1949 King Features Cartoonists

Courtesy of James Lileks comes the Famous Artists & Writers King Features Syndicate book. A promo designed to showcase its 1949 talent stable, this book is a great find of unseen art, as well as bios & photos of 53 cartoonists.

Related: James Lileks' The Institute of Official Cheer page.

Big hat tip to Comics Reporter.

CORA'S BREAKFAST

Beginning today, Cora's Breakfast, an all-ages comic by Nick Abadzis, will appear in The Guardian for six successive Saturdays.

Its bright colors, friendly and intriguing character design, make this a fun read. The Cora's Breakfast link above opens a PDF of the first chapter (three pages) of the story.

Nick's graphic novel LAIKA has been nominated in for a National Cartoonists Society Division Award, as well as not one but two Eisner awards (Best Reality-Based Work and Best Publication for Teens).

My thanks to Nick for the heads up on this.

Penciling and Inking Cartoons

"How do you learn to draw?"

The old story goes that you get a big stack of paper, as tall as you are, and take a sheet of paper off the top, and draw on it. Then you take another piece of paper and draw. And so on, drawing on every page. By the time you've gotten to the very bottom of that tall stack, you've improved!

So, you get the bad drawings out of your system. Pretty soon, you can look at a piece of paper and see how you want your picture to be composed.

Speaking for myself and my drawings, I always liked my pencils and hated my inks. I decided that I "freezed up" when inking. I was tracing my relaxed, sketchy pencil line with a static, mechanical, boring line. The ink line made, I believed, everything look dead. It wasn't fun to look at.

I had been drawing with a pencil since I was a kid. Using a fancy schmancy ink pen (a bowl tip Hunt dip pen nib or a Pigma Micron pen or whatever) caused me to hesitate and worry: the ink is PERMANENT and IMPORTANT -- BE CAREFUL! And so I was careful, and my inks were there, but they weren't fun to look at.
"The Macaroni Trio" cartoon, an early Mike Lynch Cartoon from BBC Music Magazine above, shows my heavy inking line. The instruments are too close together with this layout -- not apparent to me when penciling. They don't stand out individually with the addition of the heavy inks paid on top of the spritely pencils. You have to really look for a few seconds to see the fiddle and the bass and the piano. An extra few second to decode a gag cartoon is not good!

I realized I had to keep cartooning, and couldn't just stop in my tracks and try inking a big stack of pencilled cartoons until I got better. No time to draw stuff just for myself. I had to solve this quickly, and still produce salable work.

I was talking to R.J. Matson who, at the time, was head of the NYC National Cartoonists Society Chapter. If I remember correctly, he said he inked entirely with fancy Waterman pens -- the ones that go for a lot of money. But, he said, he loves the looks of his pencils better. They're more free, more full of the energy of drawing.

Well, there it was. That's what I wanted! A lively line line that looked like it was drawn, not traced! I wanted my cartoons to look fresh, like they were out of a sketchbook.

Sure, I can draw in pencil and scan the pencils in to PhotoShop, ratchet up the contrast and -- boom -- it looks like an ink line. But my originals would look pretty pale. I had all ready realized that there's money to be had in selling originals. And potential buyers want what they saw in the published version. Pencils would not look right.

I draw on heavy 24 lb. typing paper. It's not very expensive. And it doesn't bother me to throw away a drawing that isn't going well.

If I stop penciling, and just ink directly, maybe then I could get the line I wanted. And I could then eliminate the penciling altogether. Sure, I may have to toss a lot of the drawings, but I draw pretty fast. And, there would be no erasing. With no penciling and no erasing, this new method could, if I was able to master it, be a time saver.

So, I started to draw on a white piece of paper with no penciling, deciding that if the drawing turned out OK, it was a keeper. And if the drawing didn't work, I would toss it. I drew as fast as I could, but taking a bit of time to picture the composition in my mind.

Above: a rejected cartoon -- for reasons you can figure out. (Although I did get a lovely compliment from Matt Diffee when he happened to see it.) Looking at the tree and the doodley bits of people in the background, I could see that the line was not labored or dead. I don't know if you can see what I mean, but I can.
I started just drawing whatever I could think of. A particularly unpleasant trip to a Target store at Christmas inspired the little card idea above. Again, no pencils; just a micron pen and some wash. Everyone at Target looked dreadfully unhappy, and I was glad I captured that.

