Mike Lynch Cartoons

Nicole Hollander: 'I've never drawn this way before'

2012-02-01T11:17:00.002-05:00

Above: Nicole Hollander and Ailson Bechdel from the 30th Anniversary Gala at Women and Children First. Photo by Kat Fitzgerald

From today's Chicago Tribune: Nicole Hollander on creating autobiographical comics at the Ragdale artist colony in Lake Forest, IL.

I've never drawn this way before. I bought a roll of very fine drawing paper at Utrecht Art Supplies on Wabash near Monroe. The young man who sold me the paper insisted that I take the roll of Atlantic Masters. "It's the best," he said. He selected a set of charcoal sticks and pencils and erasers. He worried that my plan, which included cutting the paper into 161/2-inch strips, 7 feet long, would mean that the deckle edges would be eliminated on one side of each strip. I distracted him or I might be there, discussing it still.

Her article is here.

Her comic strip SYLVIA at GoComics.com.

Netherlands MAD Magazine

2012-02-01T10:44:00.001-05:00

Sam Henderson shows us the Netherlands version of Mad Magazine #194 from 1986 with the cover that

" ... supposedly enraged American publisher William M. Gaines for actually including a condom in the issue. They seem to be a bit more permissive in other countries. It came out around the time 'safe sex' was all over the news."

J.P. Miller

2012-02-01T10:40:00.000-05:00

Burgin Streetman's Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves blog talks about illustrator J.P. Miller.

"J.P.'s illustrations are so unique and wonderful that I'll always buy one of his books, even if my son has moved way past his ABCs."

Mr. Media Video: Bill ZIPPY THE PINHEAD Griffith

2012-02-01T00:30:00.000-05:00

KING KOJO with Illustrations by Marge Part One

2012-01-31T08:20:00.001-05:00

Four years ago, I posted about this rare book. I am selling it on eBay this week. This is part one. Part two is here.

Way back in the back of a local hardware store is a small area with maybe 1000 used books. Most of these were Reader's Digest Condensed Books, various editions of the old Time Life series of books, romance fiction, Babysitters' Club books, and so on. But on a pile of library discards there was the hardcover, well worn book below, KING KOJO.

KING KOJO was written by Ruth Plumly Thompson with illustrations by Marge (Marjorie Henderson Buell). The book is copyright 1938 by the David McKay Company.

This edition was a discard from the Rochester (NH) Public Library, and is much read.

Ruth Plumly Thompson was a well known name. She wrote the WIZARD OF OZ series of books after Frank Baum passed away. She wrote an OZ book a year from 1921 to 1939.

Above: Ms. Thompson's generous dedication to all who helped create KOJO and all who read it.

Above: the warning label sewn into the binding by the Rochester Library reads:

DO NOT turn down the leaves of this book
— Use a bookmark

DO NOT mark or mutilate — Others want to read it

DO NOT stain with food

DO NOT expose this book to rain, snow or dust — Please wrap it

PER ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES

Of course, as you can see in these unretouched scans, the Trustees were ignored on all counts for 70 years.

The illustrations are by Marge, who just three years earlier, in 1935, created the character of Little Lulu for the Saturday Evening Post. Not only was Marge one of the rare female cartoonists of her time, she also retained all rights to Lulu — rarer still for the time. I can only think of one other cartoonist of the 1930s (the one and only Percy Crosby) who did the same.

The book is about the benevolent but slightly inept King Kojo who rules the Kingdom of Oh-Go-Wan. If puns make you groan, the book is a groanfest. The stories feature the King's jester Pogo, as well as the usual assortment of knights, wizards, robbers in the woods, ogres and so on.

Above: the color really helps make the illustrations. I had no idea that Marge had ever done anything beyond Little Lulu!

Above: looks like a proto-Tubby chasing "The Girl Who Came Out of the Sea."

I wish the book was still in print. Once you get used to the way it's written ("Between Big Enuf Mountain and the Rolantic Ocean lies the long lovely kingdom of Oh-Go-Wan ...," etc.), it's a lot of fun. Besides, one look at these stained, well worn pages and you can see it was pretty popular.

ADDENDUM: I found a good photo of what the book looked like before all those little Rochester Library patrons got their grubby hands on it. Below is a scan from the Oak Knoll Press:

Need part two now? More Kojo here.

This blog posting originally appeared on August 18, 2008.

How John Hambrock Made His BRILLIANT MIND OF EDISON LEE Book and Why It's Not On Amazon

2012-01-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

My friend, cartoonist John Hambrock. has been drawing his newspaper comic strip THE BRILLIANT MIND OF EDISON LEE for King Features since 2006. It is a labor of love. Since it's something he cares about deeply, he didn't want to go the cookie cutter approach when it came time to putting together the strip's first compilation.

Above: the cover of the EDISON LEE book. Order information here.

After being turned down by well known comic strip publisher Andrews McMeel ("It’s a tough market for cartoon book collections these days, with most of the larger publishers shying away from working with smaller, less established strips."), John decided to publish this first collection himself.

There were four qualities the book would have, according to his blog entry:

We wanted to use a local American Printer rather than outsource to Asia.
We wanted to print the Sunday strips in full color at a legible reading size and include the drop panels most people never see - this meant sizing the book larger than the print on demand options that are available.

We not only wanted the book large enough to put in the Sundays properly, we wanted a book that read all in the same direction - not flipping side to side as one went from dailies to Sundays - but also did not wind up with only one daily on a page.
We wanted to use a nice heavy paper stock for the interior and a durable high gloss stock for the cover so that the book would stand up to repeated reading and last for many years.

Publishers, such as the Amazon publishing unit, had pre-set book sizes and paper. But EDISON did not fit any of those. Deciding to create the book using a local printer became the solution. John describes the whole process of layout, editing, choosing the format, paper, getting an ISBN number and the one last minute thing he forgot. It's all here and well worth reading. It was a HUGE labor, but, hey, like I said, it was a labor of love.

Guy Delisle Wins First Prize at Angoulême Festival of Comics

2012-01-30T09:35:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to cartoonist and animator Guy Delisle, who won first prize this past weekend at the Angoulême Festival of Comics for his new book JERUSALEM: CHRONICLES FROM THE HOLY CITY, published by Drawn & Quarterly.

My colleague Bado has come scans from the upcoming non-fiction graphic novel, which will be published in the States this Spring, here.

E.C. Segar's Residence Receives Santa Monica Conservancy 2012 Preservation Awards

2012-01-30T08:47:00.000-05:00

The Santa Monica Conservancy 2012 Preservation Awards, given to individuals, business and trusts that exhibit "exemplary contributions to the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage," went to a number of buildings, including the Spanish Colonial Revival Builders Exchange Building.

The Restoration Award was given to the Spanish Colonial Revival Builders Exchange Building at the southeast corner of 4th and Broadway, which is known for its beautiful “Churrigueresque” ornamentation. The building was restored by architect William Dale Brantley after the 1994 earthquake, and maintained and enhanced by the C. Belle Grischow Trust.

The building has a colorful past with tenants in the 1920s and 30s that included artists, architects, detectives and even cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar, creator of Popeye, the popular cartoon character born in a typhoon off Santa Monica.

I don't know about Popeye being born in a Pacific Ocean typhoon, but, E.C. Segar (1894-1938) was born on the shores of the Mississippi. He is buried in the Santa Monica Woodlawn Cemetery, his life cut short by leukemia.

Photo of Segar's Woodlawn Cemetery (Santa Monica, CA) grave by Scott Michaels.

Video: Harry Bliss

2012-01-30T00:30:00.000-05:00

From the 2011 National Book Festival, here is cartoonist and author Harry Bliss speaking. The video runs about 42 minutes.

Speaker Biography: Cartoonist and illustrator Harry Bliss grew up in an artistic family: His brother, sister and father are all artists. Readers of The New Yorker are very familiar with Bliss' work, as he has illustrated many of that magazine's covers. He is also a well-known illustrator of children's books, including "A Fine, Fine School" by Sharon Creech, which was a New York Times best-seller. His single-paned comic, "Bliss," is syndicated in more than 50 newspapers in the United States and Japan. Bliss' new book is "Bailey."

What If STAR TREK Was Made by Country Folk?

2012-01-28T20:29:00.001-05:00

The original STAR TREK episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" is on TV tonight. I'm reminded of this mashup, made with care, cunning and a great sense of humor by Spockboy, some five years ago now.

And, if you are a hardcore fan of STAR TREK The Old Show (like me), take a look at his FOR BILL AND GEORGE video too.

Albert Dubout

2012-01-28T17:41:00.001-05:00

Did you know that there is a pending train strike in Belgium? Fortunately, the ECC Cartoonbooks Club will not be. "[O]ur blog doesn't strike! " we are assured.

Today, the man behind the blog, Jan Oplinus, shares many train-related images by the great French cartoonist Albert Dubout (1905-1976). This is not the first time that there have been transportation problems in Europe, as these cartoons attest. If you are not so familiar with Dubout (as I am), then this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some great cartooning. Thank you, Jan!

1969: All of the PEANUTS Silent Penultimate Daily Panels

2012-01-27T00:30:00.000-05:00

The silent penultimate panel was coined to describe the wordless next-to-last comic strip panel. It's that moment when the characters pause and we have that moment of anticipation, building up the final panel gag.

Silent means no dialogue, and, that means panels like this one below are in the wrong:

February 10, 1969:

2-10-69

Why?

Well, each one of them are little squares of Schulz-drawn oblique goodness. Is there an element of zen here? That's up to the beholder.

These were scanned from THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1969-1970, Fantagraphics, 2008.

