New DOCTOR WHO Movie?

There have been rumors about the a new DOCTOR WHO movie for quite a while. Years, in fact. The Guardian reports the latest here.

Certainly the fact that star David Tennant and producer Russell T. Davies will be at the upcoming Can Diego Comicon has fanned the flames of fandom. The San Diego Comicon was, after all, the place where it was announced in 2007 that Nimoy would be in the new STAR TREK film.

More at the Sylvester McCoy site.

Hey, "Fanned the Flames of Fandom" would be a good title for a DOCTOR WHO episode, don'tcha think?

Video: Tom Gammill

Here's Tom Gammill, who, as you know draw THE DOOZIES newspaper comic strip, and he's worked on some TV show with Max Pross called THE SIMPSONS, and SEINFELD is another -- anyway, here is Mr. Gammill, the cartoonist, with a tongue-in-cheek peek behind the scenes at his studio. Watch for a cameo by a surly teen child.

Tom Gammill Lesson Eighteen

A hat tip to Mr. Gammill for this! Thanks, Tom!

BALLYHOO Magazine

Wow! Harry Green shares some 1931 and 1935 BALLYHOO Magazine cartoons!

Some Mike Lynch Cartoons

When people ask, "What kind of cartoons do you draw?" I am sometimes stuck for an answer. Here are some diverse cartoons for different markets that don't really fit into any category -- except, I hope, the "funny" category.

A lot of my markets are business markets (Wall Street Journal and so on). So, any cartoon that can successfully riff on a corporate theme (business meetings, Powerpoint presentations, or, in this case, Bring Your Child to Work Day) can usually get an OK.



In this "Pick Your Berries, Pick Your Nose" cartoon, I saw a "Pick Your Own Berries" sign and, I think I said out loud, something like, "and pick your own nose too. Ha, ha, ha." Sometimes an idea just pops into your head. When this happens, I panic if I can't write it down IMMEDIATELY. I hate it when I forget an idea. Writing it down within a few seconds is a rule. Yes, even if I have to pull the car I'm driving to the side of the road.

And try explaining what you're doing to the highway patrol!

We all know people who don't share. This was an opportunity to use the slang "Bogarting" in a punch line for a business cartoon.

Above: a hot snowman. He won't last long.


The Seven Dwarfs of the Business World was a goofy, weird one to come up with. Looking at it again, I still like it, but it really is just plain odd.


If I say so myself, I like the sketchiness of the background; just a few lines suggests a building in the background. I don't know what an obscene emoticon would look like, but it's fun to imagine.
These are just a few of the thousands that I've drawn. Thanks for dropping by and if you're ever looking for cartoons for your presentation or text book, let me know. I'll be right here, drawing up some more.

SKETCHBOOK for Sale

Thanks to everyone who ordered the Mike Lynch Cartoon minicomics.

I have a few copies of the SKETCHBOOK. Really, not many left now. I've been getting orders through the Holiday weekend and just now noticed there aren't a lot left in the box. If you would like one, I would urge you to buy now:

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

Now Ryanair Wants Passengers to STAND UP During Flights

The Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airline & Stormdoor Company LIVES!

From today's Daily Mail Online:

"Ryanair wants passengers to stand during its flights so the budget airline can squeeze more people onboard."

As you probably know, in 1960 The Button Down Mind Strikes Back comedy album, Bob Newhart had a stand up routine titled "The Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airline & Stormdoor Company," where a navigator came out of the cockpit and gave a little preflight speech to the passengers ... and that, explains Bob in the monologue, is why he doesn't fly any more.

The Airline was eliminating so-called "frills and extras" like, oh, maintenance and, uh, radar. From the Bob Newhart monologue:

"Incidentally, I want to apologize for you having to stand all the way. If I can give you a little tip there: every, oh, half hour or so, you want to alternate your arms through those straps above your head. You folks flying tourist, you don't have any straps. So don't bother looking for 'em."

Rhapsody has the 9 minute routine for free here. Just click on Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airline & Stormdoor Company.

Early Bud Blake Cartoons

My pal Ger Apeldoorn shares some early Bud Blake cartoons (1954-64) at his blog.

Lazy Cartoonists?

From the July 2009 Science News magazine letters page (click to supersize):

A big hat tip to Dad for this! Thanks, Dad.

Freedom Cartoons

Here are some cartoons I have drawn that have to do with freedom. Well, really, it's freedom getting thwarted.
The above cartoon was published in the Kansas City Star, upon occasion of a National Cartoonists Society convention there.

"Sorry, dear, I can't get away now"

Above: This was a challenge to color. When I hit on the poor fellow in the middle being the only one who has warm colors, then the composition took form. Originally published in Reader's Digest.

"I accept. But there may some monitoring for quality assurance."

Above: from a series of cartoons for a call center group.

Above: from the Harvard Business Review. Just goes to show you that even a business mag may publish a cat cartoon!


"We've either got to euthanize him or put him out to stud."

The Chronicle of Higher Education ran the above "rat in a maze" cartoon of mine. I think it's the only rat in a maze cartoon I've ever sold.

"Huddled masses, line 5."

The Statue of Liberty is a good topic for cartoons. One odd tocuh: that's her stone tablet to the left of the desk, leaning up against it.


An early cartoon of mine from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Above: the rat in the treadmill goes home to his own treadmill. The epitome of life in these times.

"Your loan application is rejected, but here's a thank you card for the bail out."

Above: no one bought the gag cartoon making fun of TARP and corporations. Maybe it was too to the point.


Above: a Funny Times cartoon that is so true.