"I'm J. Harold Phipps and I meet or exceed my media hype."

J. Harold Phipps is maybe too sketchy, but I do like his body language: leaning into his gait as he walks swiftly toward his networking target with his pointy hand. I don't think I could've achieved this vitality with penciling first.

Above is another of the hundreds of drawings that I've done with no pencil foundation. Again, I think I'm fortunate that I can look at a piece of paper and see what I want where. I think that it becomes easier and easier to manage layout the more you draw.


So, that's my little production secret: no penciling. I like the line I get when the drawing tool is actually drawing, y'know? And, after doing a lot of drawings like this (maybe not as many as would be in a six foot high stack), I'm able to draw faster and I'm not afraid of the ink pen! I don't think it's for everyone, but drawing without pencils really freed me up, gave my cartoons a better look, and made me happier.

And, yes, I do recycle all those crumpled up drawings at the local recycling facility!

POPEYE: Bobby London's Final Weeks

Every week I hear about cartoon controversies (Tom Spurgeon has Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update a couple of times a week; the latest one is here). They have been going on since before the Muhammad cartoons.

Here's a little info. about the big Popeye controversy from 16 years ago with, so far as I've been able to tell via Web searches, the unseen final weeks of Bobby London's tenure on the strip. Maybe you've heard the story, maybe you haven't. Regardless, here is the background on what happened, as well as the strips themselves.

From 1986 until he was fired in 1992, Bobby London had a dream job: drawing POPEYE for King Features Syndicate. When asked if Segar was a seminal influence on him, London replied:

"Segar was, as far as my career, as far as making a decision to be a professional cartoonist, Segar was the seminal influence in my career. I've been drawing cartoons since I was four years old. I grew up as fascinated with the Max Fleischer Popeye because I used to get beat up by big, fat kids all the time, so naturally I sort of gravitated to Popeye because he kind of took care of all the fictitious bullies in my head. But as I got a little older, as I reached junior high school age, I stumbled upon the legendary E.C. Segar version, which I had heard about from my dad, when he would talk to me about it, and, uh, he regaled great stories of Olive Oyl's mysterious little brother, Castor Oyl, and...the Sea Hag and a lot of other characters, so when I actually saw these old strips, I was mesmerized, and it joined the ranks of some of my other favorite old-time strips that I admired at the time, like Mutt and Jeff, and Barney Google, but I would chance to say that it really took front and center in my imagination."

-- from S.C. Ringgenberg's 1992 interview with Bobby London at the Comic Art & Grafix Gallery

Years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Bobby London. We got together a couple of times, when he lived in NYC. I heard his story of how this was his ultimate gig, to follow in the footsteps of Popeye's creator. He was picked to continue the strip by Bill Yates, who had learned cartooning via a correspondence course with E.C. Segar himself!

In 1992, London, who, at that point, was both writing and drawing the strip for six years, introduced a Home Shopping Club storyline for Olive Oyl. Thus begins the below controversial and, so far as I understand, final three weeks of the Popeye strip under London's direction. They're scanned from copies of proofsheets, so the quality is not great.

Popeye is copyright King Features and is currently drawn by the one and only Hy Eisman.




There you have it. Please make up your own mind.

Saturday is Shred Day at Holy Rosary!

If you're in the Dover, NH vicinity (and if you don't know if you are, then you probably aren't), drop by the Holy Rosary Credit Union on Saturday. It's Shred Day!

And it's free to one and all, even if you're not a HRCU member!

• 5 box maximum per person/business
• Drop it off or stay and watch

And, just to make it all the sweeter, there's a FREE Hot Dog Lunch 10:00 am - 12:00 pm!

No, I'm not making any of this up! Not a dream, not a hoax! How the Pope could not include a visit to HRCU Shred Day is such a danged Papal oversight!

P.S. I really am a HRCU member.

COLLEGE LAUGHS

Above: Cartoonist Bill Riley gives us a socko cover for the first issue of COLLEGE LAUGHS (1958). Really, after seeing this, you don't need me to explain what the mag is about, now do you?

"It may not be that much -- you know how lousey [sic] you are at math."