"You have Sparky's magic in your hands right now. Go on, read it. It's here for everyone." – Mo Willems, from his introduction

1-7-69

1-10-69

1-14-69

2-4-69

2-7-69

2-12-69

2-15-69

2-20-69

3-3-69

3-12-69

3-21-69

4-3-69

4-7-69

4-19-69

4-21-69

5-1-69

5-5-69

5-6-69

5-9-69

5-12-69

5-13-69

5-14-69

5-22-69

5-31-69

6-27-69

7-7-69

7-23-69

7-26-69

7-28-69

7-29-69

8-1-69

8-4-69

8-11-69

8-13-69

8-15-69

8-18-69

8-19-69

8-21-69

8-22-69

8-23-69

8-26-69

8-27-69

8-28-69

8-29-69

8-25-69

9-4-69

9-6-69

9-16-69

9-27-69

9-29-69

9-30-69

10-8-69

10-18-69

10-23-69

10-27-69

10-28-69

11-1-69

11-4-69

11-11-69

11-24-69

12-5-69

12-9-69

Video: Aardman’s DC Nation trailer

2012-01-26T09:11:00.000-05:00

via The Beat:

Just one of the coolest things I've seen.Wait for the "Creature Comforts" style animation.

DC Nation - Aardman by redruger

"Easy-peasey" indeed!

The Original LAND OF THE LOST

2012-01-26T08:59:00.002-05:00

There was a LAND OF THE LOST radio series that ran for five years from 1943.

I always thought LAND OF THE LOST originated as that show about "Marshall, Will and Holly, on a routine expedition" getting sucked into a vortex (OK, it looked like flushing toilet, but ya gotta have a little willing suspension) and popping out in a prehistoric world with stop-motion dinosaurs.

The original LAND OF THE LOST, written and narrated by Isabel Manning Hewson, was about a couple of kids who traveled underwater with the assistance of a large, friendly fish with the improbable name of Red Lantern. Art Carney provided the voice.

EC Comics produced a comic book version of the program, written by Hewson, with art by Olive Bailey. Saved From the Paper Drive blog has the premiere story here. It's from back when EC stood for "Educational Comics" and the comic book lasted nine issues.

You can see more LAND OF THE LOST comics at Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine here. Pappy posted about it years ago and I am late in seeing it.

Pappy also has a link to the one of the three Famous Studios animated shorts, with voices by Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer and May Questel:

My friend Scott Shaw! has an Oddball Comics archived, exhaustive description of the series here.

If you look around, Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine has more from the series, including the scan of this inside front page with descriptions of the two women:

1974: Behind the Scenes of SPACE: 1999

2012-01-25T08:37:00.003-05:00

Above: ~~Willis O'Brien~~ Ray Harryhausen, Andy Serkisand Brian Johnson.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

When you look at KING KING (1933), you can see the fur moving. You know that that's the handprints of the animator Willis O'Brien's.

Aside from looking dated, you get a feeling of how the thing was done.

Looking at more recent movie effects, like the KONG remake or AVATAR or THOR, etc., etc. you cannot tell how it was done.

But hands moving puppets or building scale models or landscapes -- all of that is tangible, real -- and all of that is the kind of special effects I grew up with.

SPACE:1999, with its mad premise (the moon is ripped out of orbit and hurtles through space, its intact moonbase occupants going along for the ride) had a lot of those old school special effects.

Here's a behind the scenes clip before the show premiered. Looking at this now: making a plaster model moonbase, shooting through a photograph matte to give the illusion of scope, cobbling together a spacecraft model out of model kits, it all seems more peaceable than the pixel pushers making motion caps of Andy Serkis in a ping pong ball jumpsuit.

1974: Behind the Scenes of SPACE: 1999:

And here's the image that sums up the past generation in special effects: from model to CGI:

Above image of George Lucas and his model STAR WARS space ships in 1983; Lucas and the green screen 22 years on; Lucas in a you're-not-wearing-the-glasses 3D haze. (The STAR WARS movies will be rereleased in 3D.) This image is all over the Web. I pulled it from the Paperblog.

Related: If you like 1970s sci-fi media, take a look at Christopher Mills' Space: 1970 blog

Video: Mark Anderson Draws!

2012-01-24T08:51:00.000-05:00

Above: a partial shot of a Mark Anderson cartoon which you can see him pencil in live-time here.

If you ever had a regular job and dreamed of becoming a cartoonist, then I've been there. So has Mark Anderson.

One of the reasons I'm pals with Mark Anderson is because we both started out working in non-cartooning careers (i.e., cubicle worker life) before we became cartoonists.

It wasn't until we were both making it on our own, seeing our names in print, that we ever got in touch.

I wrote in the introduction to Mark's cartoon collection, RUB MY TUMMY AND IT'S A DEAL:

Mark Anderson isn't a lucky man.

Maybe you disagree. Maybe you might say, "Isn't he lucky? He's making a living cartooning."

Luck does not play into it. My point then and now is that hard work and trying new ideas do. As of this week, he's

trying a whole new approach to blogging this year, and one aspect is going to be some video content.

Maybe you saw his studio tour, which includes his drawing materials, where he works and the types of scanner and computer is part of the production. Maybe you saw his iBook tutorial.

Now, take a look at him pencilling a Valentine's Day cartoon.

You start to get a sense that cartooning is hard work. That's true. I always tell people that cartooning is a job, but it's a job I love.

I'm thankful for Mark sharing all of this great content. I sure could have used all of it when I was just starting out! Bookmark his blog if you haven't all ready.

Above: Mark Anderson's cool studio stool from his A Cartoonist's Tools entry.

1970s Olivetti Ads

2012-01-24T00:30:00.000-05:00

Design and typography in its retro glory via sandiv999's Flickr stream.

Video: Meet Jim GARFIELD Davis

2012-01-23T15:16:00.003-05:00

COW BOY by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulas

2012-01-23T09:28:00.003-05:00

Do take a look at COW BOY, a new online feature by the talented team of Nate Cosby (words) and Chris Eliopoulas (drawings). I don't want to give away anything about the premise of the series, just take a moment out of your Internet-deficited attention span, linger over it, and read. It's a gorgeous continuing feature making its debut today. Bookmark for more updates.

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 5

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

Here's the fifth and final bunch of gag cartoons by some of the best gag cartoonists from the 1956 paperback SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD, edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr., and copyright 1956 by Bantam Books, Inc.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

My thanks to Ed Tucciarone for passing along this book to me. Thank you, Ed!

Stephanie Piro: SLUSH

2012-01-23T08:24:00.002-05:00

It's difficult to stay in shape during the winter. But this winter, with little snowfall here in New England, and above freezing temperatures the next few days, Stephanie Piro shows us it's even harder for snowmen to stay in shape.

Mike on TV

2012-01-21T13:05:00.002-05:00

Above: a screen grab of my talking head on TV.

Mark Fiore's Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoon animation work is profiled in the "Listening Post" program on Al Jazeera English TV. Here's a link to the entire program, which begins with a look at Super PACs:

Super PACs: A new media weapon - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

I'm at the very end, the middle of three of their "Global Village Voices," a group of people in the cartooning field who give a short statement about online animation. London animation director Nikolay Moustakov and my fellow blogger, comics historian Michael Rhode, also share their views.

My point: online animation and regular old-fashioned, still cartoons have the same fundamentals: they have to be well written, make their point in a visual way and, maybe most importantly, be short!

DVD Release: Bob Newhart's BOB

2012-01-20T11:03:00.001-05:00

New on DVD. Heck, it's new for anyone who didn't see it on its initial network run! For the first time in 19 years, Bob Newhart's short-lived TV series BOB is on DVD. Centered on a comic book artist, the show ran for 33 episodes from 1992 to 1993.

Via CBR.

Charles Schulz: Fierce Competitor

2012-01-20T09:29:00.003-05:00

Dave Astor writes about Bil Keane, Stan Lee, Jerry Robinson and Charles Schulz, all born the same year (1922) and all men who made a mark on 20th century cartooning.

Dave, who interviewed all of these professionals multiple times during his Editor & Publisher days, shares an anecdote about each of them in his The Complexity of the Fantastic Four Huffington Post column.

There are aspects to these men that you may not know. For instance, Mr. Schulz was not just

" ... a very nice, insecure, mild-mannered man -- all true! But there was also a confident and competitive side to the 'Peanuts' creator, as this anecdote illustrates:

"In 1995, the people behind 'Garfield' announced that Jim Davis' cat comic might have surpassed 'Peanuts' in worldwide sales. I checked with the 'Peanuts' camp, and it turned out Snoopy and friends still had an edge: 2,595 newspapers to 2,547. So I wrote a story to that effect, and thought the matter ended there. But several months later, Schulz tapped me on the shoulder at a meeting.

"'How are you, David?' he asked in his congenial way.

"'I'm fine, Mr. Schulz.'

"Then his voice became less congenial. 'You know 'Garfield' never had more newspapers, don't you?'

"'I wasn't sure,' I replied nervously. 'That's why I checked with your syndicate.'

"'Are you sure now?' he continued, with a stern expression that contained a hint of a smile.

"'I guess I am.'

"Ouch."

The entire column is here.

This is an excerpt from Dave Astor's recently completed memoir titled COMIC (AND COLUMN) CONFESSIONAL. I'm ready to buy my copy now.

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 4

2012-01-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

More gag cartoons by some of the best gag cartoonists of the period from the 1956 paperback SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. and copyright 1956 by Bantam Books, Inc.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

My thanks to Ed Tucciarone for passing along this book to me. Thank you, Ed!

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 3

2012-01-19T09:04:00.000-05:00

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

More suggestive cartoons (for their time) from the 1956 Bantam paperback SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. It's copyright that same year by Bantam Books, Inc.

You have courting, jealousy, love, unwanted attention, deceit, bikinis, childbirth and maybe even some true love. (I'm thinking the hippo cartoon by Ed Nofziger.)

Part one is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

My thanks to Ed Tucciarone for passing along this book to me. Thank you, Ed!

How About a Nice Game of THE Cards?

2012-01-19T08:44:00.002-05:00

Why is Netflix emphasizing "the" this morning?

My screenshot of a search page at 8:39AM this morning:

Protesting SOPA: Wikipedia's 24 Hour Blackout

2012-01-18T09:49:00.001-05:00

Wikipedia page link here.

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 2

2012-01-17T08:33:00.001-05:00

Part one is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

Here are some more cartoons from the 1956 paperback SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. and copyright that same year by Bantam Books, Inc.

