Mike Lynch Things to Buy

Here a few books, calendars and minicomics that showcase my cartoons and are available for purchase now.



Above: the Barnes & Noble Cat Cartoon a Day calendar, edited by Sam Gross, with Feggo's great gag on the cover.

The Barnes & Noble Cat Cartoon a Day and Dog Cartoon a Day calendars, edited by the one and only S. Gross, can be ordered online. I had previously said that they were not. I was wrong.



Above: the Barnes & Noble Dog Cartoon a Day calendar, also edited by Sam Gross, with a terrific Mike Twohy cover cartoon.

I have one or two cartoons in each of these B&N calendars (I forget how many), and the calendars are reduced for clearance at 50% off.



The Trees & Hills Comic Group of VT, NH and Western MA has a new mini-comic. Titled TIME, it showcases area cartoonists' comics on the subject. Colin Tedford is the engine behind this T&H. I enjoy being part of the group's anthologies. I have four gag cartoons TIME.


On sale this month, LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE, a new trade paperback, has lots of cartoons by me and some of my cartoonist pals (Dave Carpenter, John Caldwell, Roy Delgado, Scott Arthur Masear, Dan Reynolds and the one and only Harley Schwadron), plus many stories and quotes from Reader's Digest. It retails for $9.95 and I'm seeing it in mom & pop bookstores a s well as the big chains.

More to come:

• STAY TOONED Magazine has an interview with me in issue #6, due out soon;
• from St. Martin's Press: DRINKING WITH MISS DUTCHIE, a memoir by Ed Breslin, is scheduled for a March 2011 release date - I drew the cover art, as well as the interior endpapers;
• and there will be another surprise soon.
  

White Mountains, NH, January 29, 2011

My wife and I drove to the White Mountain National Park on Saturday. It's just over an hour from our home. Here are a few photos from the high vantage point of the Pemigewasset Overlook.


The overlook is about in the middle of the the Kancamagus Highway, which runs for about 34 miles from Conway To Lincoln. Photo by Stacy Lynch.



The shelter at the overlook, looking over a trail.



The Pemi overlook shelter.



An alternately cloudy and sunny day, with sudden shifts of cold any time there was cloud cover.



A trail going into the woods. That's a buried picnic table at the lower left.



The setting sun over the pass.



Some of the rain goes to the Atlantic watershed, some to the Pacific and some of it winds up in my basement this spring!

Video: DOCTOR WHO BBC National Television Awards Opening

Jesus' Corporate Job Interview by Mike Lynch

Jesus goes for a job interview. It does not go well. Click below to supersize.


Below is the rough, from my sketchbook.


The final version is very close to the rough, with the exception of the last panel. I thought that the devil does not need to offer a suitcase full of money. the devil will be attractive on his own merits.

Jack Cole's BOY'S LIFE Gag Cartoons

I didn't know that Jack Cole did gag cartoons in the 1930s for BOY'S LIFE. Blogger Paul Tumey at Cole's Comics gives us some history and samples.

Robert Day

The Hairy Green Eyeball 2 blog scans in a bunch of Robert Day's gag cartoons for your enjoyment.

Video: Jerry Craft

Jerry Craft, who creates the comic strip MAMA'S BOYZ, is interviewed by Brandon James Marcel.

Video: Peter Broelman

Daryl Cagle interviews Australian cartoonist Peter Broelman.

Video: Tony Husband Meets Tony Husband

Google Vs. Cartoonists

Above: a Google street view car with the mounted camera that takes street view photos. Photo nicked from Ubergizmo.

For three years, Google street view cars collected private information from Wi-Fi networks from millions of homes in 30 nations. The incident was the largest wire-tapping scandal in history yet Congress has not held a single hearing.

The Consumer Watchdog group "Inside Google" has posted the animation below -- a CGI cartoon of Google CEO Eric Schmidt testifying before congress. John M. Simpson, the Director of Inside Google, states the reason for the video is

"... to make the case for why Congress should call Google CEO Eric Schmidt to testify under oath about the Wi-Spy scandal and other online privacy issues. The group also said the company’s close relationship with the US government should be probed."