Above: the first page of the bimonthly digest-sized magazine. It's a cartoon with a signature that I cannot for the life of me decode. You know you're in for a lax editorial style when there's a misspelling right there on page one.

COLLEGE LAUGHS is copyright 1958 by Candor Publishing Co., Inc., S.W. Canton, Ohio.

"Now get out there and toss those curves!"

One of the delights about COLLEGE LAUGHS is that it's heavy on early Don Orehek cartoons. Don is not only a favorite cartoonist of mine -- as well as a fellow Berndt Toast Gang member -- I'm happy to say he's also a friend. No way are his cartoons lax. They are full of energy and purpose!

"Hello, Miss Benson? This is Peter Smith ... Peter ... P as in the person you met last night, E as in evening out like you promised, T as in taking it for granted you meant it, E as in eating at your favorite cafe, R as in ready. Are you?"

Above: Bill Riley with a rather lengthy (but enjoyable) gag line. Remember when there were pay phones? Remember when there were phone books? Remember when guys wore bow ties and carnations?


Above: a great Orehek drawing. The fawning guy (just look at his limp right hand); the woman, leaning back, smiling, as she delivers the ego crushing news to that poor schlub.

"I only came out here with you because I heard something about neck and neck. When do we get to do that?"

Bill Riley shows us a rather pedestrian scene of a young woman and a young man. But whatta woman! The line is a zinger.



"Da -- What no comic books?" Don Orehek's "Gene Yus" is a six page set up for what could be a series of cartoons. Alas, this is only a taste of the character, whose chubby cheeked face is in a perpetual snobby superior sneer at people who like comic books. I also like the politically incorrect comic conceit that mentally slow people begin every one of their sentences with a "da."

"Look I got an 'A' in Biology."

Above: fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Jim Ruth has a number of cartoons in COLLEGE LAUGHS. This fellow, with the uncool Jughead style hat, has the most un-come-on line ever.

"It's been a lovely evening, let's spoil it."

Above: Dig Don lighting the above cartoon from the floor ala a horror movie. Note our man leaning in, his legs ready to scramble toward her, while she has her knees locked together. No one can draw a girl in a tight sweater like Don Orehek -- but, hey, I'm sure you've noticed that by now! Great line too. Did I mention I love Don's cartoons? Did I?

"He keeps giving me looks. I'm wondering if he considers me intellectual or dumb?

I really liked the gag above. Very ambiguous, and very much what being in your 20s is all about: choosing what you are and what your place is in the ol' world and all that. Whew! That's way too much philosophizin' for a blog about cartoons! Don uses that bell tower shape (there's one just like it at Brooklyn College) to let you know we're on campus.

"It may not look so good now, sir, but a long walk in a driving rainstorm would make a world of difference."

Bob Campbell draws a cartoon about campus fashion that's beyond me. I do like the very simple lines on the right, noting suits hung on a rod and a sales table. It simply, and with ease, shows you where you are.

"I'd be delighted if it didn't mean we have to start going steady."

Above: More Don Orehek! This is one of my favorites. A great gag line. She's gonna keep the thing no matter what!
Above: the only page of ads in the mag, emphasizing the 3 most important things you can learn from "Sensational Book Bargains:"

1. learn to love,
2. learn to dance
3. and learn to fight!

The end back cover with a parting 2-tone Don Orehek cartoon, full of sexy girls! Oo la la! What a fun magazine.

John Martz Draws His Mom's 1968 Yearbook

John Martz, who is absolutely mad (but in a good way I think, maybe, probably), did a little drawing project. Well, not little -- it's danged big -- and it was just for fun:

"Last year I redrew my mother’s entire high school yearbook from 1968—over a thousand heads. Good cartooning, to me, is all about simplification, and this was a fun experiment in distilling each person’s likeness down to a simple cartoon version and learning to draw efficiently, with both speed and as few details as possible."

Here I was thinking that last week, when I posted about drawing 80 characters was a biiiiig deal, Johnny goes ahead and, tempting some serious carpal tunnel, draws a thousand! I'm eating some serious Canadian dust.

See all 1000 heads at Flickr.

Buy the book.

Big hat tip to Journalista!

Oddball Comics LIVE Presented by Scott Shaw!