I would add some fascinating commentary but (a) I am running late for an appointment this morning and (b) everyone just reads the cartoons anyway.

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

My thanks to Ed Tucciarone for passing along this book to me. Thank you, Ed!

eBay Sale

2012-01-16T13:12:00.003-05:00

I have an ongoing sale of books and art this week.

Ending today:

The above original NEIGHBORS panels by George Clark: a soda fountain scene and a kids at the door cartoon.

KING KOJO, a rare childrens book with illustrations by LITTLE LULU creator Marge. This is a library copy.

Near mint: the 2-volume STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS.

Also for sale, ending later this week: more vintage books and cartoons:

"Go back to your lily-white world, where you belong!" LOIS LANE #114, September 1971

2012-01-16T11:55:00.001-05:00

Despite the romantic triangle cover, Lois Lane focuses on race relations in this September 1971 issue of the long-running "Superman's Girl Friend" DC comic book series. Yes, DC had "Girl Friend" as two words. No all-one-word "girlfriend." She was a friend who was a girl. Right?

Oops. Maybe not! Poor Lois!

Some great panels in LOIS LANE #114, September 1971, which has no credits for story or art, but is, nonetheless, copyright 1971 National Periodicals Publications, Inc.

But Lois does not go back to her lily-white world! She becomes an activist!

And we get a gallery exhibit of famous black people: Joe Louis, Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall, W.C. Handy, Jesse Owens, George Washington Carver, Marian Anderson, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson,

And then, some black people that are lesser known: Peter Salem, hero of Bunker Hill; Daniel Hale Williams, performed first successful open heart surgery; Jim Beckworth, explorer-scout-mountain man - adopted Indian chief; Benjamin Banneker, scientist; Bill Pickett, cowboy; Alexander Pushkin, Russian writer; General Benjamin O. Davis, "first American Negro general;" Ira Aldridge, actor; Alexandre Dumas, writer.

It's interesting to see some names that we now consider as important African American people missing from that list: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Josephine Baker, W.E.B. DuBois, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes ... to name a few.

Here's the story:

No No No

2012-01-16T07:54:00.001-05:00

This is just plain wrong.

Sears has a big print and TV ad campaign to push sales this weekend.

Marv Levy 1925-2012

2012-01-14T15:11:00.000-05:00

Golden age comic book artist Marv Levy (Marv Lev) died Friday morning, January 13. 2012.There is no word on cause of death at this time.

There will be a graveside military service at Wellwood Cemetery in Rockville Centre, NY, Sunday January 15, 2012.

Born in Albany, Georgia on February 21, 1925, Marv grew up in New York City. He attended the High School of Music and Art. After school hours, teenaged Marv drew comics for Harvey Publications, Centaur Comics and Timely. He apprenticed in the studios of Bernard Baily and Harry "A" Chesler.

After graduation, he enlisted as an infantryman and was part of the 1944 Invasion of Normandy. After the war, he studied at Pratt Institute. He opened his own Manhattan studio specializing in humorous advertising in 1950.

In 1952 he drew "The Snowman's First Christmas" comic strip, which was written by Jim Miele. He also created the Woolworth Christmas Giveaway Comics, among others. The busy artist found time to marry the love of his life; former piano teacher Barbara, in 1957. By 1966, he gave up the studio and was an art director with BBD&O and other advertising firms.

He retired in 1988, but he did not stop. Continuing to freelance, he worked in the fields of television and illustration. Marv produced a film about his Normandy experiences, combining his war time drawings and video of a 1982-83 visit to France.

Marv was an artist member of the legendary National Cartoonists Society Berndt Toast Gang chapter.

He is survived by his wife Barbara, their children Alan, Madelaine, Suzanne, and three grandchildren.

Related Links:

ALTER EGO #75, January 2008, has a career-spanning "fascinating and occasionally revelatory" interview with Marv, conducted by the great Jim Amash. You can order a PDF of the entire issue for a few dollars at the link. The reproduction of the first "Snowman's First Christmas" strip is taken from that issue. There are some great stories Marv tells.

Woolworth's Christmas Giveaway 1952 - was a promotional comic book, produced by Western Publishing, for the Wordsworth's national chain of dime stores. The book features a Marv Levy-drawn story of Santa, zooming around in a ribbon candy spaceship.

The story behind "The Snowman's First Christmas," related by Herb Rogoff, here.

Above cover image of WINKY DINK #75 by Marv Levy from the Comic Collector Live site.

LET'S TAKE A TRIP #1 from mycomicshop.com.

Above: from the July 27, 2006 Berndt Toast Gang lunch: Here's Marv Levy (Harvey Comics, Snowman's First Christmas), Dan Danglo (Felix the Cat, Casper the Friendly Ghost), Joe Edwards (Archie, Lil Jinx) and Marty Macaluso (Caricaturist),

Creig Flessel's 100th Birthday Celebration

2012-01-13T10:49:00.002-05:00

From my friend Adrian Sinnott (an amazing illustrator and the Chair of the Berndt Toast Gang) comes the postcard below for Creig Flessel's 100th Birthday Celebration.

Creig, a master cartoonist and illustrator, with accomplishments in the fields of illustration, comic book and comic strip, was born in nearby Huntington, NY. He passed away in 2008. He would have been 100 years old on February 2, 2012.

The gallery show is going on now through the end of the month at the Art League of Long Island.

Read Adrian's account of the first time he went to a Berndt Toast Gang luncheon, and meeting Creig.

It was like meeting an old friend, all the nervous anxiety of meeting professionals doing the work I longed to do vanished. Creig brought me around an introduced me to the various members gathered around the bar. There was Mort Drucker (MAD Magazine), Al Scaduto (They'll Do It Everytime!), Frank Springer (The list of his work in comics just goes on and on), Tom Gill (The Lone Ranger), David Gantz (Don Q and children's books), Lee Ames (Disney and the "Draw 50" series just to name a couple) and so many others that I'd fill the page with a veritable "Who's Who" in cartooning. And they were all welcoming me to the "Gang." That was over 20 years ago and, today, I act as chair for the Berndt Toast Gang, the Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. All because of a little piece of newsprint my Ralph saved.

Adrian drew the below caricature of Creig, in the guise of his Golden Age superhero creation The Sandman.

Below: Creig's version of The Sandman on the cover of Adventure Comics #60, March 1941 (nicked from Booksteve's Days of Adventure blog):

There will be a reception the evening of January 27, 2012.

Coffee Spill on Sketchbook

2012-01-13T09:11:00.004-05:00

This has happened to all of us!

I was having coffee with my friend and fellow cartoonist John Klossner on Tuesday and I bumped the table. The table was a bit wobbly. My coffee sympathetically wobbled, and capsized, spilling on my sketchbook.

On some pages, I divide up some pages into little squares and sketch out rough gag cartoon ideas. Above was such a page.

The back of the page (yeah, I draw on both sides) had some sketches.

Not too much damage, fortunately!

The best insurance against spills is using pens with permanent ink that do not smear. These pages were drawn with Pigma Micron pens.

Sandy Kossin introduced me to these pens. They are permanent ink and do not fade (unlike Sharpies).

"This is what you want," Sandy told me once, years ago. He moved his plate, revealing the paper placemat (we were at lunch), and, uncapping one of his own Micron pens, drew a line. Then he looked at me. "Show me a pen that can do this," he said dramatically, licking his finger. Then he placed his finger on the placemat, smearing it over the ink line. The line did not bleed.

Same with coffee spills!

Thanks, Sandy, for that great advice!

THE BETTER HALF by Bob Barnes

2012-01-12T09:39:00.002-05:00

Randy Glasbergen currently draws THE BETTER HALF. The daily newspaper panel was created by veteran cartoonist Bob Barnes in 1956 and syndicated by the Register and Hall Syndicate. The feature is currently distributed by King Features.

Stanley and Harriet Parker spar over middle class concerns. She stays home and irons and does the wash and is a bad woman driver. He smokes his pipe, mows the lawn, complains about the bills and occasionally ogles other ladies. If the spouses aren't trading zingers with another, they are combating the many butchers, paper boys, garbage me, store clerks and others.

Two years into its run, the National Cartoonists Society awarded the Best Newspaper Panel Division Award. Mr. Barnes drew it until 1972, when, according to the Wikipedia page, it was taken over by:

" ... Ruth Barnes and Dick Rogers (1973-1979), Vinnie Vinson (1979-1982), and Randy Glasbergen (1982-present). Between 1982 and 1992 Glasbergen wrote under the pseudonym "Jay Harris", so as not to confuse publishers who were familiar with his different style of humor and character design. As he was able to transform the characters to his own style, he began using his own name. In the process, Stanley became much shorter than Harriet and lost his scruffy mustache. "Harris" was his wife's maiden name."

James Coco and Lily Tomlin portrayed the couple in an unsold 1970s ABC TV pilot.

Here are two dozen from THE BETTER HALF book, a paperback collection published by Duell, Slean and Pearce, New York and is copyright 1963 by the Register and Hall Syndicate

Video Rube Goldberg-style Invention: The Page Turner

2012-01-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to my pal Sean Kelly for letting me know about this.

From 1966: The History of Whitman/Western Publishing

2012-01-11T00:30:00.000-05:00

Above: The cover of THE WESTERNER, Number 94, January 1966: A little girl looks in awe at the towering array of Dell Comics, Whitman coloring books, paper doll and activity books starring Magilla Gorilla, Bugs Bunny, Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, Uncle Scrooge, Hayley Mills, Woody Woodpecker, Barbie, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, the Gingerbread Man and many more.

THE WESTERNER was not about Westerns. It was the in-house publication for one of the largest producers of childrens' publications, Whitman/Western Publishing Company. If you were a kid growing up in the 1960s or 70s, chances are you owned some or a lot of their comics, sticker books, coloring books, Big Little Books, etc.

From Joakim Gunnarsson's Sekvenskonst blog (Sequential Art) here are some scans from issue 194, January 1966. This is their "Golden Anniversary Issue."

