DICK TRACY Cards

Above: cover detail from DC Comics' Limited Collectors Edition of Dick Tracy (1975).

I was indifferent to DICK TRACY. I saw it in the newspaper growing up and I had read some of the old strips in those comics history books, but it wasn't until Blackthorne began reprinting the old TRACY strips in comic book and softcover format during the 1980s that I began to see why this highly stylized cops and robbers stories were so well regarded.

TRACY is a markedly narrow strip that leaves no doubt that evil men (and women) exist and good (through sweat and perseverance) will eventually triumph. But while its scope may be narrow, Gould mines deeply. Tracy is the bright light of justice in this dangerous comic strip world. His morals as solid as his chin, this cop is unafraid to use as much violence against the ruthless villains as they themselves dish out.

How grim is Tracy's world? As Don Markstein points out, within the strip's first week, Dick's girlfriend Tess Trueheart is kidnapped and her dear old dad is rubbed out. Mayberry this ain't!

DICK TRACY was created by Chester Gould (1900-1985), who was at the helm 365 days a year from October 4, 1931 to December 25, 1977. Dick Locher has been part of the team behind this Tribune Media strip for over 30 years now.

Here is a series of six cards from the Chester Gould Dick Tracy Museum that were part of a goody bag of items from the 2006 National Cartoonists Society Reubens weekend that was held in Chicago. Each card reproduced some terrific TRACY collectible and then there are interesting facts on the other side of the card. This is the whole set:



Above is the front and back of the first card. These are all square, and about the size of a CD. The even came in a jewel box.












DICK TRACY is a registered trademark of Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Related: "Dick Tracy The Art of Chester Gould:" 200 characters from DICK TRACY 1931-1977

Mort Walker Gag Cartoons

A couple of blogs have featured some great 1950s Mort Walker gag cartoons recently. Here are some links:


John Adcock has some 1948 gag cartoons at his Yesterday's Papers blog.



Ger Apeldoorn shares some vintage originals at his The Fabuleous Fifties blog.

Related: Mort Walker's The Best of Times Magazine.

Hilary Price Leaves Town, Mo Willems Takes Over

Hilary Price has gone away to Cuba, but do not cry. She will return.

In the meantime, her long-running newspaper comic strip RHYMES WITH ORANGE will have a substitute cartoonist this week: none other than Mo Willems.

Hat tip to Hilary Price!

GAHAN WILSON SUNDAY COMICS

Did you know that Gahan Wilson had a syndicated comic strip in the 1970s? The Golden Age Comics Book stories blog remembers with a selection of his GAHAN WILSON SUNDAY COMICS from 1974 to 1976.

Images copyright Mr. Wilson. The comic strip was distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate, Inc.

THIS FUNNY WORLD and George Wolfe

Ger Apeldoorn, tanned and rested after his Florida honeymoon, returned to his lovely home in the Netherlands to discover that there were "[n]o burglars trying to steal my newspaper strip collection," and so promises lots more cartoony goodness at his Fabuleous Fifties blog.

Here's a grand sampling of McNaught Syndicate's THIS FUNNY WORLD newspaper panel, with a nice page of George Wolfe's best cartoons.

"Wolfe describes cartooning as starting with a blank mind and a blank piece of paper. The cartoon may emerge in 10 minutes or in tow hours - plus. Above is what he calls a 'comicature' of himself. 'It's less searching than a caricature,' he says, 'but friendlier.'"

Gahan Wilson Interview

Above drawing is by Gahan Wilson, from his site here, and is copyright Mr. Wilson too.

The nice thing about when a hardcover slipcased edition of a book like GAHAN WILSON: FIFTY YEARS OF PLAYBOY CARTOONS is published, is that there are some good interviews with Mr. Wilson, who has been cartooning for something like 50 years.

Via The Stranger's Paul Constant, here's his process for a full page cartoon:

"The Playboy [illustrations] can go on for quite a stretch, because I do really elaborate production with those. Because it's color and full page, it's a series of sort of underpaintings. I'll do the pen drawing, then I'll do the first color, then I'll spray it with a workable fixative, and then I'll do another color on top, or some other medium, sometimes. Sometimes I'll do more watercolor, sometimes something else. With New Yorker [cartoons], sometimes I'll do the thing to the point where I think that's all I can do, and then I'll set it down, and then just sort of sneak a look at it as I pass by, and then the next day, check it out again, just to see, and stuff will pop into view that I had missed. So that's how it works. It's not regular. Sometimes it'll take a couple of days, sometimes it'll take a little longer."

Hat tip to Journalista!

Charles Schulz: November 26, 1922 - February 12, 2000

Above: copyright UFS.

Ted Dawson remembers Charles Schulz on the the tenth anniversary of the great cartoonist's passing.

