Some Early HENRY Comic Strips by Carl Anderson / January 1935

Here are some old HENRY comic strips by its original creator Carl Anderson. Mr. Anderson drew the feature for the Saturday Evening Post for a couple of years in the 1930s before it caught the attention of William Hearst.

Carl Anderson was maybe the oldest superstar cartoonist, having sold Henry to a big syndicate when he was 70 years old. And this was after a long career of freelancing and other, not-as-well-known strips and features.

The daily began life on December 17, 1934. It was popular enough to warrant a Sunday page by March. Carl Anderson drew the strip for the next eight years, but then arthritis made it too hard to continue. HENRY was given over to former assistants Don Trachte (Sundays) and John Liney (dailies). Anderson passed away in 1948.

So, here's a peek at some very early efforts. I only have a handful of dailies for January. As you will see, Henry, famous for being silent, does actually speak from time to time. Of course, this was changed. Henry is copyright King Features syndicate.

These are all I have for January 1935. I have more for the rest of the year and, if interested, I will post them here.

 

 

 

- This is a repeat of an April 13, 2017 entry.

MOMA Video: How to Make Hand-Drawn Animation

From the Museum of Modern Art, here's a lovely guide to creating hand-drawn animation presented by Kohana Wilson. Their explanation of how persistence-of-vision works is easy to understand and foundational to perceiving animation. Here's the description from the YouTube page:

Learn how to make hand-drawn animation from start to finish. In this tutorial, animator Kohana Wilson (they/them) walks through the tools, techniques, and principles behind classic paper animation, from your very first drawn frame to a finished animated sequence in After Effects. Whether you're animating an abstract dot, a dragonfly, or a cartwheeling character, this video breaks down the full traditional animation workflow — from rough sketches to a polished, moving sequence.

You'll learn:

• The science behind animation — persistence of vision, explained with a zoetrope, praxinoscope, and flip book
• Essential tools: light boxes, peg bars, and paper choices for hand-drawn animation
• Straight-ahead animation — drawing frame by frame in sequence
• Keyframe animation and in-betweening — planning key poses first, then filling in the motion
• Core animation principles: squash and stretch, easing in and out, follow-through, overlapping action, and smear frames
• How to clean up rough animation and scan your frames for digital editing
• Bringing your sequence to life in Adobe After Effects

Artwork references included: Lotte Reiniger, John Canemaker, Winsor McCay, David Ehrlich, Eadweard J. Muybridge, Mary Beams, Maria Lassnig, and William Kentridge.

Tom Humberstone: "Did Somebody Say Just Work; The Gig Economy, Platform Capitalism and the Battle for Worker Rights."

 

British cartoonist Tom Humberstone has this new minicomic "Did Somebody Say Just Work; The Gig Economy, Platform Capitalism and the Battle for Worker Rights." 

From the site:

"This comic explores the history of couriers, the conditions of modern riders, and their ongoing struggle to improve worker rights.

"You can read a free mobile-friendly version of the comic here.

"Risograph printed on context natural 135gsm paper in 2 colours (orange, black) by Out of the Blueprint in Edinburgh" 

 

Sketchbook: Dad's House Hunting Advice

 

From the sketchbook: my dear old Dad's moving advice.

Dad was an expert house-buyer and had much knowledge. I moved to NYC where I rented for a couple of decades, so I had NO IDEA about how to buy a house when the time came to look. This was his advice. 

Art by Charles Geer: THE MYSTERY AT REDTOP HILL

 

Happy birthday to Charles Geer, born on this day in 1922.

Let's talk about THE MYSTERY AT REDTOP HILL. It is a Whitman Tween Age Book ("In-Between Books for In-Between Readers") by Marjory Schwalje and illustrations by Charles Geer. It's copyright 1965 by Whitman Publishing Company. I had no idea that the term "tween" had been around for more than fifty years!

Nancy, Tod and Steve are the protagonists in this mystery. I am sure it's good, but I have not read it.

I found this in a second-hand shop in Laconia, NH. Like I said, Redtop, schmedtop. I didn't care about the mystery, or the kids. I just fell in love with the illustrations. They were slapdash, confident and showed enormous life and skill.

Charles Geer (1922-2008), born in Long Island and educated at Dartmouth College, served in the US Navy during WWII. Afterward, he attended Pratt.

