our man looks as he struggles to keep up with the unfurling TP roll!

Above: lastly and not leastly, my cartoony pal, the man who is both like a brother and the family pet to me -- the one and only Mark Anderson -- throws us forward in time for the final Rapunzel panel as our loving couple is getting married. She has put all her hair up for the nuptials. It shakes and quivers under the wide eyed preacher.

My thanks to all who participated, pro or student or wannabe, for taking a moment out of their lives last week to play. I was really touched when you emails came in. Thanks!!!

Drinking & Drawing

On March 31, 2008, 26 cartoony types (including my friends John Klossner and Mark Parisi) showed up at Paddy O's bar in Boston for the monthly Drinking and Drawing Event, where beer and animation collide! Although I couldn't attend, we can all see the results here. It's totally trippin'!

CHILD'S PLAY: THE CARTOON ART OF STAN AND JAN BERENSTAIN text by Mike Berenstain

Best news of the week (in case you missed it):

After I posted a blog entry about the early cartooning career of Stan & Jan Berenstain, I was delighted to get the serendipitous good news that there is a book, just published by Harry N. Abrams, covering this topic!

Mike Berenstain was kind enough to stop by and let us know with these comments:

CHILD'S PLAY: THE CARTOON ART OF STAN AND JAN BERENSTAIN text by Mike Berenstain, forward by Jan Berenstain, has just been published by Abrams. It surveys Stan and Jan's cartoons from the baby boom years of 1946-1964 featuring all their full color Collier's covers and interiors, selections from their McCall's cartoons, newspaper comics and cartoon books. I am the author-- Stan and Jan's son.

Thanks, Mike!

That means that some of the terrific cartoon art from their above 1950s-60s era paperbacks will see the light of day. Not only will they see the light of day, it'll be on better paper, and with a family member as your guide.

HONEY I'M HOME! edited by Marione R. Nickles

Above: Frank O'Neal draws a sit-com-like gag for the cover of HONEY I'M HOME. I don't know what those blue shapes are, but they pretty much get in the way of the graphic to today's design sensibilities.

Here is a small sampler from a collection of Saturday Evening Post cartoons culled from HONEY I'M HOME!, a Bantam Books paperback edited by Marione R. Nickles, copyright 1954 by E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc.

Above: the dedication. Ms. Nickles employs a Syverson-drawn little guy to point at YOU!


Fred Levinson draws a subtly masterful cartoon. The black pants draw our eye to the whole point of the gag. The doctor's office is suggested by a cabinet, one bottle with a medical cross on it, and a half-hidden stethoscope. Effective and minimalist. What struck me as odd is that these 2 fellows have the same hair and mustache -- something I didn't notice until maybe the third time I looked at it.

An early Joe Farris cartoon. No words. The boy's effective expression telegraphs all that we need to know -- and seals the gag. Joe is still cartooning, still working in the NYC area. I've recently seen his work in The Funny Times.
Pete Wyma shows us that you can take the husband out of the tavern, but you can't take the tavern out of the husband. Look at how adeptly Wyma shows those toes through the split shoes.

Clyde Lamb draws a snappy cartoon line here. Aside: I was in Pittsburgh over the weekend and was surprised that people can still smoke in restaurants there. The time's are a-changin'.


Even in the early years of his MARMADUKE newspaper panel, Brad Anderson was contributing to the gag cartoon market. I like the economy of the bicycle wheel spokes.


Lem Grier with a wordless and universal cartoon that's less about fishing and more about crummy human nature.


The one and only Mort Walker shows us an early women's rights cartoon. The TV is more important than the traditional roles of family! This cartoon would sell today.


Above is one of the top cartoon cliches, and I'll be darned if Clyde Lamb didn't come up with a new and funny take on the idea. Related: My friend Roy Delgado bemoans the lack of good cannibal cartoons in today's market. I would agree with my Italian cartoonist colleague if only he would stop making fun of the Irish!


An early Henry Boltinoff cartoon. We looked at dozens and dozens of houses before buying one this past summer. If this were a print, I'd buy it.
The angry husband at breakfast. I thought that Stan Hunt's gag was maybe a bit shopworn, but look at his lines: even the individual plates and casually placed utensils are shown. Just a lovely bit of clean line drawing.


