Lee Salem Interview

Universal Press Syndicate President Lee Salem will be interviewed this week by "Mr. Media," the blog of Bob Andelman.

Currently on the site, last week's interview with writer and TV creator David Simon. Mr. Simon wrote the book that was the basis of the best show on TV; HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS.

Hat tip: E&P.

Syncopated Comics Release Party Tomorrow

NYC: Tuesday night is the night for the celebratory launch of Brendan Burford's SYNCOPATED COMICS #3. Vitals are at the SYNCOPATED blog here.

Contributors to this issue include: Nick Bertozzi, Susie Cagle, Jim Campbell, Greg Cook, Tom Devlin, Gary Gianni, Paul Hoppe, Dave Kiersh, John Martz, Rina Piccolo, and (of course) Brendan Burford.

Alberto Giolitti

Something from my stash of original art. Even though I'm not a fan of this comic book, there's something to look at and learn here.

 

Alberto Giolitti -- the man who drew the above page -- was an Italian-born comic book artist who did a lot of work for Dell/Western Comics (later Gold Key) for over a generation. The company specialized in licensing comic book versions of Disney movies and Warner Brothers properties.

Giolitti worked on many major titles, and is best remembered here for his work on TUROK, DINOSAUR HUNTER, which was about a couple of Native Americans stranded in a valley with a bunch of dinosaurs. Mr. Giolitti also did the STAR TREK (which is still in print), TWILIGHT ZONE, BORIS KARLOFF comic books, and many Western properties.

He came to America via Buenos Aires in 1949, and worked in the NYC area for about a dozen years before returning to Italy. He continued working for Gold Key while there, and started Giolitti Studios, employing up to 55 artists for a variety of high and low profile properties for international markets. In Italy, he may be best remembered for a comic book titled TEX.

When I was a kid, I was not into his work. I disdained his STAR TREK comics. The bridge didn't look right, for instance. It wasn't until later I found out that he had not seen the series at that point. The show was not available in Italy. Dell comics just mailed him a TREK press kit, expecting him to wing it.

It wasn't until I learned how to use a brush that I rediscovered Giolitti's mastery. This was when I first moved to NYC in 1986.

 

Above: an issue of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It's the #15, from 1955. PRESTON was based on the radio and TV series that was created by the same people who created The Lone Ranger. Giolitti worked on this.

 

Well, again, I'm not a fan of PRESTON. It's not that I don't like the guy, or his big ol' malamute "King," it's just that I didn't grow up with the show. But I did get a chance to buy some original Giolitti art from this comic book. The art is what's called "LS" or Large Size original art, with dimensions of 14 x 22 inches. Most of today's comic book artist work 5 x 10 inches. Obviously, the larger the size, the more detail.

 

I bought a couple of originals while I was assisting a comic book artist. (This was back when I thought I might draw superheroes, and wanted to have more original art. I think I bought a couple of pages for $50.) Seeing the page above, it was a personal relief to discover that the ink was not all opaque. It looks watery here and there. The same thing would happen to me -- especially with Higgins ink.

The more I looked at this panel, the more I liked all those little noodly details that Giolitti spent time on -- the same stuff that I didn't like when I was little. Go figure.

Giolitti was a nut for reference, taking photos of people and places. And it shows. Look at that shadow of the dog, just splashed in there. You almost don't see it. So well done. And the detail of him (the dog) looking off panel, keeping an eye out for any danger. Good dog!

The fact that Preston and the old man are walking, each with the opposite foot forward is a nice touch. And those details of the town in the tundra down there, with each building made out of pine planks, looks right. And there's even the nice touch of the Aurora on the horizon. With the shadows on the foreground characters, it helps them "pop" into the foreground, away from the town and mountains.

 

Above is the printed version. I always liked B&W art better than the color books. The color here seems at odds with the piece. It's too garish -- as most comic book colors back in 1955, when palates were limited. Shrinking the art eliminated the uneven ink problem.

 

Now, I could go on for a long time about all the other panels -- but I just wanted to talk about the guy and his work -- and celebrate his art, by looking at this one tiny bit, from 52 years ago.

Classics Illustrated Memories

Sue Wunder writes about how reading Classics Illustrated comics started her reading habit in today's Christian Science Monitor.

"[The comics] might have horrified the original authors, but the little comics utterly absorbed me."

Hat tip to Dirk Deppey.