He illustrated many books, and enjoyed painting. He moved to Rockland, Maine, where he painted watercolors, and enjoyed sailing. He even built a couple of boats. Sounds like a guy I would like to hang out with!

Here are some of his illustrations from THE MYSTERY AT REDTOP HILL. This isn't quite half of them. And there are a good number of full page, gatefold illustrations. Lots of energy in these drawings and it made me a Charles Geer fan.

Related:

Art by Charles Geer: THAT SUMMER WITH LEXY!

- This has been an edited version of an original March 18, 2015 blog entry.

My Desk

 

Here’s a quick sketch of my drawing that I did up for Lotte Wagner's drawing prompt to draw your desk.

I draw on a kidney bean shaped board in my lap, facing a cluttered desk. The cat in the pic is Fergus, who received a clean bill of health at the vet's a week ago today. He is 14 years old and threw up and popped and yowled all the way there, so having a good report was a relief. 

The desk light on the right belonged to my father and is probably from the 1950s.

Happy Weekend and Be Good!

 

Ed Frascino 1930 - 2026

 

New Yorker cartoonist Ed Frascino passed away this past Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 96 years old.

Via Michael Maslin:

"Ed contributed over 500 cartoons to the magazine in his 61 year run at the magazine. His last drawing in print was in January of 2025, but not too very long ago Ed told me that he’d sold a drawing for the magazine’s Daily Cartoon spot (I was supposed to let him know when it ran). A 61 year run at The New Yorker is, of course, remarkable. Only six other New Yorker cartoonists (out of the nearly 800 who contributed in these past 101 years) had reached that mark."

 

 The Daily Cartoonist:

"While a contract cartoonist with The New Yorker since 1965 Frascino also published cartoons in Playboy, Saturday Evening Post The New York Times, Look, Esquire, Punch, The Saturday Review of Literature, and others.

"Frascino also illustrated many books by himself and by others.

"The Conde Nast Store has nearly 200 Frascino cartoons for viewing"

 

Talented and prolific, Ed was also my leading competition for The New York Daily News weekly cartoon that I would pitch every week to the editors there back in 2002-2003. It was not a guaranteed spot and you had to email some roughs mid-week for consideration. If I didn't sell one that week, it was usually Ed that succeeded.

The Garden As of Mid-August

 

The garden as of mid-August. Most things are bushy and green. The zucchini is spent and the cucumbers are on their last legs. The runner beans are coming in, the tomatoes are getting harvested. Included: flowers and a pic of a huge Great Blue Heron on a power line that we saw yesterday. So exciting to get that close! #garden

 

Documentary: Steve Ditko: Beyond the Myth

Here's a full length documentary about Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko (1927 - 2018) told through interviews with those who knew him

"In 2025, President of TASQ Art, Eoin McAuley, conducted three interviews with the friends and family of renowned creator Steve Ditko, presented here in this feature-length documentary.

"A private individual, Mr. Ditko was not a presence at conventions and did not provide many interviews. This, however, subsequently led to many myths to emerge around Steve Ditko in the public discourse among fans and critics.

" Narrated by John Siuntres, 'Steve Ditko: Beyond The Myth' helps to dispel some of these myths and to amend the record, featuring insights and recollections from Mr. Ditko's nephew, Mark 'Zen' Ditko, his friend and colleague Jack C. Harris and scholar and correspondent Dr. Zack Kruse"

Joe Matt Documentary with Seth, Chester Brown and Matt Wagner

 

Cartoonist Joe Matt (1963 - 2023), best known for his autobiographical comics, is the subject of this documentary by matt (with 4 ts). Joe Matt's friends and fellow cartoonists Seth, Chester Brown and Matt Wagner talk about him on the eve of Fantagraphics publishing a new collection of his work this September 29th.

The Garden As of Early August

 

Shaggy and green, The way it should look at its peak.


The garden as of August 1st. We were away the previous week, but that didn’t mean the garden was busy. My thanks to my dear neighbor who came over and watered! 

So, a lot of tomatoes have gone from green to red. The hornworms showed up a few days ago and I think I got them all. The zucchini is getting spent and the cucumber yield is only two. No peppers yet, but lots of blooms. The runner beans are blooming and there are wee runner beanlets. Flowers are blooming, including the Rose of Sharon.