"Teen-Agers, Unite!" by Charles M. Schulz

 "The 'Peanuts' Gang Grows Up! A Great New Collection of Riotous Cartoons by Charles M. Schulz"

This 1967 Bantam paperback collects some of Schulz's teenager strips. This is what Nat Gertler was talking about in Friday's blog entry: a new definitive collection of all teenager panels that Schulz drew. So, here are a few scans from this earlier collection to whet your appetite.

"It's my big brother's sweatshirt .... I thought for sure it would fit me if I rolled up the sleeves!"

It's fun to see these cartoons -- but these are not "the PEANUTS gang grown up," despite the cover blurb. Well, okay, this girl looks a heckuva lot like Violet or Lucy.

"Elaine and I are sort of off and on. . . . One day she likes me and the next year she doesn't!" 

 

Hmm. That guy with the hat looks like Charlie Brown. And that girl; she looks like Frieda sans the naturally curly hair.

"Sure, I know all about that beautiful coat that Jacob gave Joseph, but I'll bet you that Joseph didn't already have seven sport coats at home!"

OK, so the guy looks and talks like Linus. But these are gags about teenagers that Schulz did for a church publication. The cartoons are not related to the Peanuts gang.
Here's Peanuts authority Nat Gertler from the essential Aaugh.com site:

"... the non-Peanuts work of Schulz that has been most reprinted is the series of single-panel gags that he did for the Church Of God, appearing primarily in their magazine Youth. These panels, occasionally referred to by the horrible name Teen-nuts, have been collected in a number of books over the years. I heartily recommend reading any of these you can lay your hands on."

"I'm convinced that the telephone is an instrument of the devil.... I haven't had anyone call me for a date all week!"

Yeah, she looks a little like Peppermint Patty. What Schulz always is playing on is the lankiness of the teenager -- just like Zits does now. All the teenagers (or "teen-agers" as the title of the book spells it) are tall drinks of water.

"I appreciate being nominated as president of our youth group, but I am afraid that I must decline on grounds that I am too stupid."

Some typical self-deprecating humor. Interesting how easily these couple of horizontal lines read as pews. That's economy!

"So how can I kneel in front of my bed to say my prayers? I sleep in the upper bunk!"

The little kinds in this panel do not look like Peanuts kids; smaller bodies and large, bulbous heads. Poor little guys. If they had an itch on the top of their head, they couldn't reach up to scratch it now, could they?

"I really have nothing against your saving string, Son, but couldn't you at least keep it rolled in a ball?"

This must've been one of those "fun to draw" gags. One of the things I like to see is detail, and this one has some great details: a shoe (Where is the other one?), the teenager wearing the frilly female apron to run the sweeper, the argyle socks, the string wrapped around the light fixture. And note that all the cartoons are signed "CSM."

"I do too like to walk in the rain. . . . I just like to see who I'm walking with, that's all!" 

I always liked the way Schulz drew rain. Those inky lines really looked like a downpour.

Wingdam Trail in Wawayanda Park

Yesterday we walked for an hour and 20 minutes on the Wingdam trail in Wawayanda park. A lovely day, and more than the usual number (zero) were on the trail.

That's one reason we go to this park. Even on a crowded Saturday afternoon in summer, there are rarely any hikers huffing and puffing on the trails. But yesterday we saw about 17 people here and there. The last group, a family of four, nodded and said hello was we all passed each on the trail. A moment later, their six year old boy yelled back at us breathlessly, "We saw a bear!"

We stopped and turned around. "Oh, where?"

The boy just stared at us with this grin on his face and I wondered if the kid was just having fun with us. "By the lake!" added the boy's father. The lake was the direction we were headed. "He was eating. Having lunch."

We've seen bears before in Wawayanda, but, as we hiked the last bit of the trail, getting closer to the lake and the smell of charcoal and charcoal lighter fluid, we did not see this bear. The lake is where EVERYONE goes, so that's why the trails are usually so quiet.

The day was so pretty and I got so relaxed, I completely forgot to tape that PRETTY MAIDS IN A ROW movie. Fortunately, Mark Evanier suffered through it. Thanks Mark!