The Complete Pogo/Old Comics Sites

Fantagraphics announced that there will be a new series of books, beginning this fall, that will collect POGO in its entirety. Jeff Smith will design, and the cover that's reproduced is pretty much the final design.

POGO is just one great American strip that is getting reprinted. We're deluged with a lot of great material now. Just off the top of my head (and with help from the Fantagraphics "Flog" blog), here's a list of available hardcover books reprinting newspaper strips:

KRAZY KAT

PEANUTS

POPEYE

THE SPIRIT

PRINCE VALIANT

LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND

DENNIS THE MENACE

DICK TRACY

GASOLINE ALLEY

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE

And there's more coming up.

If you like old newspaper comics, here are a few sites of interest:

Coconino World is a huge site, in French and English, that celebrates a lot of classic cartoonists. If you go to this page, you can start looking at Swinnerton, McManus, etc.

Shane Glines' Cartoon Retro (subscription only), celebrates classic cartoon illustrators. Lots of stuff here. Join up for a month. I did.

Andy's Early Comics Archive is an incredible collection of cartoons through the centuries with tremendously large scan for much oohing and aahing. I love the page of photos and caricatures of cartoonists here.

Craig Yoe's Arf Lover's Blog is a wonderful collection of cool stuff. I always wind up spending time looking at old gag cartoons, old comics and other items of delight that Craig has.

Stripper's Guide by Allan Holtz is not as racy as it sounds. Lots of great old comic strips here.

Barnacle Press is a trove of old features from the comics pages.

Arnold Wagner's Cartoonology always has the insider stories about cartooning and comics.

Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog tends to be more about post-war illustration, but the site is such an interesting place to visit and it's full of vintage material, that it's worth a looksee.

Sci Fi Channel Orders 13 More Episodes of Battlestar

The rumors were that the successful BATTLESTAR GALACTICA show might be canceled.

Anthony Crupi at Mediaweek has the story of its renewal.

"... the audience surges came as the February Playboy was hitting newsstands; that particular issue featured a revealing cover shot and a 10-page pictorial of Battlestar actress Tricia Helfer, a.k.a. Number Six."

And, heck, as we all know, it didn't hurt that there was a Mike Lynch Cartoon in there!

The Pocket Cartoon Course

THE POCKET CARTOON COURSE, from Snack-Pack Co. in Indianapolis, put together this 22 lesson course in 1943. Mike Rhodes, of the ComicsDC Blog, shares it with us here.

I assume this is for people who do not have the time to actually sit down at a table and draw. This is for people on the go! Heck, put it on people's phones and it would sell today.

"All you need is a pencil and a few sheets of paper!"

Hat tip to Richard Thompson. Thanks, Richard!

William Shatner - 50 Years in TV

Produced for the Television Academy Hall of Fame Ceremonies, this professionally put together compilation of Shatner's TV work runs a bit over 11 minutes.

Left, a photo of Mr. Shatner in the movie IMPULSE (1974), reviewed by Mike ("If you're looking for Shatner in classic hammy-acting mode ...") White for "Cashiers du Cinemart" here.

John Callahan Documentary

Cartoonist John Callahan is the subject of an hour long Dutch TV documentary. Click on "video" on the right hand side of this page. Yes, the page is in Dutch -- but the video is not.

And you get to see Callahan's day, Callahan talking about his life, the complaints about his edgy cartoons -- and, best of all, you get to see Callahan drawing.

There is nudity (not Callahan) and, if I remember, some swearing.

An interesting slice of his life, with him making some music and talking about his philosophy of life, what it's like to be a quadriplegic cartoonist, and -- I said it before and I'll say it again -- close ups of him drawing.

Thanks to cartoonist Lars Doornbos for finding this and letting me know about it!

RSS/RLS Feed

Avast, there, me hardies!

Just got an email from a talented cartoonist who wanted to know if there was an RSS feed for the Mike Lynch Cartoons blog. I wrote back:

There's a link at the bottom of http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/ that reads: Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

And, by clicking that, you SHOULD be able to get an RSS feed. I put SHOULD in capitals to denote the fact that I've never used that link myself and don't know for sure if it works. Another option: Firefox browsers have an RSS graphic at the top of the browser, just to the right of the URL. Clicking on that SHOULD (yes, again with all caps) do the trick -- if you use Firefox.

Arrr! While I don't know much about RSS yet, let me remind you Robert Louis Stevenson fans out there -- and you know who you are -- that scientists are working around the clock to perfect the new cool, new RLS feed!