Debra J. Saunders, the self-proclaimed Token Conservative columnist/blogger at the San Francisco Chronicle, writes in "Google Versus Cartoonists:"

Meanwhile, I found it interesting that the cartoonists who created the video do not want to be named.

John M. Simpson, director of Inside Google project, explained that the cartoonists behind the video have been disappointed with Google and its impact on their work. Google, he said, is "a two-edged sword. They really trampled over the idea of intellectual property rights. If you're a cartoonist, you want to get paid for your work."

Related: Mr. Schmidt steps down and founder Larry Page steps back in.

Video: Liza Donnelly: Drawing upon humor for change

Liza Donnelly talks about the power of humor in this recent TED talk:



Liza Donnelly's bio at TED.

James Kochalka: Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont

Photo of James Kochalka nicked from Wired.

Congratulations to James Kochalka, the new (and first ever) Cartoonist Laureate of the state of Vermont.

Above from Mr. Kochalka's site American Elf.

Via James Armitage of Digital Spy:

Best known as the creator of American Elf, the artist and writer has also produced various Top Shelf works including SuperF**kers, Johnny Boo and Dragon Puncher.

Kochalka is a faculty member of the Center for Cartoon Studies and runs an annual school cartoonist workshop in his home town of Burlington.

"By establishing the nation's first cartoonist laureate, Vermont adds an illustrious (pun intended) honour to its long lists of state 'firsts'," said Vermont Arts Council executive director Alex Aldrich.

"In recognising the literary and artistic merit of a medium that has truly come-of-age, Vermont is the first to affirm cartoonists' international impact on social, cultural and political issues. In doing so, it has also become a safe haven, if not a Mecca of sorts, for all who are passionate about the art form."

Kochalka's appointment will be celebrated by a day of events scheduled for early March.

Disney/Pixar's UP! the 1965 "Pre-make"

What if the movie UP! was made in 1965?



Hat tip to Drawn!

This is just one of a series of "Premakes" by Whoiseyevan.

Related: THE AVENGERS 1952 Premake.

REPLY ALL by Donna A. Lewis

Donna A. Lewis has a new comic strip, "Reply All," launching from the Washington Post Writers Group.

Brigid Alverson at Robot 6 notes:

"Scott Kurtz welcomed Donna to the world of professional cartooning by slamming her art."

Ugh.

To his credit, Kurtz apologized with a "I'm sorry if my comments hurt your feelings in any way."

But Donna A. Lewis is not deterred:

"I love this forum because you guys make the attorneys I work with seem like gentle huggy bears."

Brigid Alverson has the whole story here.

Video: 2006 STAR TREK KFC Commercial

Kirk, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and an unnamed Red Shirt are all here in this live action commercial for Kentucky Fired Chicken. Although it was shown in 2006, this is the first time I've seen it, much less ever heard of it. Let me know if you ever saw it.

Shatner, Doohan, Nichols, Takei and Koenig lend their voices, as we watch other actors who act eerily like them in the 1960s, mouth their words. Although the character of Spock is mentioned, he is not seen. Although Doohan died in 2005, it sure sounds like his voice -- and he could have done the recording before he passed away. DeForest Kelley had died in 1999, so Dr. McCoy is absent. Perhaps there was an agreement to not to try to get someone to mimic him.

The KFC commercial is shot old school style: with lighting and some minor prosthetics on the actors playing the Enterprise crew. It's a unique bit of TREK. One can only imagine the greasy bridge controls. Please pass the Federation wet naps!



Big hat tip to Mark Evanier.

The Value of Sketching

Above: a study in contrasts. A kid enjoying a ride on sullen Dad's shoulders at the mall. This was draw in in about six seconds.

I was at the mall, bored outta my mind. And then I recalled that I could draw the shoppers passing by for a while. Ahh! Now, that's entertainment.



When sketching in public, my one rule is DON'T. I mean, really, the last thing you want to do is get caught drawing people you don't know. Especially when they're bigger than you.