As Gunnar says after scanning and putting up 7 of that issue's 36 pages:

"If you are interested in the history of this legendary publishing company this is something for you. The issue is 36 pages. More?"

Yes, please!

This is an exciting find and THE WESTERNER is a publication I hadn't heard of til now. To get the official company version of their organization would be a treat.

EDIT: Joalim has posted more here: "Once Upon a Time"

Unseen Virgil "VIP" Partch: BY THE NUMBERS

2012-01-10T08:51:00.005-05:00

BY THE NUMBERS is "a book about numbers written for people." The entire title is BY THE NUMBERS: THE STORY OF COUNTING FROM THE ABACUS TO THE ARTIFICIAL BRAIN and it's by Burton Lehrenbaum. It was published by and is copyright 1966 by Veeder-Root in Hartford, CT.

The book sports a number of illustrations by Virgil Partch, who signed his cartoons "VIP." So far as I know, this work by Partch, a master cartoonist, has been unseen (at least on the Web) for over 40 years.

Wonderful to see a subject like numbers use a cartoonist to get its points across. Maybe one of the reasons that VIP was chosen to illustrate this paperback was because he was known to sneak an extra finger onto a character just to see if he could do it.

Here they are, with no context. Just enjoy those wonderful ink lines of VIP's!

WEBSTER'S POKER BOOK by H.T. Webster

2012-01-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

Above: November 26. 1945: H.T. Webster was the Time Magazine cover subject.On the upper right: his "Timid Soul" character, Caspar Milquetoast.

H.T. Webster (1885-1952) was a nobody from West Virginia who took up two hobbies when he was seven years old: cartooning and smoking (according to his Editor & Publisher obituary, September 27, 1952 as reprinted in Stripper's Guide).

He took a cartooning correspondence course when he was a teenager. By 1905, he was drawing sports cartoon for the Denver Post. Stints at the Chicago News, the Chicago Inter-Ocean and the Cincinnati Post followed. By 1812, he landed a position at the New York Tribune. Despite a brief period at the New York World, Webster (or "Webby" as his friends called him) returned to the Tribune where he would stay for the rest of his professional life.

He was a prolific newspaper mainstay. He created many popular features (now forgotten). They had great names, like:

Poker Portraits
Life's Darkest Moment
The Thrill of a Lifetime
How to Torture Your Wife
The Man in the Brown Derby
The Timid Soul
Bridge
Nothing Can Be Done About It

When he died on the commuter train the day after his 67th birthday, he left 7 months worth of cartoons for the paper to run.

Here are a few cartoons and other items from WEBSTER'S POKER BOOK by H.T. Webster, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1925.

They, like all of Webster's cartoons, concentrate on human nature that still read true now.

I believe the book belonged at one time to Bil Dwyer, a cartoonist (he took over Dumb Dora) and a friend of Milton Caniff's. This is the signature on an interior page:

And Bil had put a couple of other cartoons in the book. Here's a wonderfully drawn Gaar Williams panel clipped from the September 25, 1927 Chicago Tribune:

Also inserted in the book from the same year: a page from a Jimmy Hatlo They'll Do It Every Time 1927 page-a-day calendar:

And here's the back of that same calendar page, with some math in pencil. Figuring out the winnings from a poker game? I don't know.

More:

Yesterday's Papers
Lambiek bio

Happy Birthday, Peter Arno

2012-01-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

Above cover nicked from Christopher Wheeler's wonderful site.

"New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno may not have invented the single-speaker captioned cartoon," so goes the opening line of his Lambiek entry, "but he surely perfected it."

Peter Arno was born this day in 1904.

My friend, New Yorker cartoonist Michael Maslin shares some opening paragraphs from his forthcoming Arno biography:

The New Yorker was Arno's weekly showcase, where his trademark full page cartoons constructed of confident swooping charcoal lines and bold washes wowed and teased the readership. His drawings of husbands' and wives' cat-and-mouse games, and husbands and lovers, and wives and lovers, crooked politicians, and less-than-Godly ministers, the common man and the cowardly man, the wealthy, the show girl, the scantily clad wife, aunt, jaded call girl, the wide-eyed college girl, the battleship grande dames, the sugar daddys, the precocious young and clueless elders all rained down upon a grateful nation. In the pre-Playboy era, he was The New Yorker's and America's guilty pleasure -- openly and gleefully celebrating sex.

Michael: please hurry up and write that book! Thanks!

The thing I admire about Arno is his composition. There is so much information there, so clearly laid out. He's a one man how-to-draw-a-gag-cartoon school. Just look at this seminal Arno drawing:

"Well, back to the old drawing board."

The whole story (above) is there: beginning, middle and end. A plane just crashed on an airfield -- we know this because men in foreground are running toward it; we can see the pilot is safe.

What tips the scales from a "good" to a "great" cartoon is the drawing of the designer, the one your eyes rest on, who dominates the foreground. The problem, that Arno solves here, is this: How do you draw a character who looks like the scientist who constructed the now-crashed plane? Arno's drawn him as a bookish, bespectacled sort of fellow with a blueprint under his arm. Bullseye!

That's a lot to take in in the requisite 4-5 seconds it takes to look at a gag cartoon. And Arno does it so well that it looks easy. And that's why Arno is important.

But it wasn't easy. Arno redrew his cartoons many times over before a final version satisfied him.

Above: one of many Arno scans from the Hairy Green Eyeball blog.

Here's a true story that I call Peter Arno's Favorite Part.

Some cartoonists like the beginning bit (the coming up with the idea, honing the gag) and some like the process (the sketching and layout) and some like the end (the sale and the check). My favorite part is coming up with the gag and drawing the doodle in my sketchbook. After that, it's not as interesting to me.

Not so with Peter Arno.

Arno would draw and redraw his cartoons sometimes dozens of times. There is a story that cartoonist Mel Casson would tell, about visiting Mr. Arno in his penthouse apartment. I'll do my best to relate it here, from memory of him telling it some 7 years ago as part of a National Cartoonists Society Connecticut Chapter speech Mr. Casson gave.

So, Mel Casson and a friend went to visit the one and only famous New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno. He had invited them to his apartment. And it really was a penthouse apartment. The lobby elevator went up, and the doors opened onto the Arno landing (no hallway -- the doors opened right into his home), from which one could see the Arno living room and, there he was, Peter Arno himself, mixing drinks and motioning them in.

After sitting down, having a drink and talking shop, Arno asked, "Do you want to see my studio?"

Well, of course! Who wouldn't want to see Arno's studio!

So, Arno walked over to a door, and opened it. The three of them walked in. Arno switched on a light. The room had curtains all around, from floor to ceiling, covering the wall, the windows. "I can't have any distractions," explained Arno. The only furniture: a very large drawing board, lamp, and chair. And on the drawing board, were two rows of 10 original drawings each.

Twenty originals of the same cartoon, drawn over and over. But, moving closer, one could see that the cartoons were not the same. Each one was had a slight difference: an arm bent a different way, a head turned, one character upstage of another, etc. Each one was a fully drawn Arno original, ready for publication.

I remember Casson telling Arno how surprised he was that he (Arno) did all of this work, painstakingly laboring over the cartoon, drawing and redrawing it in so many different, subtle ways -- all in finished ink and wash. Casson suggested drawing a series of thumbnails or pencil sketches instead of going to all this time and effort.

Arno explained that this was always the way he worked: drawing many different variations of the cartoon until he was satisfied. Casson repeated that it was so much work, drawing a large size finished piece over and over and over again.

"But you don't understand," explained Arno, motioning to the 20 drawings, "This is my favorite part."

Related: another great blog entry about Arno by Michael Maslin: An Arno on My Desk.

--

Revised from a previous grand old blog post of mine.

Happy 100th Birthday, Charles Addams

2012-01-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

It's Mr. Addams' 100th birthday -- and if there wasn't a real life Charles Addams, then Hollywood would have had to make him up!

Charles Addams with wife Barbara, an attorney, in 1955, AP Photo. "He was married three times, and in between marriages dated the likes of Greta Garbo, Jackie Kennedy and Joan Fontaine," so says the Mental Floss blog.

Happy 100th birthday to cartoonist Charles Addams, whose new ADDAMS FAMILY musical is now on Broadway.

His childhood nickname was "Chill."

During World War II, Addams made animated training films for the Army while serving served in the Signal Corps Photographic Center in New York.

He sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker at the age of 21 for $7.50. He would sell over 1,300 drawings to the magazine until his death in 1988.

In the tradition of cartoonists Sidney Smith and Sam Cobean, Addams loved cars.

Addams was a lady's man and was married three times.

Janet Maslin writes in the NY Times:

"The second Barbara [photo above], whom he married in 1954, combined Morticia-like looks with diabolical legal scheming. Ms. Davis [in her biography CHARLES ADDAMS: A CARTOONIST'S LIFE] describes the remarkable tug of war that began once Mr. Addams’s second wife, a practicing lawyer, began persuading him to sign away rights to much of what he owned. She wound up in control of the 'Addams Family' television and movie franchises and even bewitched Mr. Addams into taking out a $100,000 life insurance policy.

"'I told him the last time I had word of such a move was in a picture called ‘Double Indemnity’ starring Barbara Stanwyck, which I called to his attention,' wrote Mr. Addams’s lawyer, whom he dared to consult only on the sly. In the film, Ms. Stanwyck’s character plotted to murder her husband for insurance money."

Maslin further notes, "Addams's persona sounds cooked up for the benefit of feature writers ... was at least partly a character contrived for the public eye."

Links to all things Addams.

Fiona Murray wrote this fascinating bio of the man and his cartoons and his women for Dan's Papers here.

Michael Maslin provides even more links, including the video bit below -- it's from William Castle's THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1963). Charles Addams is credited with "specially desginign" the title house in this B-picture starring Tom Poston. Here, William Castle shows us what's in store if we DARE see THE OLD DARK HOUSE:

Via Wikipedia:

"On September 29, 1988, Addams, a sports car enthusiast, had just driven back to his apartment in Manhattan from a visit to friends in Connecticut when he parked his Audi 4000 in front of the apartment building. He was struck by a fatal heart attack while still behind the wheel."