Ha ha ha!

(I know. A wretched joke. I should walk the plank, etc. And I wonder why I don't get as much traffic as I did in 2006!)

Entire PLAYBOY Magazine on DVD

It's a bad news, good news thing.

Good news for cartoon fans. All 600+ issues of PLAYBOY magazine will be reproduced on DVD. Cole, Silverstein, Wilson, Gerberg, Dedini, Interlandi, Hoest -- they'll all be there, in this new page by page DVD -- similar in format to the NEW YORKER DVD set.

PLAYBOY is, along with the NEW YORKER, a seminal publication of 20th century magazine cartooning.

The bad news is for the people who created the content. None of the creators of any of that content will be compensated. Not centerfolds, not writers, not photographers, no one.

And the new owners of NATIONAL LAMPOON will follow suit. (I wrote about LAMPOON and the business practices of its new owners on August 4, 2006 here.)

The COMPLETE PLAYBOY DVD will make money, sure. But only for the men and women in the PLAYBOY business offices. This is wrong.

Some thoughtful comments from Tom Spurgeon here.

DOCTOR WHO Spin-offs: The Sarah Jane Adventures & Torchwood

If you live in Great Britain, you naturally grew up with DOCTOR WHO. The show was, for years, just there, grinding on year after year. You may or may not have watched it, but was part of the TV schedule for a couple of generations.

If you lived in the US -- well ,then -- who (no pun intended) knows? I remember watching the Tom Baker version in the late 1970s. So cheap and so far out and so silly. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, with a TV movie in 1996. A new series, produced by Russell T. Davies, resurrected the concept two years ago, and it's been met with ratings success.

Now, Mr. Davies and the BBC has added a couple of other TV shows to the WHOvian franchise (no, it's not DR. WHO: DEEP SPACE NINE or DR. WHO: THE NEXT GENERATION). Both of these new series have been unseen in the US so far.

THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, which premiered last month on BBC One, is a new series based on a character that first appeared on the programme (hey, that's the way it's spelled) from 1973-76.

The one hour pilot, Invasion of the Bane, has been chopped up into multiple parts for YouTube distribution. The first part is here. And you can pick up the rest of the links there.

Another Doctor Who spin-off, TORCHWOOD, was broadcast by BBC Three this fall. TORCHWOOD is a covert agency, above the government, above the police, that investigates extraterrestrial visits and scavenges futuristic alien technology for its own use. Another WHO character alum, "Captain Jack Harkness," heads the group of investigators. YouTube has the first episode "Everything Changes." And there are more at YouTube, if you want to seek them out.

Both are running and jumping shows (to paraphrase Irwin Allen*). There is some care taken about character and coherency -- and, in each of the pilots, there is a central mystery that the plot is hung on -- but in the end, it's a lot of running and jumping.

And monsters, as well as a few wisecracks.

Some American SciFi fans do not like DOCTOR WHO because it's, well, intentionally a little silly. I always liked it, but I like STAR TREK, and, heck, TREK can get pretty silly too.

However, TORCHWOOD titillates, with some serious nods to sex (not just hetero), and some darker violence.

SJA is more for the kids, with lots of dubious goings on at a soda pop factory.

Both pilots start with (A) an outsider trying to figure out who this secret Smith person/Torchwood Institute is up to, while (B) our lead character(s) unravel a mystery having to do with the aforementioned monsters -- some from outer space, some in our id.

Anyway, these shows are out there in cyberland (until the cease & desist letter) if you want to have a taste of them before they officially arrive on broadcast TV in the US. I particularly liked the first 2 episodes of TORCHWOOD, which has been renewed for a second 13 episode season.

* "Allen held the quaint notion that American kids wanted to see lots of running, jumping and fighting in their sci-fi programs. Unfortunately, these elements generally fell in the place of plot, dialogue and believability". -- from the TVParty site.

Archie Comics Press Release: Archie Artist Joe Edwards Passes Away

Veteran comic book artist Joe Edwards died on Thursday, February 8. In a career spanning over 65 years, Edwards wrote and drew comic book stories for various companies, most prominently Archie Comics.

After studying art at Rome Academy and Hastings Animation School, Edwards landed a job drawing for Demby Studios, one of several outfits generating comic book stories for various publishers in the fledging days of the industry.