Bo Brown with a good dowagers-in-a-meeting gag. I don't think there are many dowagers-in-meetings gags now, but back in the day, they were a genre, perhaps best remembered in New Yorker drawings by Helen Hokinson. Here's a bit of her bio from the Mendota Museum (Mendota, IL) site:

"Her drawings for The New Yorker featured plump well-to-do club women who wore high heeled shoes and were conscious of hats, fashions, caring for pets, and gardens. After a time she became fearful people were laughing at rather than with the buxom, strong minded but occasionally befuddled women whom she had stamped as her own, and launched a crusade to defend and explain them.

"Helen Hokinson published several books of her own cartoons: So You're Going to Buy a Book in 1931, My Best Girls in 1941, and in 1948 her last book, When Were You Built? The Hokinson estate published: The Ladies, God Bless Them in 1950, There Are Ladies Present in 1952, and The Hokinson Festival in 1956."

A wordless smoking gag from Jerry Marcus. I really like the expressions in their eyes, and the fellow's puckered lips. This move is obviously leading (just look at her dreamy expression) to an effective acquisition of "first base;" but perhaps he will take a moment to suck on a breath mint before the maneuver begins.
Another cannibal cartoon by Herbert Goldberg. This is the first time I've seen cannibals wearing polka-dotted skirts, but it doesn't detract from the cartoon. I like the woman's expression of disgust in her ineffectual, stating-the-obvious new spouse.


A wonderful bit of dark humor that's very funny and perhaps would make today's editors too squeamish. I can't make out the signature, but just look at all the toys and dishes and gloppy food on the floor and the wall.


I worked in an office and anyone who's ever worked in an office learns never to speak your mind. This is what obviously happened here in Brad Anderson's cartoon. Interesting how if you just add a computer monitor to each desk, this would be updated for the 21st century.
Dick Cavalli with a slob chef and a snob chef, finding common ground. Look at how much he draws to give you an absolute feeling of where you are: the sidewalk, the awning, five tables, three patrons, and the two chefs.

I looked at the drawing, read the punchline, and then had to look back at the drawing before i got this -- one of the strongest gags in the collection, drawn by Gallagher. Great details: the quivering feet and the tongue lolling out.


Ted Key shows us what a master cartoonist can do: make a so-so gag into a very funny gag by drawing what may be the wobbliest baby ever. Look at those squiggly lines! Another really funny gag, made that way by Mr. Key's drawing.

I like Irwin Caplan's line work. It's crisp and very readable. And a great Margaret Dumont-like dowager!

Another kinda obvious gag, but Peter V____ (I can't make out that last name!) draws some cartoony exaggeration and -- voila! -- we have a decent cartoon about human behavior. The half a table and the half a door bracketing the cartoon shows us that we are in a waiting room in an economical way.

Sandra Bell-Lundy: The Road to Syndication

Sandra Bell-Lundy blogs about becoming a syndicated cartoonist and working for Jay Kennedy at King Features. The final chapter of her informative and frank Road to Syndication series is here.

The Saddest Thing I Read

Above PEANUTS January 2, 2000, Copyright UFS.

I was reading the OSU program booklet for their gallery show of Peanuts originals (September 18, 2000 - January 19, 2001). I am guessing that this was the first major exhibition of Peanuts originals since the passing of the strip. (The Charles M. Schulz Museum didn't open until 2002.)

There are a good number of strips reprinted in the exhibition catalogue, designed by Frank Pauer. I read the above strip from the first Sunday in 2000, and it just knocked me out. It felt so sad. But there was a determination, some raging against the odds -- at nature, at the lack of other players, at the darkness -- all played out in a quick read. It's the Sunday strip before the last daily.

Thanks to Joe Wos for passing along the catalogue to me.

Tom Richmond's MAD Blog Ending?

All I can say is that if Tom is going to do this, then I will too.

Cartoon Class: Finish This Comic Strip

As you may or may not know, I teach cartooning. recently, I've been teaching some junior high and high school kids in Milton, NH. Last week, the cartoon class was given five comic strips. The first 3 panels are drawn (see below), but the last one needs to be completed.

In the first one, it's one of those birds that cleans the alligator's mouth and the alligator never harms it. What happens when the evil bird above shakes some pepper onto the alligator?

And here is man in space, poking the American flag onto a large, unpleasant looking alien.
And here is another: Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair! And what is the gag?
I'll post some of the final panels from the class later this week. Give it a shot and see if you can finish up that last panel. If you do, please let me see it. I'm at fatcats3 [at] gmail.com.

I took the idea for this exercise from Draw Your Own Conclusions, a Milt Gross comic strip that ran in the 1930s. Readers were challenged to draw the final gag panel and mail it in. The prize: $25 -- and in the depression, $25 was Big Money!