A Gene Roddenberry Production: Pretty Maids All in a Row

What did Gene Roddenberry do after STAR TREK was cancelled? He tried to get into the big-time movie business.

He wrote and produced PRETTY MAIDS IN A ROW in 1971, which will have a very early Sunday morning showing on Turner Classic Movies.

Mark Evanier has a good write up about this rather not-so-good movie, and his personal interest in it. My thanks to him for letting me in on all this!

The film was not successful, and by 1973, Roddenberry was back in television, producing the first of a couple of TV pilots, GENESIS II, and STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES.

Even though I've heard the movie's a clunker, I'll try to watch it. Actually, it looks like a precursor to all the teen raunch sex sorta movies that are all the rage. Again, Roddenberry was ahead of his time!

New Schulz Collection

Oops.

I said there was going to be a book of teenage cartoons by Schulz, and I described it as cartoons that Mr. Schulz drew when he was a teeneager. That was WRONG and the tireless Nat Gertler pointed out to me the error of my ways (see below).

Here's Nat, setting the record straight:

-------------------

Mike!

Thanks for posting a message on your blog about Schulz's Youth.
However, you seem to have gotten the wrong end of the stick about it; I may not have been clear.

It's not a collection of cartoons that Schulz drew as a teenager. It's a
collection of cartoons he drew -about- teenagers.

The attached cartoon is an example.

--Nat

-------------------

Thanks Nat! And thanks for the graphic! And thanks for Aaugh.com!

Cat Sketches from the 2004 Reubens

One of the nice thing about your friends -- if your friends are all cartoonists -- is that they can draw some great pictures for you. Above is Cleo, drawn by Don Orehek, who is a real black and white cat that is really owned by Don Orehek and his lovely bride.

It was May 2004, the end of the Reubens weekend. My wife was feeling under the weather, so I went solo to the Mell Lazarus roast. I happened to have a piece of paper with me. So, I drew a cat on it (a doodle of our sweet, fluffy cat Opie, on the left hand side of the page below), and then, brazenly approached cartoonists -- some of which I knew, some of which I didn't -- and asked them if they would add a sketch of a cat for my cat-loving wife. Above: Patrick McDonnell's sketch.

And they did. Above: one of Sandra Boynton's trademark cats. Sandra's been a major force in the greeting card biz for over 20 years. She draws wonderful animals. When asked if her kids ever buy her own greeting cards to give to her when it's her birthday or Mother's Day, she replied, Yes, but they give them to me ironically.
I love Stephanie Piro's cats. They are all so characterful. If you ever see Stephanie, make sure to ask if you can add to her ANYONE CAN DRAW A CAT book. This is a book full of cats, drawn by pro cartoonists and friends and kids and -- well, anyone! Because, as she points out, anyone can draw a cat!Here's Archie's Stan Goldberg's sketch of a cat. It's as if I can see the bones and muscles under the fur. This man knows anatomy! The curvy, pointed ears are just the right shape.


Above is Pat Byrnes' sweet little angel kitty. Pat has a new book out and you can order it via his site, where you will also find out his wife's the Attorney General for the State of Illinois.


And so when I returned to the hotel room and presented the above to Stacy, she was happily surprised. I think a page of cats did more good than the Advil!

THIS INKING LIFE: State of the Gallery Show

Here is the state of the show of original cartoons at the Great Neck Arts Center as of yesterday! This week the show, THIS INKING LIFE, will be hung. The exhibit opens August 12th, and runs through October 1st.

All of the framed artwork, mailed in from all over the country, is stacked against each other in a small cubicle. You can just make out some of Tony Murphy's "It's All About You" comic strip in the top photo. Tony mounted the originals next to the printed version. He dropped the work off at my place first thing Wednesday morning since he lives in nearby Park Slope.


Above are some of the Six Chix cartoon work of my pal Stephanie Piro, who mailed her work in from her New Hampshire studio.

