CARTOON LAUGHS Part Three: Wild Signs

More laffs with 1960 MAD MEN-era cartoons!

These are from the "Wild Signs" section of CARTOON LAUGHS, Vol. 8 No. 5, Sept. 1969 issue, copyright 1969 by Magazine Management Co., Inc.

"Everybody carries a sign even when they don't carry one."

Ooh. Deep. I can grok that.




















More CARTOON LAUGHS:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
  

1968 Phil Seuling International Convention of Comic Art Progress Report #2

Above: the cover of the Report. Looks like Kirby pencils for a Fantastic Four comic book.

Here is a blast from the past: a 1968 International Convention of Comic Art Progress Report for "all members, and only to members of the International Convention of Comic Art, which will be held at the Statler Hilton Hotel, Thirty-third street and Eighth Avenue, New York City from July 4th through July 7th, 1968, under the auspices of the Society for Comic Art Research and Preservation, Incorporated." The Report is copyright 1968 by John Benson. The front cover is copyright Marvel Comics Group 1968.



Highlights include a 1 pager by Seuling and Steranko starring for the first (and last) time Dick Tracy and Nick Fury, "The Conventioneers."



And a centerfold finished pencil drawing of Marvel's greatest heroes by ... one of the Buscemas is my guess. It's unsigned.

This is a pre-Convention report written by convention organizer Phil Seuling. Phil Seuling is, not to overstate it, the guy who invented comics conventions.

The list of comics legends, in order of appearance in the booklet, who were scheduled to be part of this are stunning:

Stan Lee
Dick Giordano
Al Williamson
Archie Goodwin
Steranko
Neal Adams
Nelson Bridwell
Joe Orlando
Jerry Robinson
Sal Trapani
Lee Falk
Milton Caniff
Will Eisner
Burne Hogarth
Mike Kaluta (I think)

The Statler-Hilton's rate was $11 single; $16 for a double.
In addition to the the presence of Marvel and DC, the back section showcases ads for from Wally Wood (for his self-published "Witzend"), Alter Ego magazine, Kaluta & Hickman's "Graphic Showcase" mag, and dealers like the Passaic Book Center, Howard Rogofsky, and Mr. Seuling himself.

Here's the rest of the booklet, in its entirety:












Big hat tip to Don Orehek for this rare find! Thanks, Don!

CARTOON LAUGHS Part Two: Stir Crazy

Above: Charlie Rodrigues: always with a good gag.

Hello! We've been waiting for you! Time to peek at a 1969 gag cartoon mag! Specifically: CARTOON LAUGHS, Vol. 8 No. 5, Sept. 1969 issue, copyright 1969 by Magazine Management Co., Inc. This is the "Stir Crazy" section, subtitled, "Every man is in his own prison until he breaks out laughing."

The obscured bit of text to the upper left of the Rodrigues cartoon above goes like this:

PRISON INTERVIEW
"What's you name?"
"90567."
"Come on, that's not your name."
"You're right. That's just my pen name."

A number of these cartoons are about the spouses. The women may not necessarily be suffering what with their hubby in the poky. The gag below, by Bob Thaves, like Rodrigues' above, is the only one that touches on the loneliness and deprivation of prison life on the inmates and their families.













More CARTOON LAUGHS:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
  

Preview: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Secby Jacques Tardi is being released in an English language translation by Fantagraphics this December. Publishers Weekly has a grand preview here.

The French graphic album is also a movie, released in April, 2010. There are no US premier dates as yet.

GQ Political Comic Strip Parodies

Here are some more comic strip parodies. These are from GQ Magazine (where I could find no direct link), and are the subject of this Comic Riffs entry.

A big hat tip to Myron M. Meyer! Thanks, Myron!

Ward Sutton: Tea Party Comic Strips

From "Teanuts" to "Dennis the IRS Menace" to "Nancy (Pelosi)," they're all here. There are twenty of these "Tea Party Takes Over Comics Page" strips by Ward Sutton for the Boston Globe.

Hat tip Comics Reporter.

Fat Cats

Saturday night: drawing a fat, happy cat cartoon. Above are some warm up sketches. My favorite is the one at the top, with his tummy so round that his back feet have to splay out.

Muppets and STAR TREK

Video: STAR TREK Enterprise Pizza Cutter

I just learned about this over at Brian Fies' blog and now here's the video of the thing.



What can I say but ...

CARTOON LAUGHS Part One

It's Friday. Time for some MAD MEN-era sexist cartoons.

This is CARTOON LAUGHS, Vol. 8 No. 5, Sept. 1969 issue, copyright 1969 by Magazine Management Co., Inc.

Today: a selection of cartoons from the "Sex on the Job" section, which is subtitled "The hardest part about work is not making it pay but making it play."

All of these offensive and insensitive cartoons are pretty stale after 2 generations have passed. And repetitive. What's surprising is that in a couple of them, women are using their sex as a weapon. I didn't expect the leering males to be outsmarted (occasionally) by the objects of their obsessions, but it happens, as you'll see.





























More CARTOON LAUGHS:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five