If you've ever visited Oddball Comics, an affectionate and very informative site about real life oddball comic books and the people who created them, then you'll be happy to know that Scott Shaw! (Yes, it's spelled with an exclamation point!) has taken is Web site on the road. Here is some video of his presentation:



More here:

Oddball Comics Part 2 - Lucky
Oddball Comics Part 3 - Space Western
Oddball Comics Part 4 - Sardineland
Oddball Comics Part 5 - Bizarro
Oddball Comics Part 6 - Popular Teenagers
Oddball Comics Part 7 - Supergirl and Calling All Boys

RELATED:

Fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Dan Danglo emailed me about his comic book BACHMAN THE MASTER RAILROADER. He wrote:

Mike: I came across this accidentally....Thought you might like to use it your blog...Best, Dan

You bet, Dan. For the whole story go to Scott Shaw!'s site Oddball Comics and click here.

Charles and Linda Preston Interview

"Meet the Prestons: Editors who entertain and inform us" by Norm Ritter of the York County Post Star, recounts the life of the man who brought daily gag cartoons to the stuffy ol' Wall Street Journal. And he also does puzzles and acrostics and so on.

"The Journal now has five cartoon slots each week for which Preston fields about a thousand submissions.

"'I've looked at more cartoons than anyone in the history of mankind,' he says."

Let's see, cartoon editor at WSJ from June 6, 1950 to present. Yeah, I think he's got the record!

That reminds me, I have a Rapunzel cartoon on my desk that I have to redraw for the WSJ and the Prestons! Anyway, I first sold to WSJ maybe 8 years ago now, and Charles has always been accessible. Linda is also just the nicest person. She always puts a note in to say hi. Nice to know that my new neighbors (they live in MA, and summer in ME) are so friendly.

Related: "Funny Side of the Street" cartoon collection at that Harvard Business School Baker Library. That's where I snagged the caricature of Mr. Preston.

Related: Cartoonist Eli Stein on Preston and the WSJ, "my first sale to a major market."

Related: selected photos of Preston-edited cartoon collections from Christopher Wheeler's site.

Big hat tip to Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter for catching this one.

Cover Letters

When I first started to cartoon, I knew nobody and knew nothing about the business. Since I had been unsuccessful in selling a comic strip to the syndicates, I decided I would try for magazine cartooning.

I knew I could find the address of the art director of a magazine by looking in the masthead. I knew to really look at the publication to determine what kind of cartoons they might like. I knew if I worked hard, I could make a go at getting published.

But what about a cover letter? They don't know who I am.

I only did a cover letter maybe the first year that I drew magazine cartoons. I wrote all the usual things, telling editors:

• my name,
• that I was a full-time freelance cartoonist,
• that my work had all ready appeared in _________, ________, and __________,
• and that I was able and willing to do other stuff, like illustrations, in addition to cartoons.

Heck, the "full-time freelance cartoonist ... willing to do other stuff" description was really just code for "I just quit my day job and am scared out of my ever lovin' mind that I will never see another dime, so I'm willing to mow your lawn, drive the kids to Gymboree, clean out your septic tank, etc."

I tried my best at mentioning places where my work had appeared that might impress. I had done computer graphics work for a number of large companies in NYC. It wasn't cartooning, but I mentioned it.

Along with the cover letter in the manila envelope (cheaper than the white envelope) would be a batch of 10-15 magazine cartoons for the editor to look at, along with a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

I would mail cartoons to magazines for months. Every thirty days, out would go another batch, another SASE and that same old cover letter.

After a while, I got rid of that cover letter. I was getting tired of including the thing, even though I knew that it reassured the reader who I was and what I was doing.

But, my batch of cartoons could speak for itself. It didn't need reassurance.

It took about 6 months before I made my first sale to a national magazine.

My thanks to Richard Blanco for suggesting this idea at the Andertalk forum.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in April 2008 PROSPECT

Above: on the left, Prospect's GIF, on the right, my JPEG.

I have a cartoon in this month's issue of Prospect magazine. Prospect is a monthly magazine of opinion and literature, based in London. I like Prospect. Always some thoughtful writing in there. Plus, they publish cartoons and isn't that nice? Well, it's more than nice. It's an added expense for them, as well as an extra editorial exercise, what with sifting through the submissions for the Prospect editors. But isn't it nice that a magazine is making the time to have some cartoons in it? I wish more did.