After drawing comics for Dell and Timely, he joined Archie, which was then known as MLJ Comics. Edwards' animation training made him perfect for "funny animal" features including Squoimy the Woim, Cubby the Bear and Bumbie the Bee-tective, all of which have the distinction of gracing the pages of a milestone comic from MLJ: Archie Comics #1 from 1942.

When the Archie comic series took off, Edwards drew many stories featuring the flagship characters as well. Over the years, he continued to contribute to the company with stories and art on features including Super Duck, Captain Sprocket and the series he is most associated with, Li'l Jinx. The mischievous little girl was so named because, like Edwards' son, she was born on Halloween. The feature appeared for years not only as its own series but also as a backup in such titles as Little Archie and the Archie Giant Series.

Joe Edwards was 85 years old. Funeral arrangements have been made for Sunday, February 11.

H/t to THE BEAT and Silver Bullet Comics.

UPDATE: Here's the AP obituary.

Al Scaduto Interview

Sunday's Connecticut Post interviews Al Scaduto, who's been drawing the King Features cartoon panel THEY'LL DO IT EVERY TIME for 59 years. The article's written by Dirk Perrefort.

"'What I like most about being a cartoonist is starting with a fresh piece of paper and ending up with an idea,' he said. 'You're the writer, the actor and the director. I never thought about retiring. I enjoy what I do.'"

(Photo by Whitney Kidder-Alvarez for the Connecticut Post)

Stan Lee Retrospective at MoCCA

The opening reception at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art for Stan Lee: A Retrospective is Friday, February 23, 2007. MoCCA has all the details here.

The reception will cost $250 per person, which, states MoCCA, a little defensively, reflects "the unique and exclusive nature of the event." There will only be 100 guests.

At left, a gorgeous bit of art on the site that -- as far as I can tell -- goes uncredited.

Fred Hembeck & THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS

"Rocket's Blast Comics Collector" magazine ran an amateur comic book story in 1972 called MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. I remember that time. There was going to never, ever be a team-up between any DC character and Marvel character. It was not going to happen, despite the fans wanting to see a Superman/Spider-man team up. The management just wasn't going to get it together. (Of course, a couple years later, there were a series of crossover DC/Marvel "events.")

But, back then, in those dark days, a young cartoonist named Brad Caslor thought up a story, and drew it for the RBCC, a comic/SciFi mag of the time.

That story marked cartoonist Fred Hembeck for life. This week, Fred shares with us the impact of the story, as well as scans of MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS from those old RBCCs.

Thanks for sharing this Fred!

All Things Doomsday

It's all at Trekmovie.com.

Back in this post I talked about the episode of the old STAR TREK show called THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE, and how there were two people -- tow completely different people -- that were working on new effects to be inserted in the 1967 episode; one set of effects by a fan, another by the Official Trek Franchise, CBS/Paramount.

Here's a link to Daren Dochterman's "amateur" DOOMSDAY MACHINE efx enhancement. (I put amateur in the quotes since Daren does work in the film biz; not as a SFX artist, but as an illustrator. The idea -- to add new special affects to an old episode of TREK -- was his long before CBS/Paramount started doing it.)

And here are clips of the new effects from CBS/Paramount.

And video of DOOMSDAY writer Norman Spinrad commenting on everything is here and a bit more here.

Again, a huge hat tip to Trekmovie.com for supplying all the news.

Postscript: Just heard that iTunes is no longer offering STAR TREK or ENTERPRISE episodes for download. They're just gone, vanished. All I know is what I read here. H/t to Mark Anderson!

NCS Division Awards Deadline Looming

It's less than 2 weeks until the deadline for the NCS Division Awards.

Cartoonists have until Friday, February 23, 2007 to submit their work.

Remembering Joe Edwards

(Sy Barry, Joe Edwards, Joe Giella -- from an October 2006 Berndt Toast Gang get together)

Writer Mark Evanier writes eloquently about Joe here.

I was fortunate enough to hear the story of Archie from Joe. Joe was there, in the MLJ offices, with Bob Montana and John Goldwater, as they were hashing out ideas. Publisher Goldwater (whose first name was the "J" part of the "MLJ" publishing acronym) wanted a new comic book story, maybe something like the Andy Hardy series of movies. But what would it be? What do teenagers want? How do you appeal to them?

He turned to the then-twenty year old Joseph Edwards.

"Joe, you're a young guy. What do you want?" asked Goldwater.

"Three things," said Joe, counting on his fingers. "Girls, of course -- money, so I can take girls out -- and a job, so I can make the money to take out the girls."