While Ted may feel "like the whole art form died with him," I can't disagree more.

My two cents is cartooning is as alive as ever. While comic strips are, invariably, connected to the fate of newspapers, other graphic art forms -- Web comics, graphic novels, manga, animation -- are flourishing.

But, yeah, of course, there was only one PEANUTS.

Related: Read PEANUTS from the very first strip at Comics.com!

1948: Remembering the NCS in St. Petersburg, Florida

This is one of those things I ran into on the Web. I don't know what I was searching for, but this popped up and since it had some great art and photos. OK, the photos are darn muddy, but , hey, I had to share. So, here's the St. Petersburg Times' enthusiastic coverage of a National Cartoonists Society exhibit of cartoons from 1948.


Above cartoon splash page by Dick Bothwell, "described as 'the St. Petersburg edition of Will Rogers."' This was back in the day when every newspaper had a staff cartoonist. The larger papers had more than one.

Milt Caniff, Rube Goldberg and other NCS luminaries made the trip down to Florida for the festivities surrounding this show of original cartoon art that had traveled from the Nyack, NY Rockland Foundation Gallery. And why not? It was in a great hotel, with warm weather and year-round golf.


From the St. Petersburg Times, March 21, 1948.


The show was at the Soreno Hotel in St. Petersburg, a large, beautiful hotel and resort which was built in 1923, shuttered in 1984, and "its 1992 implosion lives on to this day at the end of the movie 'Lethal Weapon III.'"



At Memorial Hospital in New York City [,] members of the National Cartoonists Society decorated the walls of the Children's Cancer Ward with their characters. Left to right: Otto Soglow, Milton Caniff, C.D. Russell, Rube Goldberg, Russell Patterson, Gus Edson, Ernie Bushmiller and Joe Shuster.

Above: a courtesy photo that was reprinted in the Times. Just look at that line up of cartoonist greats, huh? And the NCS continues the tradition of visiting hospitals to this day.

KING AROO by Jack Kent

The nice thing about a book on a shelf is that it lives on. Case in point: Jack Kent. If you were a kid in the 60s and 70s, you might know about his books. If you were growing up in the 50s and 60s, you might know about his comic strip, KING AROO. IDW Publishing did, and this week it adds it to its Library of American Comics, which includes TERRY AND THE PIRATES, LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE, BRINGING UP FATHER and BLOOM COUNTY.



Jack Kent (1920-1985) wrote and drew 40 children's books, and illustrated 20 more. Writer and book lover Burgin Streetman, writing for the San Antonio Current, discovered him for the first time two years ago. She found an old copy of his book JACK KENT'S TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Here is how she ran across Jack Kent's work and how that started a quest.

"In my thrift-shop travels, I’ve come across a lot of forgotten gems, but there was something different about this book. The innocence of the illustrations, the sweetness in the characters’ faces, and the irreverence of the story made me want to know more about Mr. Kent. A thorough search through online bookshops, local thrift stores, and seven states’ worth of rare-book dealers led me right back to the place where I started, San Antonio. Jack Kent is probably the most famous illustrator you’ve never heard of"

Above: a Sunday KING AROO panel nicked from Sherm Cohen.

This week, IDW's Library of American Comics, publishes what San Antonio native Jack Kent drew for 15 years before he did those children's books; the comic strip KING AROO. As the cover blurb states, this is "A royal invitation to a comics masterpiece in the tradition of Krazy Kat, Barnaby and Pogo." And that ain't no hyperbolic bunk.



Kent's comment in his NCS bio that King Aroo, "which ran (or jogged) for fifteen years, beginning in 1950, made me world famous for blocks around," is the kind of self deprecating joking a shy fellow might say. Truth is, AROO was highly regarded by both readers and Kent's colleagues.


Above: the first strip from November 1950, nicked from an interview with Bruce Canwell, Associate Editor of The Library of American Comics, at the Westfield Comics blog.

Don Markstein's Toonopedia describes the premise:

King Aroo was the monarch of Myopia, a pocket kingdom that doesn't seem to appear on most maps. His prime minister, grand vizier, chief advisor, or whatever, was named Yupyop. The two were about equally out of touch with reality and common sense, but Aroo's child-like unconcern for the duties and dignities of a king contrasted with Yupyop's more business-like attitude.

