I'm Away

.. but I'll be back in a few days.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 29, 2009 Wall Street Journal

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 2009 PROSPECT

From gag cartoons to old children's records to British stage actresses.

I have a cartoon, aptly described as "the giant cat head cartoon" by the editor, in this month's PROSPECT magazine.

"It doesn't bother me because I don't let it bother me."

Above: The Tenniel drawing from ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

OK, the drawing makes no sense if you don't know the above floating head of the Cheshire cat drawing. This is a personal favorite cartoon of mine that sold to the US publication Brandweek two years ago.

I drew the cat freehand after staring at the drawing for a while. No pencils since I wanted the ink lines to be vibrant. (Penciling dulls my drawing line, making it lifeless.)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND was a favorite. Not the Disney version -- the Caedmon version. We had a Caedmon LP of ALICE, starring smoky-voiced stage actress Joan Greenwood in the lead. I must have listened to it a million times.


Above: Joan Greenwood herself in a 1953 Life Magazine portrait by Kurt Hutton, for the article "Frenchman's Guide To The Girls."

I'm forever grateful to Johnny C. for emailing me an MP3 of the long-lost LP. Check out his terrific blog!

STAR TREK on Newsweek Cover

Trekmovie has all the details.

Pianist George Winston Talks About & Plays Vince Guaraldi

Korea Comics Museum of Bucheon

Here's a short video overview of the Korea Comics Museum of Bucheon.




A description of the center and its mission from the video:

Bucheon Cartoon Information Center was founded in 1998 as an active player in the cartoon culture base expansion project of the Korea Comics Museum, Comics Library and Comics Gyujanggak; as well as the opening of the Bucheon International Comics Festival, running of the International Cartoonist Competition, and comic education industry. In addition, to create industrial value for comic content, we are expanding a variety of comic creative support projects, including overseas exchanges and domestic comic market exploitation, as well as the operation of a comic general industry support center for comic-related enterprises and artists.

STAR TREK Movie: Less Than 2 Weeks

May 8, 2009 is the premiere of JJ Abrams' new STAR TREK theatrical movie, as you know. Here's a series of clips showing the daunting number of past incarnations, including, of course, the original.

BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1958

Here are just a few cartoons from THE BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1958 edited by Lawrence Lariar and copyright that same year by him.

Below: Al Kaufman's line is precise and to the point. It took me a few seconds, but by his use of blackspotting, I figured out the gag. I always like these "the moment before chaos" sort of gags.

 

The one and only Orlando Busino's take on those ubiquitous "Think" signs. The look on the guys face, his hand casually in his pocket as he effortlessly tosses the sign makes this one a bullseye.

 

I believe this is the work of cartoonist Ken Montone. Look at how he handles time. Specifically, in the second panel, the recognition of what's happened vis the girl's bikini really has not set in on the boys' faces. That's how quickly this has occurred.

 

Monroe Leung gives us a shocking moment when an innocent boy scout has his traditional values sullied by a member of The Greatest Generation.

 

 

Jack Markow, who reminds us that back in 1958 the important thing to a woman was that her hat was one of a kind.

 

George Wolfe has a gag that relies on you, the reader, knowing about clotheslines of this era. I wonder if, in a few years, when more people realize their dryer is the most energy-sucking home appliance, that hanging up wash will be more status quo -- and this gag will again become cutting edge.

 

 

Al Ross gives us a creepy, almost Addams-ish, psychiatry gag. I love how sketchy the cartoon is.

 

Virgil VIP Partch always delivered a good punch line.

 

Ton Smits is a cartoonist who deserves to be better known in the USA. There is always a philosophic layer to his work.

 

 

Ned Hilton -- another cartoonist with a clear precise line that easily denotes mass and form -- shows us a good gag, and an idea that might really come in handy.

 

 

Bob Tupper with a gag that took me a couple of seconds, with my eyes roaming around the drawing, to get the gag.

 

And, last, another great multi-panel Partch cartoon. Somehow, Partch's characters can be dreadful and horrible, but they are still very, very funny.

 

 

All of these cartoons have one thing in common: no gag line. All are visual jokes, and most are technically wordless. Wordless gags are, I believe, the toughest to create, if you are a cartoonist. So, I appreciate all of these more than the ones with words, you bet.

 

A hat tip to my pal, cartoonist John Klossner, who loaned me his copy of the BEST CARTOONS OF 1958. Thanks, John!

Joyville: My, you do have the funniest dreams!

Gabriel Corbera scans in a couple of great John Stanley written NANCY comic book stories (Oona's Goosepimple Fireplace and Nancy and the Statues) at his Joyville blog.

The art is by Dan Gormley.

This pretty much cinches me getting the NANCY book, part of the John Stanley Library that D&Q is publishing next month. (Scroll down on that linked page for a PDF preview of his MELVIN THE MONSTER collection.)

Thanks, Gabriel, for posting these scans!

COSMO THE MERRY MARTIAN

Sherm Cohen at his Cartoon SNAP blog gives us lots of the short-lived wacky comic book COSMO THE MERRY MARTIAN.

Video: Arthur Szyk

Here's a 1946 newsreel from Universal Pictures titled "A Popular Person-oddity: Cartoon Crusader," featuring Arthur Szyk and his work.



If you hurry, you can still go see "Illuminated New York," a gallery exhibition of Arthur Szyk's originals at the Breem Street Gallery, NYC.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has an online exhibition of his work.

Related: The Arthur Szyk Society Web page.

Terry Beatty's THE PHONY PAGES

Terry Beatty is an Eisner Award winning artist whose comic book work includes Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond. Before all that, he was Terry "Madman" Beatty, who created these "Phony Pages" for Alan Light's Buyer's Guide for Comics Fandom.

In May 1986, Publisher Deni Loubert of the Renegade Press put some of these together in THE PHONY PAGES comic book. Here is the first issue.






























Unfortunately, I do not have the second issue.