Bob Montana created the initial look of Archie Andrews, Jughead and Betty Cooper for Pep Comics #22, December 1941. By the next year, Archie had his own title.

Archiecomics.com has more on the story of the beginning of the icon, written by Jeffrey C. Branch, at its Web site.

Joe Edwards 1921-2007

Joe Edwards, who drew ARCHIE and LI'L JINX, passed away. He will be deeply missed by his friends and family.

Joe received his artistic education at Rome Academy and Hastings Animation School. In the 1930s he worked in animation, for Demby Studios. After that, he drew funny animal comic books for Dell and Timely, winding up at Archie Comics in 1942, along with Bob Montana and Dan DeCarlo. He remained at Archie Comics for over forty years.

He was there, as he says, at the beginning -- when Bob Montana created Archie, Jughead and the Riverdale gang. And it was his hand that drew every page of Li'l Jinx, a character he created.

Joe was a regular to our Berndt Toast Gang meetings and was known for cracking jokes and speaking his mind. It's hard for me to believe that he is gone.

He is survived by Eda, his wife of 63 years, their 2 sons, a daughter, and 2 granddaughters, and 3 great- grandchildren.

Services: 11AM Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the New Montefiore Cemetary, 1180 Wellwood Avenue, West Babylon, NY 11704.

Cartoon Success: Money or Quality?

What do you want? Well, both, of course.

A couple of good links that deserve a click:

Tom Spurgeon opines about too much harking on the bottom line as a gauge of success.

Mark Anderson says that successful gag cartoonists are in the minor leagues of cartooning.

Coming from the Midwest, there are a some things you don't talk about:

Religion

Politics

Sex

Money

But thank goodness we're in blogland, where every little thought can be put out there. So, let's touch on money, and the religious aspect (!) of cartooning in today's rambling essay.

It's nice to feel successful.

Some people think it's money. Money impresses people. Ostentatious possessions impress people; "look at my Hummer, my designer clothes, my $200 haircut, etc."

But cartoonists?

I do think that there is something in the personality of the person -- something in his/her chemistry -- that makes he/she a good cartoonist. Sure, you got to be able to write and to draw -- but how do you handle the rejection, the lonely hours of working, having to come up with ideas?

Sometimes I hear that cartooning is a calling, like the priesthood. It's not for everyone.

I think doing what you like to do -- and making money from it -- is success. And not a lot of people are able to do what they like. Most people don't like their jobs. Maybe that's why some people consume conspicuously.

But, yeah, there are times I get no respect.

Sometimes, people don't know what to say when I tell them I draw cartoons. They look at me like I have 3 heads. But, hey, this job is all about drawing silly pictures and convincing an editor to part with good money for them. Most people have never had the experience of even getting one lousy thing they've done published. What cartoonists do is a square peg kinda endeavor.

This was a conversation I had last week.

"What do you do?" I get asked.

"I'm a magazine cartoonist." (I used to say "gag cartoonist," but magazine is more apt. I stole this idea from my friend, magazine cartoonist Benita Epstein.)

"Oh. You're an editorial cartoonist then?"

"No. Magazines," I say. "Those little square cartoons that are in magazines like Reader's Digest." Sometimes I emphasize, making a little square shape with my fingers.

"Oh." Silence. "My grandma used to get Reader's Digest."

There was very little beyond this except a long pause, and then me asking this person what she did for a living (school administrator). Anyway, a total disconnect about what I did, and the conversation died. But it didn't bother me. It happens. At least she didn't ask me to draw Garfield.

Anyway ....

If some people think that drawing magazine cartoons is not as cool as strip cartoonists or Web cartoonists or graphic novelists or whatever -- phooey on them. That elitist junk is a waste of time. Like buying Hummers.

The glory of the job (and the scary part too) is the fact that it's just you and that piece of paper and your brain.

And a cartoonist can make fun of religion;

politics;

sex;

and money.
All the time making a point while making a joke.

I would like to say that all my cartoons are quality and all my work just brilliant, thank you very much -- but it's up to readers to decide if it's IMPORTANT and all.

In the meantime, I'm just going to try to make it GOOD.

The Gag Cartoonist's Business Plan

The Gag Cartoonist's Business Plan written by my cartoonist pal Mark Anderson, offers serious, hands-on advice for the beginner cartoonist.