Quite a number of Mr. Gross's Draw Your Own Conclusions strips are reprinted in the forthcoming (June '08 publication date)of the Comic Arf book by the one and only Craig Yoe. He found a lot of the old Milt Gross strips and sent them onto his cartoonist pals for their take on that final panel. Some of the cartoonists are: Sergio Aragones, R. Crumb, Charles Barsotti, Hunt Emerson, Glenn Head, Al Jaffee, Mike Mignola, Richard Sala, Joost Swarte, Mort Walker, Dean Yeagle and others. This cool chapter in Craig's terrific new book is reason enough to part with your hard earned money!

Check out Craig's Arflovers blog.

Before They Were Stars: Stan & Jan Berenstain

Above: A detail from IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY (© 1956, 1957, 1958 McCall's Corp.)

Back before the BERENSTAIN BEARS books and the videos, husband and wife cartooning team Stanley and Janice Berenstain were regularly cartooning.

They met at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941. After three years in the US Army during the War, Stan returned and, in 1946, they were married, and creating little Berenstains -- as well as many gag cartoons.

Above: Three of the many 1950s & 60s collections of Berenstain cartoons: LOVER BOY (© 1958 Stan & Jan Berenstain), IT'S STILL IN THE FAMILY (© 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 by McCall Corp.), and HAVE A BABY, MY WIFE JUST HAD A CIGAR (© 1960 Stan & Jan Berenstain).


Here's a snippet from their bio on their site:

"Stan had become interested in cartooning and sold some cartoons to the Saturday Review of Literature during his last weeks in the Army. Jan also enjoyed doing cartoons and, after they married, joined Stan in submitting cartoons to magazines. It took them about a year of weekly submissions before they broke into the 'big time.' But they soon became major contributors to such popular magazines as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s and shortly thereafter became cover artists for Collier’s."

During the 1950s and 60s, they produced a regular feature for McCall's, and they were putting out a lot of paperback collections of family humor. Some were original works, other were collections of the McCall's feature. So many of these went into multiple printings and so much of their early work (the pre-Bear cartooning) is forgotten, including a comic strip Sister, that ran from 1953 to 1956.

Here are a series of cartoons from "The Cartoon Series From McCall's," as reprinted in the 1958 hardcover IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY. First up is a series about being Home Sick -- not as in "missing your home," but as in "too sick to go to school and Mom has to take care of you all day:"

I like the whole family (pets as well) in attendance, observing the sick daughter.
The examples above of trying behavior by the ailing yet energetic little girl are detailed and good to click and look at big-sized. I like the glop hanging off the pile of dishes and the sorry looking "Free Funny Mask" dog.


And here we have the end, a repeat of the tableau from the first panel, with a few roles reversed.

The Berenstains were up there with Bil Keane's and Doug Wright's work.

Here they are, riffing on the Birthday Party theme:


Noted: A haze of black wash in the middle of the balloons makes them look very balloony.

Some great Lord of the Flies style kiddy chaos in the last panel!


The little brother and the family dog are in their own little world.

And here is Swimming Lesson:

By now, we know the formula: order (parents) is imposed on chaos (kids). Chaos rules.



Poor ol' Dad! and we get a reassuring background peek at the boys running out to get some ice cream, so we know they are not missing, presumed drowned here.

It took me a minute to notice that that was Dad under the blanket in the background.

Just some wonderfully observed material here, and a fine line and wash effect. Never have I been able to find out who did what -- Did Stan pencil and Jan ink? Who wrote them? Well, it was, obviously, a 100% team effort. Heck, that's why they signed their work "The Berenstains."


Addendum: I'm glad to see a good sampling of Doug Wright art at the Doug Wright Awards site -- a much more respectful state of affairs than it was two years ago when most of their links to Mr. Wright's art were broken.

Jim Mooney 1919-2008

Comic book artist Jim Mooney, a veteran of the Golden Age and the Silver Age of comics, has passed away. He had been in failing health for a while.

He began working in 1940, the year after Superman's debut. After freelancing for Fox, Fiction House, Timely, the Eisner-Iger Studio, he settled in at DC Comics, where he drew pretty much all of their top-selling titles. Perhaps best known for his run on the Supergirl comic (1959-68), he was a DC regular from 1946 to 1968. In the 1970s and 80s, he worked for Marvel.

Mark Evanier has more details here and here.