Above is my drawing for the mag. The gag -- this time -- came easy. I was just asking myself if spring would ever come. What if it did and it was all some illusion.

Above: Prospect's GIF, at their site, which shows a small slide show of that issue's current cartoons. This is the first month that they've done this (my thanks to Pletch for letting me know about the site), and, for some reason, the colors are all wonky.

But let me talk about magazine cartoons. "People love cartoons," I am told. So why aren't more mags buying?

I've posted about this on Mark Anderson's chat board Andertalk:

Most editors are now doing page layout. They pull a graphic (from Getty or some other online photo source) and then their graphic for their article done. They can then go to lunch, or go home, or run to the pub.

Let's say an editor chooses to contact a pro for an original illustration or a cartoon. . It's a lot more work on their part. It involves the call, an explanation, reviewing roughs, deciding on a final version, approving the finish, OKing an invoice, etc. All standard editor business -- except now, with photo resources right there on the Web, they don't have to.

"Why are cartoonist organizations letting gag market after gag market die?"

It's not their decision to make.

If readers and advertisers wanted cartoons, then the editors might take notice.

But cartoons, as well as illustration, require a lot more editorial steps than simply pulling an image from a stock house. A stock house, full of cheap pre-made, searchable images, is easy and there's time for lunch.

Most mags are aware of cartoons, but they don't want to spend the time and money. It's easier to run a house ad.

Comic Strip Ads

I like Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration blog more and more.

This past week he's showcased comic strips used in advertising. Click away at some of the great art and insights in case you missed this week:

• Comic Strip Ads - Delight of the Morons
• Comic Strip Ads: Something for Everyone?
• Comic Strip Ad Artist Tom Scheuer
• Meanwhile, On the West Coast...
• Smokin' Comic Strip Ads!

Draw 80 Characters in 15 Minutes

The challenge that I put to my cartoon class on its last day was to draw 80 different characters as quickly as possible. I handed out sheets of paper, all sectioned out in grids. In each grid was a word:

Robot, Mad Dog, Doctor, Baby, Cowgirl, Sea Captain, Superhero, Mugger, Artist, Teacher, Astronaut, T-rex, Frankenstein’s Monster, Police, Vampire, Nerd, Musician, Robot, Devil, Shark, Athlete, Goth, Caveman, Cartoonist, Cowboy, Baseball Player, Abraham Lincoln, Batman, Truck Driver, Businessman, Bunny, Martian, Fish, Hydrant, Lone Ranger, Mouse, Angry Waiter, Skull, Man with Big Nose, Snake, Bird, Clown, Hippo, TV, UFO, Guy with Beard, Runner, Cool Car, Unicorn, Lightning Bolt, Alien, Penguin, Chef, Presidential Candidate, Munchkin, Cartoon Sound Effects, Melting Snowman, Bee, Octopus, Crook, Fast Food Employee, Cactus, Lion, King, Ballerina, Rock Star, Spongebob, Lobster, Ostrich, Snoring, Skateboarder, Paperboy, Hydrant, Astronomer, Centipede, Bicycle, Charlie Brown, Santa, Mean Kid, Frog

Above: all 80, all done, in 15 minutes. Click to super-size!

The first time we did this drawing exercise, we picked a square on a page and drew that particular character, and then passed the paper on to the next person to the left so he could draw another one and so on and so on, in a round robin fashion until the pages (five pages, 16 squares each) were completed. It took us almost a half hour, even with me filling in some squares.

Favorites: Skull, T-rex, rock star, Alien, Robot, Mad Dog

Least Favorites: Presidential Candidate, Charlie Brown, Cowgirl, Lion

The second time, we did it in 15 minutes. OK, so the last minute there were the guys, all pencilling on the same page, as the others counted down the seconds. But we did it.