Despite wanting to be anonymous, the rewards of sketching is seeing how people dress and behave. These can become the basis of future cartoons and drawings.




I liked the prideful saunter that the above big dude had, when walking in the mall, with his proud peacock walk, smoky eyeglasses and hint-of-whiteboy-jerrycurl hairdo.

The female multi-tasker balanced herself like a prima ballerina between her many shopping bags and managing her cell phone.


The big Ugg boots look.

What every other guy looks like: shaved head, goatee, earrings.


Pimply face Archie-looking kid munching on greasy fries.

Fat guy contemplates shoving entire cheeseburger into piehole.

"Let It @*!#" by Stephanie Piro

Sick and tired of winter? So is my pal cartoonist Stephanie Piro who blogs about Winter in NH with a comic titled "Let It @*!#."

ALLEY OOP: 1957 Time Travel Sequence

Caveman Alley Oop was time traveling for years before DOCTOR WHO and decades before Marty McFly. The Hairy Green Eyeball blog shares a long time travel story (February 13 - May 2, 1957) wherein Mr. Oop " goes back to the South before the Civil War, meets and runs afoul of gambler Texas Jack East, wins a riverboat and loses it ...."

Morning After the "Wintry Mix" January 20, 2011

A bit of the backyard, with the snow clinging to every tree limb like powdered sugar.

Dawn coming up. You can see a bit of the path I dug to get to the backyard bird feeder area.

The long driveway on the right of the photo. Lookit that snow on the trees. So pretty.

The front yard, with the snowed in perennial garden in foreground. You can just make out the feeders as well.


This is about 7am. Sunrise over the house.

Those power lines just ruin the look of nature, don't they?

THE FILM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: Richard Kelly on Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL

Movie City News provides an excerpt from THE FILM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE by Robert K. Elder. The book asks filmmakers about the movie that impacted them most.

Among the thirty equally appealing conversations, Kevin Smith talks Slacker; Danny Boyle, Apocalypse Now; Atom Egoyan, Persona; John Woo, Mean Streets; Frank Oz, Touch of Evil; Rian Johnson, Annie Hall; and Steve James, Harlan County U.S.A. In his introduction, Elder cites Reservoir Dogs as his own touchstone.

Richard Kelly, who directed DONNY DARKO, picks BRAZIL, by, of course, ex-cartoonist Terry Gilliam:

Elder: Gilliam has said Brazil was a documentary. He said he made none of it up.

Kelly: It is a documentary film with the brushstrokes of a profoundly mad genius who can create a fantasy world, but he created a fantasy world literally within—he re-created our world in a different visual language. I had never seen that done in any other film. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is maybe the closest approximation, but I think that Brazil certainly said many things that Metropolis couldn’t, maybe because Lang didn’t have the benefit of sound. Gilliam has an artist’s eye. He is someone who sees every frame as an oil painting. He meticulously assembles every frame with so much detail as to make that image worth watching dozens and dozens of times.

MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER #15, August 1966

The Gold Key Comics Blog scans in an entire issue of MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER. With art by the late, great Russ Manning (and a script by Herb Castle), this was one of the MAGNUS comics I owned as a kid.

Magnus was a big beefy guy -- a square jawed hero-type who had a brilliant mind and a fierce uppercut. When the servant robots got out of control, which happened every issue, he was the man to knock 'em down.

Seeing this comic takes me back to growing up in Lawrence, Kansas and riding my bike (with parental permission - since I had to cross busy Route 40) to get to the local 7-11 store. Once there, I would ogle their comics rack, making judgments on what to buy based on the change in my pocket and the garish covers! Always a challenge!

Video: Arnold Roth

Veteran illustrator Arnold Roth talks with Bob Teitelman (Editor-in-Chief) and Larry Gendron (Art Director) about creating his fantastic year-end cover to The Deal magazine.



Related: a gallery of Arnie Roth's The Deal covers here.

Video: Zapiro Draws

South African editorial cartoonist "Zapiro" draws "our most famous person" in a Capetown scene.