I always find it hard to read a lot of those lofty sorta "you can be anything you believe in as long as you believe in it with all your heart and soul." And comments like "find what you do and the money will follow" always sparked a dubious Spock-like raising of the Lynchian eyebrow. I got rent to pay, and my landlord ain't the kinda guy that I can just tell him I'm finding myself and don't have the money this month, etc.

So, if you haven't read it, go over to the Andertoons blog. He's selling some good common sense there. If you all ready read it, then howzabout coming up with 5-10 gag cartoons today? That's what I'm doing.

And thanks, Mark, for sharing your insights.

STAR TREK: The Doomsday Machines

This weekend, in most US television markets, local channels will play an episode of STAR TREK REMASTERED called "The Doomsday Machine." The show, about a giant machine that eats planets and guest star William Windom playing a mad Ahab-like captain, is a favorite among a lot of fans. And the CBS/Paramount REMASTERED digital effects people are souping up the space battle scenes of the Enterprise, the Constellation and the Planet Killer big time. Trekmovie.com has the story and a video preview.

But that's not the only Doomsday Machine.

Over at his StarTrekEnhanced.com site, Daren Dochterman is rushing to finish his version; again, Dochterman's ENHANCED, like CBS/Paramount's REMASTERED, is the same old 1960s TV show -- but with new effects. And he plans to have it online before the end of the day Friday. A preview of Daren's work is here.

Above: the CBS/Paramount version of the wrecked USS Constellation.

More of the Doomsday Machine coverage on this blog here.

Aline Kominsky Crumb News & Podcast

This week's New Yorker magazine brings us a brand new, 2 page color comic strip by Robert and Aline Crumb. The strip, "A Love Story," riffs on their 35-year long relationship. No official NYer link. You gotta go get the mag, or do a better search than I can do (which ain't hard, believe me).

Nextbook has a podcast interview with Aline Kominsky Crumb "in which she discusses her Orthodox relatives, why she moved to France, and what it's like being a feminist married to a supposed misogynist." A thank you to Jocelyn Nubel at Nextbook for letting me know about this.

This R. Crumb Web site reminds us that Aline has a new book out on the 14th titled NEED MORE LOVE and both husband cartoonist and wife cartoonist will be at a NYC signing (scroll down to the NEWS section). A NY Times article link and a note about their NY Public Library appearance from a previous Mike Lynch Cartoons blog here.

Captain Marvel by Jeff Smith

Coming out today, at your local comics shop, is a new Captain Marvel series "SHAZAM! THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL" by Jeff Smith. Some gorgeous work and interview here. Even if you're not into the whole superhero thing, take a peek at some of the beautiful work that Mr. Smith is doing. No wonder he's got a huge fan following for his "Bone" series that was at first an indy press comic book -- and now is seen in the Walt Disney magazine. More about BONE and SHAZAM at Mr. Smith's site/blog.

Hat tip Tom Spurgeon's Comics Reporter.

A Big Thanks

Thanks to all who helped spread the word that the National Cartoonists Society is asking for NCS Awards submissions:

Dave Astor at Editor & Publisher

Dirk Deppey at Journalista!

Alan Garder at The Daily Cartoonist

Heidi MacDonald at Publisher's Weekly

Leif Peng at his Daily Inspiration blog

Rob Rogers, President of the AAEC

Patricia Storms for the Drawn! mention

Xerxes for the Comixpedia news entry

And thank you to ___________ as well! (I left a blank there in case I forgot about somebody.)

The NCS Division Awards deadline is about 2 1/2 weeks away, February 23, 2007!

Jack Kirby Announcement from Mark Evanier

Mark Evanier has an announcement!

Schulz's Youth

SCHULZ'S YOUTH, A new collection of old cartoons about teens by Charles Schulz will be out in May, 2007.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter!

Fan Mail

Hoo boy, there's nothing more fun than getting real fan mail from people who love cartoons! Especially Mike Lynch Cartoons!

Here's one that I just received:

Hello,
Love your cartoons.

Let me interrupt. Wow. Isn't that great? Not "like," it's "I LOVE your cartoons." That's terrific. You know, they say that for every person that writes there are a couple of hundred who don't. So, HUNDREDS of people LOVE LOVE LOVE my cartoons. OK, let's continue on with the letter. I'll try not to interrupt. Please excuse me. I was just so excited.

I'm trying to find the one in the November 2006 issue of the Readers Digest magazine The women are going into the Red Hat Building and the chicken is following. Do you have that? Can you send me a copy of it?
Thanks,
J.

