Bruce Stark 1933-2012

Award winning illustrator Bruce Stark died Saturday, December 29th at the Lakeland Regional Hospital in Lakeland, FL. The cause of death was emphysema.

Known for his lively caricatures of sports and entertainment stars, Stark worked for 22 years at the New York Daily News. 

Born in New York, he moved to New Jersey with his family at the age of three.

During the Korean War, Stark served in the Navy. He enrolled in the School of Visual Arts when he got back. During the 1950s, he made money by driving a truck, digging ditches and sold some freelancing illustration art before becoming a New York Daily News staffer in 1960. He would stay with the News for 22 years.

Bruce Stark's talents at caricature made him a busy, in-demand freelancer his entire life. His illustrations graced the covers and interiors of Mad Magazine, Time, TV Guide, Forbes, The Saturday Evening Post and many other publications.

But he was more than a caricaturist. In 1970, Stark produced a half-hour animated special. Titled THE MAD, MAD, MAD COMEDIANS, it was shown on ABC TV on April, 6, 1970:





He won the National Cartoonists Society Division Awards three times: Best Sports Cartoonist (1966 and 1975) and Best Special Features Cartoonist in 1968. The New York Newspaper Guild's Page 1 Award for Best Sports Cartoon was awarded to him in 1970, 1971 and 1973.  This is just the tip of his award iceberg.

He continued to live in New Jersey, raising a family of two sons with his wife Pat. He retired to Florida. His son, Ron, is also a successful artist.

Daily News obituary

Thank You for Your RACONTEUR Orders

Above: the splash panel from my story in RACONTEUR #4. You can see the whole thing here.

Thanks for your orders of RACONTEUR #4 and the RACONTEUR 2012 Discount Package!

All orders have been shipped.

I am running low. I have a few of the the discount 4-packs left. Ditto on the new issue.

"He came with the office."

Above cartoon by me from Harvard Business Review.

All rights reserved Mike Lynch. Do not use without permission. So there. Bah! Humbug!

The Great Ham Caper

My wife, Stacy, wrote a poem way back in Christmas 2006. The poem is about us and our cats, Rufus and Sam.

Her poem was got some serious traffic, and it's been rerun annually since. Since we moved we have adopted a few more.

For auld lang syne, here is the poem again, starring our two cats from Brooklyn, Rufus and Sam:

The Great Ham Caper
Words by Stacy Lynch
Pictures by Mike Lynch

’Twas the week before Christmas
When Rufus and Sam
Hatched a devious scheme
To make off with the ham!

The ham that would grace
The holiday table!
Roo was the brains.
Sam, wiry and able.


They devised a plan
Of Goldbergian proportions
With pulleys and weights
And kitty contortions.

And on Christmas day
They’d eat until stuffed
(The very idea
Made their tails slightly puffed!)

’Til then, they’d lay low,
Little angels to see.
But that made us suspicious –
Wouldn’t you be?


So we snooped and we sleuthed
And uncovered their caper -
“The Ham-Stealing Plan”
Diagrammed on a paper!

“No silly cat’s gonna
Steal my roast beast,”
Exclaimed Mike. “Just watch,
I’ll ruin their feast!”So he countered their scheming
With mad plans all his own
And all I could do
Was inwardly groan!

Who’d win this contest
Of wits they were planning?
Would Mike, Roo or Sam -
Be last man or cat standing?

As Christmas day dawned
The four of us waited
For the ham to be served
With breaths that were bated.

But before the main course
Could even be plated
Their plans took a turn.
Some say it was fated...

What happened to stop them
So cold in their tracks?
Why, cat-nip and husb-nip
(in big canvas sacks)Was all that it took
To stop their foul warring.
And they rolled and purred
And drooled on the flooring.And as long as I kept
My fingers and toes
Away from a hubby and two cats
In nip’s throes -
My own Christmas day
Turned out merry and calm;
The ham moist and succulent,
The champagne, a balm.

When they “awoke”,
hostilities abated,
We all ate some ham
And went to bed sated.

And such peace we wish
To you and to yours:
An end to fighting;
An end to wars.

Happy Holidays!

Mike and Stacy and Rufus and Sam


UPDATE: and Dexter and Dropcloth and Fergus.

Mike Lynch Christmas Story "No Chimney? No Problem!"

This is a true story by a cartoonist (me) from RACONTEUR #4. You can order it here.

[EDIT: This issue has sold out. ]

Thanks, everyone, for your support and interest in RACONTEUR.

Preview: RACONTEUR #4

The new issue of RACONTEUR, "true stories by cartoonists," ships this week. That terrific cover above is by David Jacobson. If you already ordered RACONTEUR # 4 or the RACONTEUR 4-pack discount deal, then these will be shipping out to you automatically.

Want a copy? Here's the button:

Ship To ...

USA Address $5.99 USD     Rest of World $9.99 USD

Here's a preview from all of the cartoonists who contributed:

David Jacobson tells us about his holiday tradition in "Latkes." Just look at this amazing splash page:

John Klossner weaves a story of fear and bad jobs you get when you're a teenager in "Here Comes Santa Hippity Hoppity:"

 

Jeff Pert writes and draws about boyhood Christmases in Maine in his "Christmas on Lee St.:"

 

I (Mike Lynch) tell a story about childhood angst in "No Chimney? No Problem!:"

  

Thanks for your support!

"Best of The Post: 1946-1960" THE SATURDAY EVENING POST January 2, 1960 Part Four

"Best of The Post: The 1940s" THE SATURDAY EVENING POST January 2, 1960 Part Three

Above: a 1943 SATURDAY EVENING POST Carl Rose cartoon.

Here are some more of the best cartoons that the SATURDAY EVENING POST ever ran, according to its 12 page cartoon gallery in the January 2, 1960 issue.

Part 1 is here.
Part 2, 1930s cartoons, is here.