The "Morticia doll," from the early 1960s. For sale for $19.95. I believe this is before the TV series.

Jean-Marie Bertin also has an amazing bibliography of Addams's books. Below is a portion of it: his comprehensive list of Addams's solo books.

Auteur(s)	Titre		Editeur	Lieu	Date	n°

Addams, Chas	Drawn and Quartered		Random House	New York	1942
Addams, Chas	Addams and Evil		Simon & Schuster	New York	1947
Addams, Chas	Monster Rally		Simon & Schuster	New York	1950
Addams, Chas	Homebodies		Simon & Schuster	New York	1954
Addams, Chas	Nightcrawlers		Simon & Schuster	New York	1957
Addams, Chas	Dear Dead Days. A Family Album		G.P. Putnam’s Sons	New York	1959
Addams, Chas	Chas Addams’ Black Maria		Simon & Schuster	New York	1960
Addams, Charles	The Penguin Charles Addams. Penguin 1845.	{1962}	Penguin	Harmondworth	1965
Addams, Chas	The Groaning Board		Simon & Schuster	New York	1964
Addams, Chas	My Crowd		Simon & Schuster	New York	1970
Addams, Chas	Le monde de Chas Addams. [édition française incomplète de My Crowd ]		Hachette	Paris	1973
Addams, Chas	Favorite Haunts		Simon & Schuster	New York	1976
Addams, Chas	Creature Comforts		Simon & Schuster	New York	1981
Addams, Charles	The World of Charles Addams		Alfred A. Knopf	New York	1991
Addams, Charles	La famille Addams. Presses Pocket 4580.		Presses Pocket	s. l.	1992
Addams, Charles	Chas Addams Half-Baked Book		Simon & Schuster	New York	2005

My thanks to Jean-Marie Bertin for the scan of Morticia, as well as the MY CROWD and CREATURE COMFORTS covers.

-- Revised from a previous grand old blog post of mine.

THE NEIGHBORS by George Clark

2012-01-06T09:51:00.002-05:00

These originals by George Clark -- my gosh -- they just blew me away.

I had heard of his long running feature THE NEIGHBORS (1939-1976), but had never seen any originals. My pal Don Orehek had some and he passed them on to me.

The originals were stunning and I want to share a few with you now. These are copyright 1964 by the News Syndicate, Inc.

Just take a look at the economy of Clark's dry brush line here -- and how loose it is. At times, that line becomes an almost ghostly impression of form -- and the panels "read" when they are shrunk to published size.

September 2, 1964:

"I have nothing against the Beatles, but we're NOT going to name him Ringo!"

December 25, 1964:

"Stop hunting, dear -- I found Bertie!"

March 3, 1963:

"Oh, they can't wait to grow up. Alice plans to become a homesteader and Louise is going to be a sheriff."

February 19, 1963:

"How you're driving too close to the car ahead of you."

January 7, 1964

"Please, dear -- I only want to show our hostess that her buffet snacks are so tempting I can't resist them."

April 10, 1964:

"Now remember -- you're taking me to the party tomorrow and you be ready when I come after you!"

June 2, 1964:

"That rain spoiled my whole day for gardening, honey. I'll be back for dinner."

June 20, 1964:

"I'll never understand girls, even when I become old and grey and twenty."

July 30, 1963:

"He never takes his eyes off me, but I think he's only interested in how much sandwich he gets."

More here.

A Sunday strip:

CPU, CPU, Cat, CPU

2012-01-05T15:38:00.000-05:00

Our cat Dropcloth (or "DC" for short) hangs out amongst the computer towers.

Video: I Built a TARDIS

2012-01-05T09:33:00.003-05:00

From Sillysparrowness, here is her video diary of building a TARDIS from scratch in her basement.

Hang on. Take a look. This woman deserves her own show.

Like NeLieLsCrazy writes in the YouTube comments:

At first I was like: 16 minutes? I'm not gonna watch a video that long. And then I ended up puking rainbows. You're awesome!

Puking rainbows = funny and awesome.

Massive tip of the fez to the greatest DOCTOR WHO blog Life, Doctor Who and Combom.

Go look: Sillysparrowness' collapsable and foldable TARDIS blog

Alison Bechdel's New Book Gets 100,000 Print Run

2012-01-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel's new graphic novel from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ARE YOU MY MOTHER: A COMIC DRAMA gets a print run of 100,000. This is darn huge for a graphic novel. The book, which comes out on May 1, 2012, is a follow up to her FUN HOME memoir, which Time Magazine called the book of the year.

Digital Spy's Hugh Armitage adds the below figure regarding DC's comic book relaunch campaign.

Comics sales were boosted in the latter half of 2011 by DC Comics' September relaunch, with the year's top-selling issue Justice League #1 shifting more than 361,138 copies.

Now, this is apple and oranges, and I hope he means no comparison.

I am, so far as I know, one of the few people that has both Justice League #1 and FUN HOME on the bookshelf. This is because I am a comics omnivore. Of course you know that while comic books and graphic novels may both have similar storytelling methods, the audiences are not the same. Not the same at all.

GRIN AND BEAR IT by George Lichty

2012-01-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

I grew up with the newspaper panel GRIN AND BEAR IT. It's been ongoing since 1932, with newspaper cartoonist George "Lichty" Lichtenstein supplying his trademark flowing, loose cartoony lines until the 1980s. It was syndicated nationally in 1940, by Field Enterprises. 46 years later, the property was sold to King Features.

The panel is incongruous. Simultaneously sketchy and illustrative, the feature poked fun at the middle class, its language, laziness and hypocrisy.

Take a look at the first panel below. Look at the looseness of the line -- and the mean perspective on the stove front and the ironing board, all creating a dynamic line to the husband. The fellow's black waistcoat emphasizes that he is the character to linger on.

More Lichty GRIN AND BEAR IT panels from the 1960s here. Although he would loose the crayon shading (perhaps a nod to decreasing panel sizes), his style was remarkably steadfast.

Go look at Animation Resources big Lichty page here.

Ronald Searle 1920-2011

2012-01-03T08:17:00.002-05:00

Ronald Searle, one of the world's best known cartoonists, died on December 30, 2011 at the age of 91. He died peacefully in his home in Southern France with his children at his side.

The Guardian has a obituary for the St. Trinan's creator here.

Here's a 2010 BBC news interview with Searle upon the occasion of his 90th birthday. It was the first interview he had given in 35 years:

Recommended: Paul Giambarba's100 Years of Illustration: Happy 90th Birthday Ronald Searle!

If you have time: wander the Ronald Searle Tribute blog.

Hat tip to Nancy Beiman for the YouTube interview and to Tom Spurgeon for reminding me of the Searle tribute blog.

2011

2012-01-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

2011 was a good year that brought cartoon classes, some great cartoonist conventions, a gallery show, a new cat and some new clients. Here's a look back:

Above: photo from my table at the Maine Comics Arts Festival. (Photo by Jeff Pert.)

Had a great time at the Maine Comics Arts Fest -- and you can still buy a package of Mike Lynch cartoony items here.

Exclusive! I was able to share Tom Gill's unseen 1960s BRAINS BENTON (above) comic strip proposal on my blog.

The new Reader's Digest paperback LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE was published, with a number of my cartoons inside.

Had an interview in the "All Mike" issue of STAY TOONED Magazine.

My first book cover, for Ed Breslin's story of the dog that changed his life, DRINKING WITH MISS DUTCHIE, was published by St. Martin's Press last spring.

I had a couple of illustrations in the Conde Nast magazine TATLER.

Inaugurated the Art in the Pantry Gallery with a show of original cartoons by myself and Stephanie Piro titled HE DREW SHE DREW.

Had some work published in the two 2011 issues of TREES and HILLS Comics; a collective of NE cartoonists.

Talked shop with some cartoonists.

Sketched our trip to Prince Edward Island.

Chronicled the Favorite Places to Scratch a Cat.

Sketchbook: My Whirlwind Trip to White Plains.

Sketchbook: Signs of Fall.

Jesus' Corporate Job Interview

Taught cartoon classes in New England, New York and Long Island.

Oh -- and I had some cartoons in FUNNY TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, READER'S DIGEST. and other places.

And ... the best for last:

Above: Mike Lynch and Richard Thompson at the 2011 Reuben Awards weekend.

It was an honor to be part of the National Cartoonists Society Board and even better to see my friend Richard Thompson win the Reuben. Congratulations, again!

I'm grateful to so many of my friends, colleagues and editors for such a wonderful year. See you in 2012!

See You Soon

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm spending some time with family this week. Be back shortly.

The Great Ham Caper

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

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 well received, and it's been rerun annually since then. Hard to believe that since we moved we have adopted

a stray kitten from the milk farm up the road (Trout) and
rescued another 2 years ago (Dexter) and now
brought in a tiger cat from our woods (Dropcloth).

Yes, that makes five.

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 Trout and Dexter and Dropcloth.

DON'T LOOK NOW BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN by Fritz Wegner

2011-12-23T08:20:00.000-05:00

DON'T LOOK NOW BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN is a small paperback by Fritz Wegner and is copyright 1983 by same. Published by Patrick Hardy Books, this wonderfully rendered volume shows us Santa, angels, shepherds, flocks, Botticelli and pretty much anything related to ye olde tyme Chistmases.

Before seeing this, I had never heard of Fritz Wegner. Heck, I couldn't find his site. Windriver Studios has a short bio here.

Fritz Wegner was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1924, but was naturalized as a British subject. He studied at St. Martins School of Art from 1939 to 1942, and later became a guest lecturer. He eventually began doing freelance work, which included exhibition design for the Ministry of Agriculture royal shows.

Wegner's professional career has encompassed stamp design, advertising for English and American clients, and illustrations in books, magazines and periodicals. He is ardent about illustrating children's books and has enjoyed collaborating on the production of religious advent cards. Collecting prints, books and musical instruments and painting for pleasure are a few of the activities that occupy his spare time.

I like his cartoon style, with its almost painterly pen noodling.Some of the gags are great. These are just a few samples.