These are my favorite kind of videos: where we see drawing in real time. No speeding up, no "Benny Hill" music in the backgroung, y'know? Now, so far as I can tell (and I could be mistaken), Zapiro doesn't pencil. He just dives right in with a felt tip on a piece of typing paper. He is, if you know Zapiro, fearless.

Video: Jim Woodring's "Nibbus Maximus"

2011 Mike Lynch Projects

Above: Mike Lynch by Mike Lynch. A self portrait of me from an old sketchbook, six years before I quit my regular day job to become a full-time freelance cartoonist. Notice the hunched shoulders. Ugh. What a time that was.

Anyway ...

Happy Birthday, Mike Lynch

Today is my birthday!

On this self-congratulatory day, I'm going with that theme, and telling you about some Mike Lynch projects out there.

You already know about my cartoon in the Wall Street Journal this past weekend.

I also have some cartoons in some of the few remaindered Barnes & Noble 2011 CAT CARTOON A DAY and DOG CARTOON A DAY calendars. (No hyperlink for these. They are unavailable online. You have to go to the B&N store. Go figure.)




On the stands this month, LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE has lots of cartoons by me and some of my cartoonist pals (Dave Carpenter, John Caldwell, Roy Delgado, Scott Arthur Masear, Dan Reynolds and the one and only Harley Schwadron), plus many stories and quotes from Reader's Digest.



STAY TOONED Magazine has an interview with me, Mike Lynch, in issue #6, due out soon. It's editor John Read's "All Mike Issue," featuring cartoonist Mikes Arnold, Cope, Edholm, Jantze, Marland, Maslin and Shapiro. Mike Ramirez provides the cover.




Ed Breslin's memoir about how his beloved dog, Miss Dutchie, helped him deal with alcoholism, DRINKING WITH MISS DUTCHIE, is scheduled for a March, 15, 2011 release date from Macmillan. I drew the cover art, as well as the interior endpapers. I'm particularly proud of this.

In addition to all this, it's my privilege to, once again, be the 2011 National Cartoonists Society Awards Coordinator. Entries are accepted until February 6, 2011 for cartoons published in 2010. All details here.

Piers Baker: Life in Syndication Year 3

Detail from Sunday's "Ollie and Quentin." Entire strip here.

My friend Piers Baker talks about year 3 of his syndicated comic strip "Ollie and Quentin." Aside from some fascinating shop talk (for instance, saving time by converting his pencils into linework using Adobe Illustrator), Piers writes about his own personal terrible event of 2010:

"Last summer my relationship of 27 years with the mother of my two children came to a very sudden end when she left the three of us. My world collapsed. Aside from the obvious emotional difficulties I was terrified that the career I had worked so hard for all my life was going to be pulled out from under me. Not because I was bad at it, not because it wasn't selling but because I couldn't see how I could be funny every day when my heart was broken. Of all the scenarios of failure I hadn't seen this one coming."

Piers specifically does not ask for sympathy, and goes on to write how he changed his process for producing "Ollie and Quentin" for the better during this very difficult, personal time. Go read.

TREASURE CHEST Comics: "This Godless Communism" by Reed Crandall

TREASURE CHEST, the long-running Catholic comic book (1946-1972), began an ambitious three issue series in 1961-62 titled "This Godless Communism."



Illustrated by comics great Reed Crandall, it painted a potential future world where communists blew up the Washington Monument, outlawed home ownership and forced the women folk to leave home and work! The Easily Mused blog gives us "This Godless Communism" in its entirety.

SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 25

Here's the last batch of gag cartoons from the SATURDAY EVENING POST scrapbook. And a grand batch it is!

































My thanks to Kristin Cawood for giving me this large scrapbook of 1950s gag cartoons to share! Thanks, Kristin!

The SATURDAY EVENING POST 1950s gag cartoons blog entries:

• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 1
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 2
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 3
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 4
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 5
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 6
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 7
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 8
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 9
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 10
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 11
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 12
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 13
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 14
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 15
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 16
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 17
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 18
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 19
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 20
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 21
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 22
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 23
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 24
• SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 25