Huh? Uh, er, I don't have a cartoon in the November 2006 issue of the Reader's Digest magazine. Wait a minute. (Looks through recycling bin.) That cartoon was drawn by Dan Reynolds. OK, great!!!!!!! Just great. So I got some fan mail, but it wasn't actually, really, truly for me. Crappity crap crap.

Oh well.

OK, let's move on and shove this dreadful embarrassing, experience behind us. I'm sorry. Cartooning is not a pretty business. Fortunately, I just received this nice email from a cartoonist in Europe:

... Congrats on your Playboy feature. Read about it on Andertoons.

So, even when I get some real fan mail to ME, it's because they read about it some other cartoonist's blog!!!!!!!! Arrgh!!!! That darn Mark Anderson and his Andertoons!

Well, OK. Too bad he hasn't worked his way up to more sophisticated blogs like the ol' Mike Lynch Cartoons blog. 4 out 5 doctors agree that the MLC blog is smoother, milder than the ol' Andertoons blog.

Here's another one from a cartoonist friend of mine commenting on the state of the industry:

... the competition is mighty fierce, especially if YOU are [competing], you bugger ....

Whaaaaaaat? My own colleagues turning on me?!?! Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!!! And talented!!!

Well, I'm sorry that this entry, which was going to be full of so much ego-fulfilling fun for me, just got ruined by these darn fans and other cartoonists and so on. I now have to call my Dan and Mark and ask if maybe they got my fan mail by mistake. If they'll take my calls.

Will Eisner Documentary

Will Eisner lives. And here are some links ...

Not only can you go to the comic book store and buy all-new adventures of THE SPIRIT as reimagined by Darwyn Cooke, there is a forthcoming documentary about the original creator of THE SPIRIT, Will Eisner, titled WILL EISNER: THE SPIRIT OF AN ARTISTIC PIONEER. Click the link to see a preview of the film.

Hat tip to Dirk Deppey, and Alex at Rocketship for getting me into Cooke's work in the first place.

Graphic taken from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's site.

Hey, I just noticed: that Montilla Pictures Web site has a "thanks to Randolph Hoppe" note at the bottom of the page. He's the guy behind the Kirby Museum too. It's a small cartoony world.

Jack Kirby and His Work

There's a clip of comic book artist Jack Kirby from the MASTERS OF COMIC BOOK ART video here. The video was released in twenty years ago.

If you have heard the name and want to know a bit more about Jack Kirby, then this 5 minute clip will help you understand some of the seminal comics work that he did. Captain America, Fantastic Four, X-Men -- he created a lot of comic characters and has a multi-generational fanbase. A lot of them iconic, still valuable money-making properties for Marvel. In comic book shops, Kirby still outsells everything else, 13 years after his passing on February 6, 1994.

If you know his work, then it's fascinating to hear the man talk about his stories. Even though it may be tempting to giggle as he very seriously talks about gods and heroes and silver surfers and demons -- this artist believed in these people and their worlds. And that showed on the page, then and now.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Kirby, whose style became Marvel's "house style." I was old enough to buy his 1970s DC output, and fortunate to find some old issues of his CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN at Buzzy's Used Books in Lawrence, KS. I always admired his work, but it was his tremendous output and the fact he followed his own path that I always found interesting.

Kirby was self-taught. He spent a week or a day at Pratt Institute when he was 14 years old (accounts vary). He left to find work. And work he did! He was one of the most prolific pencillers out there. Kirby pretty much WAS Marvel Comics.

"In the early days of Marvel, Kirby had found it necessary to often pencil and plot five or six books a month," reports the Jack Kirby Museum site.

And at 20 pages per issue -- uh -- ugh -- Good Lord! -- Choke! -- that's a lot!!!

Photo from the Kirby Museum site.

Happy Birthday, Creig Flessel!

Many happy returns to Creig Flessel.

Creig was, for many years, the chairman of the Berndt Toast Gang (the job I currently try to do), and he is one of the couple of living guys* who were there at the beginning of comics. He worked in comic strips, comic books, advertising, you name it.

* The other guys that come to mind are Jerry Robinson (created The Joker) , Irwin Hasen (used to double date with Joe Shuster), Stan Goldberg (first job: assisting Carl Burgos at the old Timely Comics offices in the Empire State Building) and maybe a few others.