Video: Signe Wilkinson invites local pols to cartoon in her place

2011-12-23T08:09:00.005-05:00

Philadelphia Daily News editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson invites politicians to cartoon while she vacations.

Philly mayor Michael Nutter bravely takes up the challenge. More here.

From the Daily News article by Jen Howard:

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, State Representative Dwight Evans, City Council member Marian Tasco and acting Sheriff Barbara Deeley accepted her challenge, but with tepid results.

"These cartoons are pretty gentle," said Wilkinson.

Nutter drew his himself--a handful of stick figures sweeping a city street.

Video: MIT researchers unravel the physics of how cats drink

2011-12-23T07:51:00.000-05:00

Boston Globe staffer Carolyn Y. Johnson has more here.

SCTV Video: Perry Como: Still Alive (1981)

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

Not SCTV: above: Joe Penner asks Lyda Roberti "Wanna buy a duck?" from Paramount's COLLEGE RHYTHM (1934) via Craig Hodgkins' informative Joe Penner site.

You never know what comedy will last. For every Laurel and Hardy, there's a lesser known Lum and Abner or the Ritz Brothers.The number one radio comedian used to be Joe Penner way back before Jack Benny arrived. And who remembers Joe Penner? (Penner had several catch phrases, one of the more popular was "Wanna buy a duck?" which is preserved in Warner Brothers cartoons. Its original reference forgotten, the line remains as an odd non sequitor.)

TV Critic David Bianculli was on NPR's Fresh Air show last week (podcast link here). He mentioned the college media course that he teaches. When talking about TV comedy, he said he shows clips from the Smothers Brothers Show, Monty Python, the old SNL and SCTV.

The clip that got the biggest laughs was SCTV's 1981 "Perry Como: Still Alive" concert commercial parody starring Eugene Levy. Bianculli did set the clip up (Is Como forgotten like Penner now?) with a talk about Como's reputation. He played the clip and the students were laughing all the way through it. For me, it's funny also for Rick Moranis dancing in an afro wig. Here's the vid:

The college kids laughing make me hopeful that SCTV will go the way of Benny and not Penner.

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr.

2011-12-21T08:58:00.001-05:00

Some great gag cartoons from a very well-worn copy of SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD, "a rib-splitting collection of cartoons about the biological urge assembled from the best of America's foremost family magazines," edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. and copyright 1956 by Bantam Books, Inc.

This is a collection of cartoons that originally appeared in all of the A-list publications of the day: Collier's, Look, The Saturday Evening Post, This Week, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal and The American. And these are some of the major cartoonists of the day. Burr Shafer provides the cover.

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

Wenzel could draw pretty girls and made a career doing just that.

Bill Harrison's cartoon (below) is a great one.

I had to look at Clyde Lamb's cartoon a couple of times before I got it:

Dana Fradon:

Misha Richter:

I like how Greg D'Alessio gives us a complete sense of place and fashion.

Below: Bob Barnes gives this gag a nice twist:

Below: Syd Hoff with a bit of racy advice from mother!

Ted Key's body language depiction is spot-on!

Gardner Rea echoes Bill Harrison's cartoon. Putting the knife in the bride's hand is a wonderful touch.

The two lovers in the balloons is one of my favorites. I have no idea who drew it, though.

Below: I like the slap dash style, but see no signature. My guess: Reamer Keller.

Below: a Gardner Rea cartoon that would not be published today:

Virgil VIP Partch has a certain view of the world that is loopy and odd and very lovely to see:

And here's another one from VIP:

Part two is here.

Part three is here.

Part four is here.

My thanks to Ed Tucciarone for passing along this book to me. Thank you, Ed!

Doctor Who Timeline

2011-12-20T07:49:00.000-05:00

Above: a small detail of the Doctor Who Timeline Infographic.

When a show that premiered in 1963, had eleven lead actors in succession, 223 adventures, 46 companions (which includes an android and a robot dog), it's hard to keep it all straight, eh? Here's a Doctor Who Timeline Infographic to help.

Via CableTV with a big tip of the hat to Ralf Zeigermann!

Bill Woodman: The Funniest Cartoon in the World

2011-12-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

We've talked about magazine gag cartoon cliches before. The one and only Bill Woodman puts them all together in one image (above). Here are a few of the cliches that encompass The Funniest Cartoon in the World, from the May 1973 issue of National Lampoon.

Psychiatrist's couch
Man on bed of nails
Flying carpet
Mountain clmber thwarted by goat
Elopement
Patent office
Stork w/baby
Bum
Counting sheep
St. Bernard w/whiskey barrel
2 people wearing horse costume

Cannibals
Large fish eating medium sized fish eating small fish, etc.
Prisoner
Wife in bathrobe, curlers & holding rolling pin as weapon
Man in desert
Boxer
Shackled pilgrim
Mermaid
Wishing well
Guy painting himself into corner
"End is Near" protest sign

UFO
Suicidal businessman ready to jump
Bandaged-up guy in hospital bed
Father throwing daughter and illegit infant into cold, cruel world
Shark fins

And those cliche signs:

"Eat at Joe's"
"Out to Lunch"
"Watch Your Hat and Coat"
"Beware of Dog"
"The World is Coming to an End"

And, while we're in 1973, here are a few more scans. First, the great cover by Warren Sattler of Ralph Nader as Dick Tracy:

And some great adverts:

A big hat tip to Sam Henderson for telling me about The Funniest Cartoon in the World!!

EDIT: the next evening, December 20, 2011, I had the opportunity to have dinner in Portland, ME with Bill Woodman.

From left: me, Bill Woodman, Jeff Pert and David Jacobson.

Joe Simon RIP

2011-12-15T18:02:00.001-05:00

Just getting word that Joe Simon died in a New York City hospital last night, December 14, 2011. He was 98 years old.

1973 Comic Book Ads

2011-12-15T10:18:00.000-05:00

A trip to the past, at least for me.

“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”
“Long Past?” inquired Scrooge.
“No. Your past.”

This Holiday season, I am pulling out some some of my past and sharing it -- grabbing old boxes of comics that I have moved many* times. There are a lot of memories. Today, I am sharing some of the seminal comic book ads from the first comic book I subscribed to, SHAZAM! Here are some of the ads from the first five issues:

First up: a 4-page gatefold Pirates of the Caribbean ad. This is for a series of MPC model kits. (Factoid from the Internet: Johnny Depp was 10 years old at this time. Heck, maybe he was buying and building these!)

A Daisy B-B Gun ad. I don't think there are ads for guns in comics any more.

A DC house ad for Kaluta's THE SHADOW. I still have my copies I bought at the Dillons Food Market in Lawrence, Kansas.

Do kids put models together nowadays?

Ubiquitous comic book ads: a Sea Monkeys advert -- along with one of those novelty shop ads.

Love these house ads.

By 1974, a lot of DC titles would switch to the 100 Page Super Spectacular format. It was 20 pages of new material, and the rest was reprints. I loved the reprints.Hey, it was "new to me."

I think I had one of the Passaic Comic Catalogs.

Cool 70s art.

I like the juxtaposition of the ad for drafting school and the Monster Size Monsters ad.

A serious message about drugs from Huskies Sport Shoes.

This is some bad fun art, huh?

A model kit series precursing the Transformers:

I like the cool art here, but it's a no-no to show kids without bike helmets today.

* These comics moved a lot since 1973. Here's the list of moves:

Memphis
Shaker Hts., OH
Akron
Cleveland
The West Side of Cleveland
Akron (again)
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
New Hampshire

Don Martin & Frank Jacobs" "The Month Before Christmas"

2011-12-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

From MAD #132, January 1970, Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents the entire "The Month Before Christmas" by Frank Jacobs with art by Mad's Maddest artist Don Martin.

What with all the fretting about how stores being open on Thanksgiving Day now, this seems timeless. Sad to see that the spirit of the season is buy, buy, buy.

I remember ogling all of the great Don Martin art. The image of the linebacker-type ladies (complete with stubble on their thighs) has stuck in my mind since I was a wee lad.

I was too young to have bought MAD #132 when it came out. I lived in the great Midwest back then. In Lawrence, Kansas, there was, back in the mid-70s, a second-hand book & magazine shop called Buzzy's, conveniently next to the Granada movie theatre where I would be dropped off for matinees from time to time. Buzzy's had stacks of comics and old MAD Magazines. Some of these I still have. (I gave away my MAD's to friend's brother in 1984.) Checking Doug Gifford's MAD Cover Site, I do remember owning this one. I must have bought it at Buzzy's.

This is MAD at its nadir: the best stories, the greatest gags, and its highest circulation.

Hat tip to Tom Spurgeon!

1975: "BUCK ROBINSON IN THE 25TH CENTURY: The Cartoonist of the Future" by Jery Robinson

2011-12-14T08:48:00.003-05:00

Above: art by Jerry Robinson.

"The picture above shows how one cartoonist functions in the 25th century. He is seen creating his dally feature. Actually, he simply reads fro m a list of possible objects, such as fire hydrants, waste baskets, cannons, typewriters, bombs, hats, flags, etc. His lovely assistant is at the Cartoon Console. All 25th century cartoonists have computer experts instead of inkers, pencillers, letterers, gag-men, ghosts, etc. They are usually stunning creatures as the cartoonist can assemble his own -- by computer of course."

From this 1975 issue of the National Cartoonists Society mag THE CARTOONIST:

Here's a tongue in cheek look at how a cartoonist would be doing his or her job in the 25th century:

More Jerry Robinson:

Jerry Robinson 1922-2011
Jerry Robinson Photos from the NCS in the 1960s

THE AMERICAN CARTOONIST Volume 1 Number 1 September, 1977

2011-12-13T09:04:00.001-05:00

Jerry Robinson Photos

2011-12-12T09:13:00.002-05:00

Some National Cartoonists Society photos and articles featuring Jerry Robinson, cartoonist.

From 1965:

From 1967:

The April 1968 NCS show:

"A great deal of preparation went in to the April Show this year ... under the watchful eyes of show director Lee Falk and NCS President Jerry Robinson." Photos by Jim Ruth.