Don Orehek: Frankenstein and the Sexy Gal

I love Don Orehek's style and I'm do glad he has a blog now! Go see the latest: Frankenstein and the Sexy Gal, from Cartoon Capers magazine, 1974.

AMERICAN CARTOONIST August, 1953

This is a copy of AMERICAN CARTOONIST, "The Magazine of the Comic Art Profession, Published in Cartoonland, U.S.A." This is Vol. 7, No 2, the August 1953 issue and it was "published by and is the official publication of the American Cartoonist Association, Inc. (a non-profit corporation), Box 16396, Hollywood 38, California." Editor: L.T. Benson. The cover is by T/Sgt. Jack O'Brien, the Associate Editor.



Rufus G. Pankow, Merchandising Director of Puck - The Comic Weekly says that the Sunday comics section is a powerful advertising tool, with Sunday comics drawing over 100 million readers. "Recalling Puck's many successful merchandising promotions, Pankow noted the sensational sales impact created by comic characters, immediately recognized in retail stores throughout the country."



This article about Harry Walsh and the pitch-boy he creates, "Freshie," reminded me that a lot of cartooning is plodding forward, sticking to it, before hitting it big. Even if "big" means drawing commercial cartoons, Harry Walsh seems happy.





Above: an old Holsum potato bread label with "Freshie," nicked from Dan Goodsell's Flickr stream. Thanks, Dan. Back to AMERICAN CARTOONIST ...


A short obit for the Boston Globe's sports cartoonist Gen Mack. Leo White's cartoon (see the last page), with its blank page on the drawing board, is well done.


Who knew that Al Capp was a quiz master, moderating the game show "Anyone Can Win" (alternate Tuesdays, KNXT, Channel 2, 9:00-9:30 P.M., PDT)? I also didn't know that Capp lived on a 65 acre North Hampton, New Hampshire farm, just about an hour away from me!


Above: Bill Cantrell riffs the life of a cartoonist.



Above: Gurney Williams, long-time Collier's magazine cartoon editor, looks so serious in all the photos I've sever seen of him. Maybe it's the fact he's always wearing that 2-sizes-too-big double breasted suit.

In other news: Billy Hon reduces his classes beginning the fall of 1953; Art-loving actor Van Johnson has won a free scholarship to the Famous Artists School in Westport, CT.



"The Marketplace" is my favorite section. I like Hugh Hefner's announcement of his new Stag Party mag: "Art requirements are extremely high." I like the fact that he states upfront what the pay will be, and promises to pay more when it gets off the ground. Contract Playboy cartoonists to this day are well paid. Hefner's a man of his word.






This may or may not be the same Clinton Harmon who draws a weekly strip titled "Next of Kin."

President Eisenhower, Honorary NCS Member

From gag cartoonist Eli Stein's blog comes a story of National Cartoonist Society members meeting with President Eisenhower in 1954. They made Ike an honorary member and gave him a presentation book of 95 cartoons. A couple of years later, to help sell war bonds, the book was reproduced as a promotional item. Eli shares some gag cartoons from that book here.

I believe this was when Ike received the Silver T-Square from the NCS. The Silver T-Square, "awarded, by unanimous vote of the NCS Board of Directors, to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession" was also awarded to one other President: Harry S. Truman, in 1950. More infomration on the NCS Awards page.

Newfoundland Gallery Show Features Sandra Bell-Lundy's BETWEEN FRIENDS

One of the funny things about cartooning is that you sit in a room and come up with ideas -- and you never really know how people will react. Sandra Bell-Lundy writes in her BETWEEN FRIENDS blog:

"I've written strips without any malice in my heart and I've been ripped apart by readers who took offence. I written strips that I thought would evoke an emotional, political response . . . not a peep. I've written strips that I felt really weren't my best work but had to send them in anyway because of a crushing deadline and been inundated with mail from readers who loved them."

A couple of years ago, she wrote a storyline in her BETWEEN FRIENDS newspaper comic strip about her Newfoundland grandmother. She recently received a request to use some images from that series in an art show. Here's Sandra with more information:

"Recently, I received a request from Jackie Alcock, an artist who lives in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. She was creating a visual arts piece called 'The Buffet Table' representing arts and crafts and women's history. She asked if she could use frames from the grandmother storyline to make "doughboys". It's one of the more unusual requests I've had but I was very pleased that she thought of the story line."

Below is a video showing some of the process. The whole story is at the BETWEEN FRIENDS blog.

AAEC and NCS Merger?

Should the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society merge?

AAEC President Ted Rall has put the idea forward for discussion, and Daryl Cagle, former NCS President (as well as an AAEC member), weighs in on his blog.

Above cartoon copyright 2009 by Ted Rall.

Complete Mars Attacks Trading Cards

Harry Lee Greene at his Hairy Green Eyeball blog gives us the compleat Topps bubblegum "Mars Attacks" series of 1962 trading cards. Oo la la!

Thank you, Harry!

London: Jeff Koons' 'Popeye Series' Opens

Artist Jeff Koons exhibits his "Popeye series" at London's Serpentine Gallery from July 2nd to September 13th. The Guardian has a preview today.

King of kitsch, Jeff Koons, comes to the Serpentine Gallery this summer with his first ever solo British show. Work by the American artist, who will be exhibiting his Popeye series at the Serpentine, 'creates a world beyond taste' according to the Guardian's Jonathan Jones. Preview highlights from the exhibition (which runs from 2 July until 13 September 2009), before it opens to the public.

Jonathan Jones, writing for The Guardian, comments that Koons "creates a world beyond taste."