Thanks to Comics Reporter and Mark Evanier for noting the occasion on their blogs!

Cartoon Limbo

Tomorrow's the last day for the NYC Gallery Show "Cartoon Limbo."

You have been warned!

The Cartooning Business

Quitting my day job -- which was years back now -- required a leap of faith. I didn't know a soul in the pro cartoonists "industry" when I started out.

My routine -- then and now -- I'd draw up 20-30 cartoons a week in my apartment, throw half of them away and then mail out the good stuff to the art director listed in the masthead of the magazine or newspaper I had targeted. Every week I would do the same. It was not that "creative," it was not "fun," but it was something that I thought I had a knack for.

And it was hard work. It took many months before I got my first sale.

"Did you ever think you'd get to your hundredth cartoon?" asked Bob Mankoff, leaning back in his chair. He was holding one of my cartoons, staring at a small, penciled 4-digit number in the corner. I was in his office, on one of those "look days," when invited cartoonists are allowed past the Conde Nast security phalanx, and get to have a sit down with the New Yorker's cartoon editor. I think I had drawn under a thousand cartoons at that point. Anyway, that penciled number was probably in the 500-700 range.

"Well, I knew I had ideas for maybe a dozen cartoons the first week I started drawing single panel gag cartoons, but that second week ... well, that was harder. And it's not gotten necessarily easier." I had been submitting for maybe 3 years when we had this conversation. And my visit with him ended like so many other visits to the New Yorker; with him holding some of my cartoons and saying, "Come back next week."

And so I do. But so far, no sales at the New Yorker.

But my work sells to other markets, and so that's good.

I've always thought that my stuff sells because it's funny. I think that because there is no other reason to buy, right? That's what the editors want. Why would an editor buy without an eye to content?

Then again, I just got 15 cartoons rejected today -- 15 real good, rejected, homeless, non-money-making cartoons. Heck, one of them should have sold. At least one!!!

"How do you know for sure," asked a student cartoonist,"that they're even looking at your submissions?"

Well, you don't know. You just have to depend on the kindness of strangers, and have faith that your good work -- like the fizz of a Guinness -- will float to the top.

(Above: Our Sam the cat poses next to a couple of submissions packages to be mailed this day.)

How to Draw Comics the New Yorker Way

The February 2007 issue of Mad Magazine has a parody titled HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE NEW YORKER WAY, which has some cartoons (not pictured) apparently drawn by NYer and Playboy cartoonist Glen Le Lievre

I don't know if Glen wrote the parody review (there is a mass credit of 11 names at the end of a series of parodies titled The Fundalini Pages, but -- MADdeningly -- no individual credits), but as a fellow gag cartoonist, he certainly has the credentials. Look for the ... uh ... racy painting by Mark Fredrickson of Britney and Alfred on the cover!


Mad's Web site is here, but don't expect to see content that is on the stands.

NYC Comicon Saturday SOLD OUT Online

Publisher's Weekly has the story. Some retailers still have some tickets for Saturday. This is going to be a big comic book/Sci Fi convention; a self-described San Diego Comicon East Coast style. The fire department had to almost shut it down last year due to come overcrowding.

Comicon site here.

Family Guy and Star Trek II

The animated TV series FAMILY GUY parodied STAR TREK II recently. A YouTube member, Eric Aaron Peters, created a video comparing the parody with the movie here.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in February 2007 Harvard Business Review

The Harvard Business Review (one of those thick, glossy, prestigious business publications that biz executives buy leather magazine holders for for, showcasing them on their bookcases) published a cartoon of mine in its February 2007 issue.


And I'm in the good company of 2 of my blogger-cartoonist colleagues: Mark Anderson and Eli Stein.

This one was a difficult one. I knew what I wanted to say, but didn't know how to say it (but that never stops me).

I wanted to point out that a good lobbyist is worth more than a lawyer. A lawyer might be able to get around the law, a lobbyist can rewrite the law. At first, I drew a white businessman in a lawyer's office informing the lawyer that he was fired because the guy bought himself a lobbyist. But I thought it wasn't funny. The word "trumps" was the key to the joke. I had to make it clear that the lobbyist is better than plain ol' lawyers. So, I drew a conference room confrontation.

Anyway, just for fun, below are a couple of other lobbyist related cartoons that have not sold.




If you can't read my wonky handwriting: "Sometimes I, too, am sorry I married for love and not for lavish junkets paid for by scheming lobbyists."