Now, before I got to the gallery yesterday, I met with a couple of cartoonists throughout the morning. The phone rang before 8am. That was Tony. An hour later he had dropped off his originals and the contract. I called Robert Leighton. We had been trying to meet the past couple days. We arranged to meet at the newsstand at Grand Central between the 4 and 5 trains and the Times Square shuttle at 10am. This meeting went off without a hitch. He then got the uptown train, and I went back home. The home phone was ringing. A couple more cartoonists were calling with questions about the show. Then I walked to Nick Downes' place, and grabbed his cartoons.

I collected all of these one-of-a-kind framed originals, put them in the trunk of my Nissan, and drove down Atlantic Avenue, becoming the NYC to Long Island original cartoon art shuttle bus.


And here is one of my favorite cartoons of recent years. This cartoon travelled from Manhattan's East Side to Long Island yesterday. I took this photo of the original at the gallery (and you can see a bit of a reflection in the glass).

Georgia Vahue, one of the curators of the show, picked up this framed original, laughed very loudly, and, walking from colleague to colleague, showing it to everyone. My friend Robert Leighton drew it. The cartoon appeared in the New Yorker magazine a while back.

The funny thing is that a year ago I was visiting Stephanie Piro and she had this cartoon up next to her desk. I told her, "Hey, I know the guy who drew that!" And She and I talked about what a good cartoon it is.

Cartoonists are the nicest people, says Georgia, from behind a mass of original cartoons -- for it is HER cubicle where everything has been stored.

The nice thing about the show is seeing all the art work from all my colleagues and friends. These photos are the result of my calling them and asking if they'd like to do this. Some of them live on the West Coast (Hi Brian!) or the Midwest (Hi Dave!) or way Upstate (Hi John!) or the South (Hi Kim!) -- and they will not be able to make it to the reception or either one of the panels. But they want to be part of the show, and, gosh, that's swell! (Cartoonists are not only nice, they gush geekily.)

The Great Neck Arts Center is located just a couple of short blocks form the Great Neck LIRR stop. The streets are lined with shops and restaurants. And there's a Starbucks between the train station and the gallery, so you can get a pick-me-up if you're pooped from the ride in from Penn Station.

Finally, here is Emilio Squeglio's fresh color homage to Captain Marvel. He was taken under C.C. Beck's wing and worked on the Big Red Cheese for Fawcett for a time. Then the DC/Fawcett case came to a boil, taking Captain Marvel away. He worked in the magazine section of Fawcett. And he worked on the staff of True Magazine and, then, with American Artist magazine and the Watson Guptill art book people. You know those Burne Hogarth drawing books (Dynamic Figure Drawing, etc.)? Emilio designed those books!

You think this looks impressive lying on its side, wait until it's mounted with a key light on it, baby!

And I almost forgot: the Great Neck Arts Center is free. $0.00 admission, baby!

It's gonna be a good show!

Happy Birthday, Don Orehek

(Above: an original color cartoon of Don's that I own. Click for a larger version. I have some other Orehek originals, but they are not suitable for this family-friendly blog! Just look at those colors! And take in the details: the water, still choppy from her slicing through it, the husband's smoldering cigar, the other couple peeking into the hole, the woman's look of wide-eyed hope that this umpteenth stroke got the ball in. This original hung in a show at the Illustration House.)


A birthday salute to one of my favorite cartoonists, and my good friend, Playboy's Don Orehek!

Don's also known for his cartoon work for Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, Cracked magazine, joke books, and many other calendars and magazines. You can always tell it's one of Don's cartoons because he always signs his cartoons "Don Orehek."

Five years ago, when I first met him, he said, "I'm Don Orehek." And a visual of his signature popped in my head.


Don really is a drawing machine. I remember one time, we were talking on the phone. He mentioned a cat calendar. We were both under deadline for this calendar that Sam Gross was then editing for Barnes & Noble. After maybe 15 minutes of telling stories, I said I had to go and draw some more cat cartoons -- and Don informed me (with a loud laugh) that he was drawing HIS cartoons the whole time while we were talking!

That's how ya get ahead in this business!