Like a lot of cartoonists, Kent was a fan long before he was a pro. Here's Bruce Canwell on Kent's early years:

In his teenage years, during the mid-’30s, he was part of the very first generation of fans… some wags might even say he was part of the first generation of fanboys. He referred to himself as “Texas Jack” in letters he wrote to all the major comic strip artists (this was all a few years before Action Comics #1, remember, so comic strips, not comic books, ruled the day). His letters were brimming with boyish enthusiasm, they showed how carefully he studied all the strips, he outrageously flattered the artists, and he always asked them to send him an original piece of artwork. His approach worked – seventy-five percent of the artists to whom he wrote sent responses that included autographs, pictures, and yes, original strips or drawings. Jack built a sizable collection in only about a year’s time! He ended up on Milton Caniff’s Christmas card list. He got letters and long-distance phone calls from George Herriman. All the while, Kent kept honing his own artistic skills until finally, he made it: he sold King Aroo and graduated from the ranks of the fans to the ranks of the pros.

Please consider buying KING AROO Vol. 1 for yourself.

My thanks to Dean Mullaney for the KING AROO preview.

Hung Up on Tools

Above: "Alien Spy," a piece of Mike Lynch Juvenalia. A splash page for a comic book story of mine when I was a kid. This was when I was heavy into Marvel's Warlock by Jim Starlin.

I get emails. A lot of them are from people who want to cartoon for a living. Some of these people are good cartoonists, some of them are on the way, still learning.

One of the traps is getting hung up on tools. A cartoonist emailed me, saying that now that he had finally saved the money to buy a Wacom tablet & stylus, he could now begin cartooning.

Stan Goldberg, who now draws Archie, points out that all he needs is a piece of paper and a pencil. That's all he needed since he was a kid.

Stan, like me, was of the pre-Wacom generation.

I'm lucky that my Dad was a working graduate student when I was a kid. We had no money for fancy paper or pens, and so I was never into the tools.


Dad would being home some "scratch paper;" leftover mimeos from the classes that my Dad was teaching or, when he got his Ph.D., extra copies of internal memos. This was free drawing paper. I would draw on the back of these. Above: the back of the "Alien Spy" page.

Above: another superhero that I made up when I was a wee tot: Eagle Man. I did a lot of shading and noodling around. Notice me hiding his left hand, and making the other inot a simple fist. I was afraid to draw hands then. This period was heavily influenced by the Bob Kane Batman reprints in BATMAN: FROM THE 30S TO THE 70s hardcover.



... And here is the back of the Eagle Man drawing: a 1972 University Film Association memo from then-secretary Dr. Lynch (who would go on to serve as President).




Of course, like a lot of students, I would not pay attention in class and doodle. But that not paying attention thing leads to some bad grades. (Note the date above, written in the nerdly STAR TREK star date format -- 7612.14 = December 12, 1976.)




Best to wait and draw once I am home. (Do as I say and not as I did.)

Please do not get hung up on fancy tools. Don't let your economic situation slow you down if you want to cartoon. Cartooning can be done for very little money. Like Bob Montana said: It's the think, not the ink. That was today's message -- and the excuse for going through my nostalgia box of drawings.

Happy 4th Anniversary

Above: a drawing of my cluttery desk.

Happy birthday to this here blog, which turned 4 years old this past weekend.

When I first started, I didn't tell anyone what I was doing. I thought for sure I would run out material in a short while.

Like Yoshihiru Tatsumi says, being a cartoonist is like being lost in the desert, going from oasis to oasis; it is, as his 2009 autobiographical book title sums it up, A DRIFTING LIFE. There is no set path to cartooning success. You just keep working, hoping for the best. If an editor likes your work, you will make a sale. If fans like your cartoons, some of them will buy a t-shirt or a book.

So, all my thanks for being out there. This blog has grown so fast with massive traffic. And I hope it's been of value to some.

World's Fastest Cartoonist: Nino Falanga

I don't know much about Italian cartoonist, caricaturist, TV and film actor and director Nino Falanga. There was a certain time when you could see him on TV on Jack Paar, for instance, drawing caricatures in a minute or less.

He also did work behind the camera, for the animation departments at MGM and UPA, and did live action film and TV work (both behind and in front of the camera) in the US, Italy and Spain.

Here he is on the American game show To Tell the Truth. The celebrity panel is composed of Kitty Carlisle, Durwood Kirby, Gene Rayburn and Peggy _____ (I forget her last name- she was on a zillion game shows in the 60s and 70s). While the celebrities are guessing who is the real cartoonist, the contestants are drawing caricatures of them.

In the last minute of the show the real Nino Falanga stands and does a live caricature drawing of host Bill Collins.

MIKE LYNCH CARTOONS SKETCHBOOK For Sale

I discovered I have a some copies of the SKETCHBOOK left. If you would like one, it comes with a real sketch and an autograph.