What was great about this exercise was seeing how fearless the kids were in drawing ANYTHING. I reminded them that they are cartoonists and as cartoonists, you gotta be able to draw a lot of different characters. It's not easy, but it's a learnable skill. And so many of the guys put in some great touches in their drawings: for "Munchkin," the Dunkin' Donuts donut holes that are brandnamed "Munchkin" are depicted; "Fish" is drawn as a grinning, snaggle-toothed shark with a knife and fork; look at the TV-14 rating for the "TV" square; the "Ostrich" laying an ostrich egg; the "Artist" painting a painting, complete with paint palette; the "Alien," with his UFO whirring around in the background. Some really wonderful, conscious choices made here to help communicate who these characters are!

(And, yes, I know there are 2 words above that are repeated. I need an editor!)


Related: Finish This Comic Strip!

Mirthquake April 17-20

A hundred years ago, there were no movies based no graphic novels. But there were comedy shorts based on comic strips!

The Mirthquake silent/early sound comedy film festival is next weekend in Manchester, NH. I didn't know about it until I got an email from cartoonist Roy Delgado. Thanks, Roy!

There are three days of FREE screenings during the day. The movies they show at night you gotta pay for.

Aside from a rare showing of the films of cartoonist Larry Semon, there will be a series of comedy shorts based on comic strips on Saturday, April 19th:

• At Your Service (A Hallroom Boys Comedy)[Federated Film Exchanges; 1921] Featuring Sid Smith and Harry McCoy
• Oh Ma The Rent Taker(?) (A Hallroom Boys Comedy)[C.B.C. Film; 1915] Featuring Sid Smith and Jimmie Adams
• Danger Ahead (Hairbreadth Harry Series)[Weiss Bros. Artclass Pictures; 1926] Featuring Jack Cooper
• Mickey's Big Game Hunt (Mickey "Himself" McGuire[Larry Darmour-F.B.O.; 1928] Featuring Mickey Rooney
• Buster's Nose Dive Buster Brown Series [Stern Brothers-Universal; 1926] Featuring Arthur Trimble and "Tige"

The Hall Room Boys (later retitled Percy & Ferdy) was a comic strip by a Nova Scotian cartoonist living in New York City by the name of H.A. McGill.

Above Hairbreadth Harry graphic from the Barnacle Press Web site, and fine site it is!

Hairbreadth Harry appeared in 1906, the same year as The Hall Room Boys debut. C.W. Kahles crafted a continuing story full of cliffhangers, a girl who needed rescuing from a bad guy. It was a precursor to the movie serial formats.


Above: Mickey Rooney as Mickey McGuire, in a photo nicked from Leonard Maltin's Journal. That's Billy Barty behind him.

Mickey "Himself" McGuire is a little bully character from Fontaine Fox's Toonerville Folks (1908-1955) comic panel. All seventeen of the Toonerville Trolley films (1920-21) were written my Mr. Fox and were the most successful of the Betzwood Studio. Only 7 of the films survive today.


Toonerville related: There will be a salute to actress Wilna Hervey, (see the above page from Motion Picture Magazine, December 1920) who played "The Powerful Katrinka" on May 3, 2008 at the Science Center Theater, Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, PA. More at the Betzwood Studio page.



Buster Brown, Richard Outcault's upper-crust scamp who would have a raucous multi-panel story where he ruined a tea party or something like that, and then, at the end, would stand solemnly (with his dog Tige) and profess what he had learned (see above). And then of course, there's the merchandising and the shoes and it all made Outcault rich.

Related podcast: Buster Brown's legacy, a 2002 NPR report.

All of these comic strip films are free and open to the public.

"Amateurs" Nominated for Professional Recognition Awards

Is stuff that you can get for free on the Web -- Web-made comics and Web-only videos -- is it as worthy as comics by paid print, TV and movie professionals?

Like the Magic 8-Ball says, All signs point to yes.

The Nebula Awards recently nominated a half-dozen science fiction scripts for award consideration, like they do every year:

"Children of Men" by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (Universal Studios, Dec06)

"Blink" by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, BBC/The Sci-Fi Channel, Sep07 (Aired on SciFi Channel 14Sep07))

"Pan's Labyrinth" by Guillermo del Toro (Time/Warner, Jan07)

"The Prestige" by Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan (Newmarket Films, Oct06 (Oct 20, 2006 -- based on the novel by Christopher Priest))

"V for Vendetta" by Larry & Andy Wachowski (Warner Films, Mar06 (released 3/17/2006 -- Written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and published by Vertigo/DC Comics))

"World Enough and Time" by Marc Scott Zicree & Michael Reeves (Star Trek: New Voyages, http://www.startreknewvoyages.com, Aug07 (Aired 8/23/07))

That last nomination, for a STAR TREK amateur film made by fans that's available for viewing on the Web, is causing some professionals to cry foul. And that same Web video is also nominated for a Hugo.