And that's how you win four (1972, 1982, 1984, 1985) NCS Gag Cartoon awards!

What I like about Don's work is how alive his cartoons are. There's a real joy of drawing there. I mean, look at the expressions on his people: the evil sneer of the guy, and the helpless look of the French cutie!


So, here's to Don Orehek, a guy whose work I really love. It's wonderful to be a fan, as well as a friend, to this amazing cartoonist. Oh, not only that -- but Don's a great cook! He and his wife Suzy have had us over to dinner a couple of times and we've always had an amazing meal cooked by the same hands that draw those cartoons. What can I say? The guy's a renaissance man!

A Visit to Rina Piccolo's Studio

I drove from Brooklyn to Queens to see cartoonist Rina Piccolo. I was picking up a couple of framed originals for the upcoming Great Neck Arts Center original cartoon show, which runs from August 12 to Ocotber 1.

As you know, Rina has 2 strips with King Features Syndicate: Tina's Groove and she's one of the Six Chix.

She lives in one of these semidetached houses. Beyond those trees, to the west, you can see the buildings of Midtown Manhattan.

It was one of those days where it's hot in the sun, cool in the shade. Here's the front door. I buzzed the buzzer and I heard a voice from the second floor window, "Is that Mike Lynch?" Rina was pressing her face to the screen, looking down at me.

Like a lot of us, Rina has a pet. Yes, this is a real bird. She's the yellow shape on the left, her mirror and bell is on the right. Her name is Olive and she eats bird food and greens and grapes and a bit of apple. Once a week she receives a half a teaspoon of egg yolk which she is crazy about.

Totchkes! Looks at all these terrific little statues. The coolest one is the Snoopy head.

It's a bit overexposed, but as you can see, you can twist Snoopy's right ear and get a little series of images moving in a filmstrip fashion in an aperture in the back of his head! What a whacky thing!

Rina's hubby Brendan Burford has a collection of old records. Brendan's not just a collector of old jazz records, he's a cartoonist as well, as you may know since he regularly attends the MoCCA Fest and other comic conventions, and he's been recently mentioned on the drawn.ca and ComicsReporter.com Web sites. Go to Brendan's own Syncopated Comics site when you get a moment, will you?

She showed me this old portable phonograph that plays 78 rpm records. First you crank it 8-10 times in front there -- like an old car in Gasoline Alley! The speaker is covered by brown fabric right there, to the left of the turntable. I asked her if you could still buy needles for something like that, and she said yes.

Here we are in the Piccolo studio, where Rina works 6 days a week. This is a bit of her book collection.

This is poster from a recent signing. I think it was from the San Diego Comicon. And below are some Tina's Groove proofs from the syndicate. That postcard of the Chrysler Building is apt. You can see it from the end of their mews, glittering in the sun.

Here's the drawing board. I like the inky cloth hanging from the lamp arm. They moved into the house a couple of months ago, and she still hasn't had the time to put up a lot of things on the wall.

On the left of her drawing table are pens and other items at hand. "Do you know what to do when your ink gets all thick and gloopy?" I did not. "You add this," she said, picking up a small sealed jar of ammonia. "Just a few drops."

Detail from the table top. What are those doodles? She was trying out a new pen nib. Geez! I didn't tell her, but I coveted that little piece of paper! Rina's doodles are better than some people's finished cartoons!

Rina draws her strips with a brush, and letters with a dip pen.

More of the studio. That's my can of soda. I think Brendan and Rina drink healthier things! Sometimes she listens to old radio shows on CD while she draws. That's a Darwin Fish up top.

One of the best time-savers I've seen. The cardboard is a "daily strip template" and she just traces around it instead of measuring. She has a template for the daily panel and the Sunday editions, natch!

Parting Factoid: Reed Brennan does the coloring of her dailies, and Brendan himself colors her Sunday strips on a Mac in his adjoining studio.

Now I can Blog About Brian Fies Blogging About Me

I wasn't going to post much today. It's a busy day, and I'm on my way out. Fortunately, I was poking around the usual blogs and found something! Thanks to my pal Brian, I can just point you to his blog!