The 1968 Reuben Awards, in which Rube Goldberg received the Award named after him:

Jerry Robinson 1922-2011

2011-12-09T10:04:00.001-05:00

Above: the cover to the National Cartoonist Society industry mag "The Cartoonist" from May 1967; from left, Otto Soglow accepts the Reuben from NCS President Jerry Robinson.

A few links:

New York Times obituary
Michael Cavna at The Washington Post
An in depth piece by Geoff Boucher for the Los Angeles Times
Comic Book Resources
Mark Evanier

Computerless

2011-12-08T12:06:00.001-05:00

"Computerless" isn't a word, but, hey -- you know what I mean. Some bad news this morning: the computer I use for blogging, scanning, Tweeting, Facebooking, bla, bla, bla -- had a hardware failure this morning. I took it to my local computer guy. The thing is not well. The guy who does the diagnotics is on vacation this week. Depending on his analysis, I may or may not get it back next week. I'll see what I can do to keep this blog up and running.

Please consider ordering my Mike Lynch Cartoon Book package (upper right of the page here) for someone on your holiday shopping list. I have a feeling I'll be needing a new computer. If I can sell 50 of 'em, why, then I can buy a nice used laptop my local computer guy has for sale.

Thanks for your kind attention. I know we've all been there.

I shall return ....

THE COMPLETE SKIPPY by Percy Crosby

2011-12-08T06:17:00.001-05:00

IDW will produce THE COMPLETE SKIPPY by Percy Crosby, with the first volume out by Summer 2012. Below is the press release. This is some of the best news I have ever heard. SKIPPY is a personal favorite comic strip of mine. Thank you IDW and Joan Crosby Tibbetts, Percy Crosby's daughter, for putting this together.

“He Caught Lightening in a Bottle and Learned How to Draw with It”

IDW and the Library of American Comics announce

The Complete Skippy by Percy Crosby

San Diego, CA (December 7, 2011)—IDW Publishing and the Library of American Comics are proud to announce a new archival hardcover series that will reprint, for the first time, the complete legendary Skippy comic strips by Percy Crosby. THE COMPLETE SKIPPY will be co-edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney, with an ongoing biography by Gardner, and designed by Lorraine Turner. The premiere volume, containing the daily comics from 1925 through 1927, will be released in summer 2012.

“Percy Crosby caught lightning in a bottle and learned how to draw with it,” wrote Jules Feiffer in a 1978 appreciation. Milton Caniff marveled, “Boy, there's nothing faster than watching Skippy run the way Crosby drew him.” Debuting in 1923 in Life magazine, Skippy moved to the comics pages in 1925 and soon became a sensation, published in twenty-eight countries and fourteen languages. In 1931, Skippy became the first comic strip to see its film version win an Academy Award. Crosby continued writing and drawing the feature until 1945.

Crosby was also heralded as “the greatest apostle of motion in the field of art” by Edward Alden Jewell, art critic of The New York Times. Crosby’s artwork has hung in the Louvre in Paris, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, and the Tate Gallery in London, among other venues, but it is his work as a cartoonist, as the creator of Skippy—the philosopher man-child— for which he's best known.

Today Skippy can be seen as the spiritual ancestor to Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, among many other kid strips. Crosby influenced cartoonists from Charles Schulz to Walt Kelly to Garry Trudeau, and perhaps more than any other cartoonist before him, brought philosophy and politics to the American newspaper comic strip. In the end, it would be his outspoken political and philosophical beliefs that would place him increasingly outside the mainstream of 1940s American culture, ultimately leading to his exile from comics and his forced incarceration in a mental institution for the last sixteen years of his life. As a result of his tragic end, Crosby’s remarkable contributions to American culture have been largely eclipsed, until now.

The series is produced with the full cooperation of Skippy, Inc. and the Crosby estate. Joan Crosby Tibbetts, Crosby’s daughter, who has waged a 50-year campaign to keep her father's legacy alive, said, “I’m delighted that the complete Skippy will be published at long last. For years, Skippy fans and namesakes have written me, wanting to see more of their favorite character, and now I can tell them their wishes are granted.”

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing  
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and comics and trade collections based on novels by bestselling authors, Joe Hill, Anne Rice, George R.R. Martin, and James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

Skippy © 2011 Skippy, Inc. All characters herein and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Skippy, Inc. All rights reserved.

Video: THE THREE STOOGES 2012 Movie Trailer

2011-12-07T16:32:00.001-05:00

Yes. A new 3 STOOGES movie. And with Will Sasso as Curley.

Not sure how I feel about it, but I am looking forward to Paperkutz new 2 STOOGES comic penciled by the one and only Stan Goldberg. No previews on that right now, but I hope they'll be coming soon!

Hat tip to the one and only Bobby London!

EDIT: this isn't the first time a classic comedy team has been reimagined. Does anyone remember the "new Laurel and Hardy" movie: THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF LAUREL AND HARDY IN FOR LOVE OR MUMMY (1999)?

J.W. Taylor

2011-12-07T08:39:00.001-05:00

Celebrating the cartoons of J.W. Taylor, a cartoonist that's not well remembered at all, except by me. Andmaybe, after a moment of looking at his gag cartoons, you'll like his work and remember as well.

Like a lot of gag cartoonists, I discovered his work in collections of gag cartoons. I began to recognize his style and I loved his sense of humor and his broad, bold, economic ink line. When Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter asked his weekly "Five for Friday" question yesterday (Five For Friday #120 -- Name Five Archival/Translation Projects That Aren't Happening Right Now (As Far As You Know) That You'd Love To See), I emailed a list:
1. The Complete SKIPPY by Percy Crosby

2. The Complete Virgil "VIP" Partch
3. The New Yorker Cartoonists Do Newspaper Strips (WHITE BOY by Garrett Price, THE SMYTHES by Rea Irvin, etc.)

4. WHERE'S NEMO? The "Other" Dream Strips (NIBSY THE NEWS BOY by McManus, MR. TWEE-DEEDLE by Gruelle, THE NAPS OF POLLY SLEEPYHEAD by Newell, etc.)

5. The Complete J.W. Taylor (a great unsung British gag cartoonist for PUNCH)

I could blog about any one of those five topics, but it's the last one on the list -- the relatively unknown Punch cartoonist -- that I want to talk about a little and then show some of his terrific cartoons.

Who was J.W. Taylor? I'll share what little I know. First, his cartoons (especially the talking dogs ones and the beer ones) are very funny.

John Whitfield Taylor was a full-time schoolmaster who also cartooned. He attended the University of Manchester, and was head of the art department at Portland House School.

The little that I have found out about his life, I grabbed from the Comics, Cartoon, Caricature scan site at Dr. Chris Mullen's Visual Telling of Stories pages.

These J.W. Taylor cartoons are from two big hardcover collections from the 1950s: THE BEST CARTOONS FROM PUNCH (copyright 1955 by Bradbury, Agnew & Company, Ltd., the US proprietors of PUNCH) and CARTOON TREASURY edited by Lucy Black Johnson and Pyke Johnson, Jr. (copyright 1955 by the Johnsons).

Above: perhaps his most reproduced cartoon.

"All of his drawings are done at weekends, but throughout his working week he makes copious notes and rough sketches in a notebook which he always carries around with him. 'I attend seriously to business at educational conferences and head teachers' meetings, but I have sometimes been known to doodle on the agenda paper.'" Weekly Illustrated, The Artist and His Humor Series #14, June 1955 article by David Clayton.

"Full-time comic artists, far from resenting the success of an amateur in a highly-competitive field, are full of praise for his work. One professional, Bernard Hollowood ("Hod"), says, 'I collect genuine 'Taylors' as a connoisseur. His captions are slick and economical. The disarmingly simple brush lines of his drawings match the captions in clarity and vitality." - ibid.

"So we bought a couple of hens and I was to write a humorous best seller about our misfortunes -- but it didn't work out."

Above: parents don't change.

"All right, Brannigan -- we know you're in there!"

Above: one of my personal favorites.

Above: a rare multi-panel.

"One misses a lot -- being brought up to appreciate it."

The above gag works if you understand there's a can of Sterno with an open flame under that coffee pot!

I hope you enjoyed seeing this man's work. J.W. Taylor deserves at the very least a salute for his modern, breezy brush style, spot-on expressions and great gag writing.

Above: the Weekly Illustrated article, with cartoons.

Note: this is a rerun. The above was originally presented here on May 18, 2008.

Video: 2011 Movies Mashup

2011-12-06T12:12:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of hatinhand, here's a mashup video of all of the movies from 2011. How many did you see?

List of all of the movies clips here.

Thanks to NFB!

Soviet Space Race "Christmas" Cards

2011-12-06T08:28:00.001-05:00

From the Saved from the Paper Drive blog, here's a collection of fascinating 1950s-era Russian holiday cards with a space theme. This is from the Sputnik era and the beginning of the space race.

"Christmas wasn't publicly celebrated in Soviet times [hence the title quotes in "Christmas"], only in church on January 6th.

"The greetings on these cards is not 'Merry Christmas' but, more or less, 'Happy New Year.' The tree depicted on some is a 'New Year's Tree.'"

Bado's Blog: Cartoonists and the Arab Spring

2011-12-06T07:53:00.001-05:00

Above: a drawing of Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, "one of the best-known cartoonists in the Arab world," who was beaten by Syrian security, burned with cigarettes, his fingers broken. He was left on the side of the road to die. His cartoons had been critical of President Bashar al-Assad. He is hospitalized in Kuwait.

Editorial cartoonist Bado writes about the Arab Spring and the bravery of cartoonists.

Lebanese cartoonist Stavro Jabra:

“Not so long ago, no one dared draw a king, a president or even a deputy. Today cartoonists have been let loose, it’s total freedom.”

Luke Davies: Hergé and me

2011-12-05T08:46:00.001-05:00

Above: a letter from Hergé.

When he was nine years old, Luke Davies announced to his dad he was going to write a letter to TINTIN creator Hergé.