Time Magazine named the Web comic Achewood as Best Graphic Novel of the year; "... so profoundly genius it would be a crime to put it anywhere but on this list, and at the top of it."

Webcomics, graphic novels -- TV, movies, streaming Webcasts --amateur, professional -- does it matter to people who consume it?

It doesn't matter to Time, or the Nebulas or the Hugos.

Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!: The Ballad of Lieutenant D'Amato

I think we all know that if you're on the original STAR TREK and you're wearing a red shirt, then your days are numbered. A smart guy would choose another color shirt. The same color that Spock and McCoy wear! Yeah, that's it!

But that's no guarantee ....

Laugh out loud at The Ballad of Lieutenant D'Amato by Bully! Thanks for this, Bully!

Above: Photo of actor Arthur Batanides from STAR TREK (The Old Show), as "Lieutenant D'Amato," the Senior Geologist, in the episode That Which Survives from Memory Alpha.

Below: Photo of Lee Meriweather as "Losira," ditto other information.

"I am for Lt. D'Amato."

Related: Trekmovie.com rounds up TREK title sequence mash-up videos.

THE SECRET WORLD OF ROY WILLIAMS

Above: Roy Williams in a photo from The Mickey Mouse Club TV series. More at The Mickey Mouse Club Cast Web site here.

"Here's a great big guy that spends his days wearing a mouse hat and drawing cartoons for kids. What do you suppose he thinks of when the kids are asleep?"

I don't know a lot about The Mickey Mouse Club. I didn't watch it growing up. I did know there was a large guy who smiled a lot on the show. His name was Roy. He was an animator and a gag guy for Disney. This is a collection of his gag cartoons, copyright 1957 by Bantam Books.

I got as big a kick out of the fun hyperbole on the book as I did the cartoons.


Above: Roy's dedication page, in Roy's handwriting.

In 1925 Roy was hired by the Hyperion Studio after a short conversation with someone he took for the office boy (it was Walt). This was the beginning of Roy's lifelong personal loyalty to Walt Disney. Walt paid for Roy's training at the Chouinnard Art School, and took him on in the Art Department. As Roy's skill and experience grew, he was moved to the Animation Department, first as an in-betweener, then as a full-fledged animator. Roy's strength was judged to be as a story and gag man, and by the start of the fifties he had moved away from animation.

-- a snippet of Roy's bio from The Mickey Mouse Club Cast Web site. Now you know why he dedicated the tome to Walt.



A lot of the gags in the book are just zany. His line work is very breezy and bold. There's an ease to the line that comes with lots of years of drawing behind him.



Some of the ideas here are tinged with some sad truths, like the cartoon above. Both men look nonplussed about this chance encounter.


Some are racist, bad puns in today's light. As you can see, most of these are in the "stand 'em up, shoot 'em down" school of composition. The figures are posed in full view, usually in an establishing shot of sorts, with some locale details here and there.

OK, like the one above. I always admire wordless gags, but it took me a few seconds to notice the wee size of the shoe to get the gag here. Their clothes, the framed windmill, are all the clues to where these people live.


I thought a lot of these gags would look fine in Collier's or the Saturday Evening Post. So far as I can tell, none of the cartoons in this book had been published previously.


The above cartoon, with the fellow doing the double-take, exhibits Roy's animation drawing ability. The fellow's left leg, jutting out, askew, is a nice touch. (Dig the pedestal ash tray.)


What's interesting is that none of the cartoons are signed. Every gag cartoonist from the period signed their work. I liked the above gag a lot.


A lot of his gags depend on his drawing ability. The bold lines would be a big plus in today's market where print cartoons are usually shrunk mercilessly.


Like I said, some of the gags are just odd.


... And some are prescient today. Again: the clothing, the doorway -- these are all the clues to where we are -- something we must know to get the cartoon.


What an evil grin on the policeman's face!


Related: Roy Williams risque cartoons at Arflovers.