SKETCHBOOK by Mike Lynch

SKETCHBOOK by Mike Lynch $2.95 each plus $1 postage & handling in the United States. True-life comics and sketches. 24 pages, 8.5"x5.5", B&W interior



Canadian orders for the SKETCHBOOK are $4.50 each, European orders are just $5.00. Just use my email address to Paypal the money: fatcats3@gmail.com

Cartoonists' Exchange Ephemera

Above: a 1940s ad for the "Cartoon Career Master Outfit" with Cartoonists' Exchange owner David Rand smilingly poking his head up amongst all of the cool learn-to-cartoon items to buy. As you can see, there is a small tear on the lower left hand corner where a coupon was neatly taken out. Another $10 to Mr. Rand!

Here is some Cartoonists' Exchange paper ephemera from the 1940s. These are all advertising flyers and hype that the Pleasant Hill, Ohio company would mail out to prospective students describing the long-running cartoon correspondence course



I have seen the CARTOONING FOR PROFIT books for sale from time to time, but never the whole set. The headline "Each Cover In a New and Different Color" is an example of the shameless huckstering about any banal aspect of the product by David Rand.

(One of the most blatant examples is the Lesson Correction Portfolio, wherein "Rand collected students' submissions, and then, sold the drawings back to them. You just have to shake your head and admire Mr. Rand's monetization of the medium!")



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT MARKETING CARTOONS has a lot of great questions in it -- not that I have seen a copy and know what answers they give.

I do wonder who that older gentleman is in the photo.




And finally here are 2 pages of "a few extra sketches I have made up for your to show you how some of my professional cartoonists friends develop their imagination."

I have a fondness for this material and for Mr. Rand, who I think of as the lovable William Castle-type cartoon huckster.

The "You Want It When?" Poster

Anna Collins recently emailed me with some new information about the above image: that ubiquitous "You Want It When?" poster that's been around on office walls for decades.

She writes that she's the one who did it.

BACKGROUND: Where did that "You Want It When?" poster come from? Who drew it?

Like I wrote on the old MySpace April 14, 2006 edition of the Mike Lynch Cartoons blog:

The other day, Mark Evanier posted [the above] iconic image on his blog.

Anyone who's done any office work in North America in the past couple of decades has seen this widely reproduced little poster of the laughing "You Want It When?" guys.

Mark asks: Who drew it and what is its origin?

... I've always wondered who drew it. It sure looks like a 1950s style. Most of my colleagues don't know where it came from. But a lot of cartoonists agree that it's Henry Syverson.

And Mark Evanier provides the post mortem proof here.


Above: a Henry Syverson illustration from the March 29, 1958 Saturday Evening Post.

For your consideration: Here is Anna Collins, who says she drew the original in 1978 that Syverson later copied:

I can clear up the origin of that cartoon for you. I did the original one that was coped, copied and then re-drawn by Henry Syverson.

I was working for a company (Lee Mark Elenka in Aylesford [UK]) in 1978 that had a problem with clients wanting deliver on items before we'd even received them.

I used Michael Bentine's book of cartoon drawings to get the idea for the figures and drew it with the wording on. This was one of many cartoons that I used to do.

My father (Ben Collins) who worked for Reed Paper Mills in Kent took a copy into work, they had a representative from the Daily Mirror come in who liked it and also took a copy back. From then on it was copied all over the place and I only wish I'd copyrighted it at the time as the numbers of times I have seen it I would have made a bit of money from it.

So now you know how it all came about. I am glad people love it.

Kind regards

Anna Collins

Alright, does this help clear or muddy the water?

I don't know the book that Anna is referring to. But, OK, Michael Bentine's Bumblies (above) sorta look like the Syverson nebbishes. Maybe Syverson picked up a copy of the Daily Mirror somewhere and saw it. Maybe he saw it somewhere else. It's hard to believe he decided to redraw the poster. Why would he? He already had a nice gig at The Saturday Evening Post. More likely it was a copy and paste affair like Anna did with the Bentine book.

Regardless, like Anna says, it was one popular sign.

Awards Deadline Looms

The National Cartoonists Society Division Award entries deadline is February 6. Entry details here.

Crazy #1: Basil Wolverton

Above: detail of the initially rejected Wolverton art. ("As you can see, Wolverton carried that idea to the very edge with an image so wild that the Topps executives chose not to print it.") It's now ©1973 Marvel Comics Group.

Basil Wolverton's art and technique: a remembrance by then-editor Bhob Stewart. How a rejected piece of Wolverton art for Topps wound up in Crazy Magazine #1 with text by none other than Harlan Ellison. I love these kind of stories.

New Interview with Bill Watterson

You've probably already heard, but the reclusive CALVIN & HOBBES creator Bill Watterson gives a short interview via email with The Plain Dealer's John Campanelli.

"It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now 'grieving' for 'Calvin and Hobbes' would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them."

Playboy's Gahan Wilson

Via Comicrazys: a selection of cartoons from the PLAYBOY'S GAHAN WILSON collection (1973). Copyright 1973 by Playboy.