Ahem ...

Award winning graphic novelist Brian Fies has a nice write up at his blog about the upcoming THIS INKING LIFE original cartoon art show, as well as some very nice things to say about me. He is so kind he could, should he wish, ask me to co-sign a loan or something.

Thanks, Brian! I am blushing!

The photo of the tent had me laughing out loud!

I'll get some photos of Brian's framed pieces as soon as they arrive at the gallery.

P.S. There's a cool Star Trek essay Brian wrote for the 40th anniversary of TOS for the San Diego Comicon book!

New Schedule for Stan Goldberg & Mike Lynch on TV

As I mentioned last month, Stan Goldberg and myself will be on the Cablevision program "Artscene with Shirley Romaine." The air dates have been revised:

Wednesday, August 9 at 5 pm on Channel 73

Friday, August 11 at 7pm on Channel 18

Saturday & Sunday, August 12 & 13 at 5:30 pm Channel 73

You can only see this if you have Long Island Cablevision. I'm trying to get a copy of the show from someone who has Long Island Cablevision. If I can, I will share it!

Losing Money, Keeping Rights

What do you want you cartoonist you? You want money for your cartoons? You want the right to own your cartoons?

You can't have both. At least not with National Lampoon. Not now.

The National Lampoon imprint has been bought and sold over the years. Back in the 1970s when Matty Simmons ran the magazine, the cartoonists retained their rights. Sam Gross, the then-Nat Lamp cartoon editor, has told me this. He made a lot of money off of his "frog legs" cartoon. This is because he controlled it, he owned it.

Having rights to your cartoons is a good thing. Most markets buy one-time rights. That means the magazine, Web site, or whatever media outlet is using your work will pay for using your work once, and if they want to re-use it, then the editors must approach you and negotiate a fresh deal. Most magazines I regularly sell to want what's called first-time rights to cartoons. That means that they want to be the first to publish it.

In spring 2006 when National Lampoon approached a group of pro and amateur freelancers via a Web board with a proposal to send in cartoons, I was dubious. The pay was $50 a cartoon. And there was no mention of being paid again if the book went back for a reprint. But they said they didn't want all rights, just "single use" and "maybe print/web promotional stuff directly related to the marketing of these books, but that's it."

So I sent in a bunch of work, and they held a number of cartoons -- double digits!

Here's the initial pitch from the NL. I've bleeped the editor's name & address:

The project was delayed this summer (but it's back on the front burner now). One of the reasons for the delay: the contracts. Hey, that's OK. These projects can be delayed.

Here's the editor in a mass e-mail message from June 9, 2006:

The contract concerns that some of you had have been sent to the legal-types and will be addressed. I'm pushing hard for a FAIR TO THE ARTIST compromise.

Cartoonists -- my colleagues and friends -- have been e-mailing their hi-res versions of the cartoons without seeing a contract. That's their business.

I put on the breaks. I wanted to read the thing -- the reason for the delays -- before I sent in my work.

I'm glad I waited. The final contract says the Magazine

shall also have the right in perpetuity to utilize the Material in a compilation and/or magazine for a one time payment of $50.00.

So, even though the good ol' editor told us,

terms will be 'single use' with you retaining the rights to your work

that was not the case.

I told the editor that I could not agree. More money was offered. I said more money is nice, but the issue was rights. It was stuff like this that I didn't like:

... NL ... retains the right to use the material online and in other publications at all times.

For $50?! You want to use the cartoon online and in any other publication "at all times?" Like ... uh ... forever?

Nope. No way. I will not be part of the book.

Having rights to your work is a good thing. Ask Siegel and Shuster.

Here's the whole first part of the contract:

1. Use of Material: Author hereby grants to NL the right to use the Material, in whole or in part, in the Book (and republication of said material in digital and wireless media) commencing on delivery of the Material to NL and continuing in perpetuity (“Term”). NL shall also have the right in perpetuity to utilize the Material in a compilation and/or magazine for a one time payment of $50.00. Author agrees not to authorize a third party to utilize the same Material within or in connection with any other book nor grant any rights to the Material which would conflict with or impact the rights granted to NL for a one year period after initial publication of the Book, but retains the right to use the material online and in other publications at all times.