Year later, his dad recalled to Luke:

"I tried to gently pour cold water on the idea - I told you that thousands of kids probably wrote to him and that he mightn't have time to get back to you individually. But you shrugged it off.''

Hergé did write back. And it began a series of letters between them.

Mr. Davies writes about that time in the Brisbane Times.

May 23, 1964 SATURDAY EVENING POST Cartoons

2011-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

I went to an antique store in Kittery, Maine on November 20th, where three old SATURDAY EVENING POSTs and maybe a half dozen old-timey 1950s Christmas tree ornaments were purchased. Next to the register was a 16" x 20" framed cartoon on the wall. It was a wordless cartoon depicting a middle-aged housewife running down a grocery store aisle. (If I remember it prpoerly, curlers in her hair were flying out , she was running so swiftly.) Her pursuer: a middle-aged clerk, closly behind her, madly waving a price gun and yelling at her. There was no gag line. I liked the cartoon and said it sure looked like George Price drew it. The woman behind the register, who had been silent until now, brightened up and told me the whole history and conjecture of the item. My guess: it was a promotional print. His name had been scrubbed from the illustration, which is typical of any work done for adverting back then. I was thinking the piece was from the 1970s "Whip Inflation Now" period. I gave her my business card and asked her to send on a photo so I could post it. Sorry to say I am still waiting.

While we wait, let's look at one of the POSTs, okay? Let's bypass the articles by John Updike and S.J Perelman and go right to the cartoons from the May 23, 1964 issue of the SATURDAY EVENING POST:

Below: the header for the cartoon section by Henry Syverson:

And here's John Gallagher with one of his typically outlandish gags:

Below: A terrific gag by the prolific Bill Hoest that works maybe even better in this post 9/11 world, huh?

Below: Brian Savage nails how things work back in 1964 ... and, sadly, today:

Below: Donald Reilly's cartoon made me think of the 99% movement"

Below: Dick Oldden's cartoon is great, isn't it? It would be just as fresh if it was published today.

More POST cartoons here:

June 30-July 7, 1962 SATURDAY EVENING POST

July 14-July 21, 1962 SATURDAY EVENING POST

Well, Hi There

2011-12-02T09:21:00.001-05:00

First thing I see this morning: sweet kitty Dropcloth (or DC for short), snuggled in the warm comforter. Much purring occurred.

Thomas Nast: Cartoonist, Icon and Bigot

2011-12-01T08:34:00.001-05:00

Above: Thomas Nast: not worthy?

The New Jersey Hall of Fame wants to induct Thomas Nast. This 19th century cartoonist created (according to his Wikipedia page):

"... the iconic drawings of Santa Claus, Uncle Sam, the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party donkey and Columbia, the image of America as a woman."

And he brought down Tammany Hall.

But the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which is part of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, points out that Mr. Nast was a bigot. Nast, who was a German Protestant, was anti-Irish, and anti-Irish Catholic. He portrayed the Irish as drunks in his cartoons.

Worse yet, the New Jersey Hall of Fame did not call upon the AOH to vote.

New Jersey AOH State President, Sean Pender, wrote Don Jay Smith, Executive Director of the Hall of Fame.

“Mr. Nast made no bones about his disrespect and contempt towards the Irish Catholics of the late nineteenth century. What is further hard to believe is that the procedure that your organization employs to review nominations did not come across this.”

More here, from Ray O'Hanlon, writing for the Irish Echo.

So long as we're cherry picking, we might also add that Thomas Nast supported the plight of the Native Americans, that he supported Abolition, that he fought to end political corruption. Tweed offered him a $100,000 bribe, to stop drawing those "damned pictures," which he turned down.

Late in life, to give you an idea of the esteem in which he was held -- this cartoonist, Mr. Nast, was appointed by Teddy Roosevelt to United States' Consul General for Ecuador. After selflessly helping many people and businesses there escape a yellow fever epidemic, he succumbed and died from the disease on December 7, 1902.

Judging people from history with our present-day morals is a dicey thing to do. Heck, we have slave holders on our money.

Racist immigrant humor was, unfortunately, typical back then; a staple of the cartoon and the music hall -- just like flatulence jokes and getting hit in the nuts is part of popular humor now. To condemn a man for his faults and not weigh it against his roster successes is not realistic. And I would like to think that we are living in a world where Protestants and Catholics can get along.

Video: New JOHN CARTER Trailer

2011-12-01T05:11:00.001-05:00

JOHN CARTER, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs' JOHN CARTER OF MARS books, arrives in theatres March 9th. Here's the new trailer. This one has lotsa Mars and special effects and, finally, the Barsoomians!

Hat tip to Joe Jusko!

1914: Winsor McCay Screens GERTIE THE DINOSAUR Cartoon For Fellow Cartoonists

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Above: some sketches drawn that evening by some of the cartoonists present at the screening (from left) Percy Crosby, Walter Hoban and Cliff Sterret.

What was it like when Winsor McCay screened his animated film GERTIE THE DINOSAUR for his New York Tribune cartoonist pals? Allan Holtz shares this article from the February 23, 1914 Tribune. The film had just premiered at Chicago's Palace Theater a few weeks earlier, on February 8, 1914. The original film consisted of Mr.McCay., live and in person, interacting with the onscreen Gertie. Before the end of the year, William Fox approached McCay to distribute it nationally. The result was the creation of a new live-action set up sequence for the animation.

And just n case you have not seen it, here is the then-groundbreaking GERTIE THE DINOSAUR, starring Mr. McCay, Gertie, and some of Mr. McCay's friends: TAD Dorgan, George McManus and Roy McCardell. My thanks to Scarpuss for posting this complete version, along with some great historic background.

EDIT: My Back Yard as STAR TREK Set

2011-11-30T08:54:00.001-05:00

First thought of the day: I look out the window this morning (below) and, I swear, there is a thicket of grass growing in the back yard that looks like it's fresh from the set of the 1966 STAR TREK "The Man Trap" episode (above).

EDIT: My thanks to my pal Brian Fies (peek at the comments section) for letting me know that something caught his eagle eye in the above picture -- so he sent on the below enhanced photo:

Thanks, Brian!

Video: Little Printer

2011-11-29T11:45:00.001-05:00

New! Now you can print stuff you see online! The Little Printer! Ha ha! A very fun video and it sure makes you want the thing.

Via TodayandTomorrow:

BERG, a London-based design studio, has just announced 2 new products: Little Printer and BERG Cloud. Little Printer is a thermal printer with a wireless connection to the Web. Each time you press the button, a neat little personalised package will be printed immediately. You can configure the messages with your smartphone, this is the part where the BERG Cloud will shine. Just watch the video and see how beautiful the graphic design is.

Unfortunately it will only be launched as a “beta” product in 2012. Can’t wait to get one.

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

Hat tip IdWork.

Mike Lynch Cartoons

Nicole Hollander: 'I've never drawn this way before'

Netherlands MAD Magazine

J.P. Miller

Mr. Media Video: Bill ZIPPY THE PINHEAD Griffith

KING KOJO with Illustrations by Marge Part One

How John Hambrock Made His BRILLIANT MIND OF EDISON LEE Book and Why It's Not On Amazon

Guy Delisle Wins First Prize at Angoulême Festival of Comics

E.C. Segar's Residence Receives Santa Monica Conservancy 2012 Preservation Awards

Video: Harry Bliss

What If STAR TREK Was Made by Country Folk?

Albert Dubout

1969: All of the PEANUTS Silent Penultimate Daily Panels

Video: Aardman’s DC Nation trailer

The Original LAND OF THE LOST

1974: Behind the Scenes of SPACE: 1999

Video: Mark Anderson Draws!

1970s Olivetti Ads

Video: Meet Jim GARFIELD Davis

COW BOY by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulas

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 5

Stephanie Piro: SLUSH

Mike on TV

DVD Release: Bob Newhart's BOB

Charles Schulz: Fierce Competitor

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 4

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 3

How About a Nice Game of THE Cards?

Protesting SOPA: Wikipedia's 24 Hour Blackout

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr. Part 2

eBay Sale

"Go back to your lily-white world, where you belong!" LOIS LANE #114, September 1971

No No No

Marv Levy 1925-2012

Creig Flessel's 100th Birthday Celebration

Coffee Spill on Sketchbook

THE BETTER HALF by Bob Barnes

Video Rube Goldberg-style Invention: The Page Turner

From 1966: The History of Whitman/Western Publishing

Unseen Virgil "VIP" Partch: BY THE NUMBERS

WEBSTER'S POKER BOOK by H.T. Webster

Happy Birthday, Peter Arno

Happy 100th Birthday, Charles Addams

Drawn and Quartered

Addams and Evil

Monster Rally

Homebodies

Nightcrawlers

Dear Dead Days. A Family Album

Chas Addams’ Black Maria

The Penguin Charles Addams. Penguin 1845.

The Groaning Board

My Crowd

Le monde de Chas Addams. [édition française incomplète de My Crowd ]

Favorite Haunts

Creature Comforts

The World of Charles Addams

La famille Addams. Presses Pocket 4580.

Chas Addams Half-Baked Book

THE NEIGHBORS by George Clark

CPU, CPU, Cat, CPU

Video: I Built a TARDIS

Alison Bechdel's New Book Gets 100,000 Print Run

GRIN AND BEAR IT by George Lichty

Ronald Searle 1920-2011

2011

See You Soon

The Great Ham Caper

DON'T LOOK NOW BUT IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN by Fritz Wegner

Video: Signe Wilkinson invites local pols to cartoon in her place

Video: MIT researchers unravel the physics of how cats drink

SCTV Video: Perry Como: Still Alive (1981)

SEX REARS ITS LOVELY HEAD edited by Jerome Beatty, Jr.

Doctor Who Timeline

Bill Woodman: The Funniest Cartoon in the World

Joe Simon RIP

1973 Comic Book Ads

Don Martin & Frank Jacobs" "The Month Before Christmas"

1975: "BUCK ROBINSON IN THE 25TH CENTURY: The Cartoonist of the Future" by Jery Robinson

THE AMERICAN CARTOONIST Volume 1 Number 1 September, 1977