I appreciate the hard work that the editor did in working with a lot of real cartoonists -- instead of going the reprint route or going for a cartoon stock house. I think he has little to do with the terms. He's just in charge of getting a good product out. It's just too bad the people providing the content are being treated like this.

Thanks for Reading the Mike Lynch Cartoons Blog

Thanks to one and all who have followed me to Blogger. I appreciate.

I was on MySpace, and my blog was going on again, off again for no reason. While this may or may not be fixed by the MySpace techies, I'll be considering Blogger home for now.

And I'll keep posting, as long as people are reading and commenting.

The cool little map above, representing about the first 12 hours of August 1st, shows where people are peeking in at the Mike Lynch Cartoons blog. I was amazed to see so many dots, representing people who spent some time here. I appreciate!

Best,

Mike

My Biggest Fan

Fellow cartoonist and blogger and all around grand fellow Mark Anderson has posted photos of his workspace. Any good idea deserves to be completely ripped off, so I grabbed the camera to take some documentary photos of the board I draw on. (I don't have a whole studio since space is precious in NYC.) It had some finished drawings and my sketchbook on it -- and --

OOH! THAT DARN CAT!

Look at that. Well, well. Rufus is apparently my biggest fan. And he is making the point that my wonderful cartoons are not only funny to behold, but they make a fine pillow as well!

This is our living room table. To the right are part of my wife's metric ton of music CDs, haphazardly arranged into classical music and traditional Irish music piles.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in Prospect Magazine (UK)

OK, so I shopped this one around for a while and no one wanted it.

But the British magazine Prospect picked it up.

I liked drawing the angry artists. And I think it's even better after a splash of color:

The editor usually wants cartoons in color, and, like my mother-in-law says, Color cartoons are funnier.

Well, I don't know about that. But this one with it's NYC "arteests" selling their work on the street needed some color and it sure helps. One problem with the cartoon: It is too tight, too small. I think it's hard to tell that those other artists are angry at the biz man artist. Maybe that's why all the US business magazines passed on it. And maybe because one rarely sees artists selling their work in a NYC park any more.

New Collection of Charles Schulz Cartoons: "Schulz’s Youth"

A new collection of early Schulz cartoons will be out in May 2007. This will be a complete gathering of material he drew as a teenager.

If someone did this to me I would cringe! I mean, this is early, amateur inky stuff. But, hey, if you're a Schulz completist then this is just your cup of tea.

More at the always excellent Aaugh blog.

This Inking Life: The Essential Cartoonist Gallery Show

The Great Neck Arts Center, located within a few minutes' walk from the Great Neck Long Island Railroad station, is the location for a gallery show of original cartoon art. Stan Goldberg told me about the gallery's interest and we had a meeting with them this past December. I've been working with the Director of Development since then. Above is the promo postcard.

This past spring, I put together a batch of names for consideration:

This Inking Life

Drawing Inspiration

Drawing the Line

Crossing the Line

Collector's Item Classics

The Essential Cartoonist

The experts at the gallery put together the final name of the show and designed the postcard.

Back in June, we had 25 cartoonists ready to participate. By now, we have twice that number. You can get an idea of some of the participants by looking at that postcard above. I'll be posting a list of cartoonists soon.

It'll be a terrific show. The people at GNAC have been enthusiastic and supportive. There's going to be a big reception in about 3 weeks, and then a couple of panel discussions in September. I was going to maybe see if we could just have one panel discussion, but GNAC wanted at least two, See what I mean about enthusiastic?

With Masters of American Comics coming to the Jewish Museum (ATTN. JEWISH MUSEUM WEBMASTER: IT'S CHARLES M. SCHULZ -- NOT SCHULTZ!!!) and The Newark Museum, it's gonna be a cartoony good time for NYC culture lovers!

I blogged about the current show on July 8 here. There are a number of photos of the main part of the Center.