Saturday Evening Post, January 3, 1959

The first Saturday Evening Post of 1959 gives us an ice skating gag. "Artist Alajalov, who depicts the Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park (give or take a few details), could never make ice skates behave, but he was a whiz on roller skates," reveals an interior blurb.

So nice to see an actual gag on the cover; especially a racy Moms-I'd-Like-to-Double-Lutz sorta gag. Let's take a look at the interior gag cartoons.
Ted Key gives us a great gag. Bounce! Bounce! Bounce! Big Brother Boss is watching you!

Vahan Shirvanian still sells to top markets like Reader's Digest. This same year, he won the National Cartoonists Society Gag Cartoon Division Award.


It's New Year's and it's 1959. Drunks were fodder for humor back then. This was, after all, the era of Thirsty Thurston!


Al Johns gives us an Inuit (they used to be called "Eskimo") gag that is becoming less funny what with the ol' globe warming up and all.

Above: some things change, some don't.

Above: a wordless cartoon that still reads. Although in-line skates are the way most go today, the design of the sleigh is unchanged.
Barney Tobey is a master of the inky wash. Look at those breezy lines!

Dahl shows, without using any words, that the only thing that you should not resist is temptation.


Are there still hurdy gurdy monkeys?


Around here, in the frozen Northern New England area, a lot of the pasty white teenagers go to tanning booths so as to look a Hollywoody, trendy toasty brown. I found the above cartoon by Gene Carr pretty relevant.


Chon Day gives us a great gag expertly depicted in simple line and wash.


And, of course, Ted Key's Hazel panel ends this issue.

Did You Know Cartoonists Pennington and/or Roylance?

We need your help, particularly if you have knowledge of British cartooning between the wars. Read on:

The Warrington (UK) Guardian had two sports cartoonists in the 1930s: "Pennington" and Gordon Roylance. Did you ever hear of them or know someone who did?

"Their work will feature in a new book SO CLOSE TO GLORY by former Warrington Guardian journalists Eddie Fuller and Gary Slater and which will be published by London League Publications in March."

Mssrs. Fuller and Slater are trying to find out more about these two men. If you have any information, please go to this article When cartoons and caricatures were in their heyday from the January 3, 2008 Warrington Guardian.

Cartoon by Gordon Roylance from the January 8, 1934 edition of the Warrington Guardian.

Future Past: 1967 Film Looks at Futuristic World of 1999

This bit of film from 1969 shows what it will be like to use something we now call the World Wide Web circa 1999. It's pretty spot-on, except nowhere is there mention of me and my blog. Hmph!

It runs just under 2 minutes and is narrated by Alexander Scourby. You know Scourby's distinctive velvety tones if you watched TV in the 1960s. I remember his voice from those Jacques Cousteau specials in the 1960s.

Cartoon Consultant Calendar

Up here in the New Hampshire deep freeze, we are looking forward to spring (yes, all ready) and the first outdoor barbecue. If you're a cartoonist, while you are flipping those first burgers of Spring 2008, and watching the tree buds unfurl as you breathe in the warm, rejuvenating air of the new growing season, your mind is going forward, the next cold, bitter winter season. Brr! Not pleasant, but you have to. You need to think up some fresh Christmas gags, some really funny Thanksgiving cartoons. Magazine cartoonists work months ahead. Playboy was, last year, buying Christmas cartoons in July.

From the always terrific Craig Yoe's Arflovers Blog comes The 1952 Cartoon Consultants Calendar by Jack Markow, which will keep you (even though it's January) focussed on May events (Mother's Day, hiking, renting a country place, yacht races, etc.). Now is the time to prep for those themes that editors will buy! And Craig will post more of the calendar on the first of every month!

Big hat tip to Craig for this. I've been to Craig's studio, I've seen Craig's collection and he could show us stuff every day on his blog until the end of time and there would still be a couple of closets full of just great, unique cartoony items to go! Thanks, Craig!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie Piro!!!

Happy Birthday to our new neighbor and long-time friend Stephanie Piro!

Stephanie draws 2 panels: Fair Game, as well as King Features' Six Chix, and she has more books and illustrations here. Her site has t-shirts, jewelry, comics, books, placemats, and more.

Many happy returns, Steph!

Your Cartoons Now in Museumr

Oh, look! Your cartoons can now be in a museum via Museumr!



And your sweet kitty "Trout" can be as well!


Heck, even those Andertoons look better framed!!!

Linky: from the one and only Patricia Storms.

Thanks Patricia!

Hello Kitty products target fashionable young males

For real. The AP has the story.

Uh ... until the crips got My Little Pony tattoos and the Bloods got Barbie's Dream House in their cribs, ain't no way, no how that 20-something males are gonna get into Hello Kitty.

Bob Staake STILL Works with PhotoShop 3.0

Bob Staake, prolific illustrator of mags (New Yorker, Time Magazine, etc.) and children's books for Random House and character design for Nickelodeon and very nice guy, shares three videos of him at work.

In 1995, Bob Staake started creating his illustrations digitally using Adobe Photoshop 3.0.

In 2008, he still exclusively uses the program -- with the help of a mouse, a 17" monitor, and a standard keyboard.

These time lapse digital videos show the artist's illustration process (that as it is) and are posted so that other illustrators, designers and visual creators might gain inspiration from Staake's unconventional and decidedly "old school" work method.

Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship

King Features Syndicate has committed $100,000 to establish an endowed scholarship fund in honor of Jay Kennedy, who served as King Features Syndicate Editor in Chief from 1997 until his untimely death earlier this year.

The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will be administered by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF), will enhance two of the nonprofit organization’s major goals – to advance the ideals and standards of professional cartooning in its many forms and to stimulate and encourage interest in and acceptance of the art of cartooning by aspiring cartoonists, students and the general public.

Applicants must be college students in the United States, Canada or Mexico that will be in their Junior or Senior year of college during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Applicants DO NOT have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

For more information, go to this link: National Cartoonists Society / The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship.

DENNIS THE MENACE Oddments

Here's a lot of 1950s-60s nostalgic swag for a single panel cartoon about a nutso kid with ADD!

Johnny C.'s A Hole in the Head blog (one of my favorite blogs) highlights Dennis the Menace Songs, a 75rpm record from Golden Records that sold for 29 cents back in the day. You got 2 songs to listen to: the DTM theme, as well as an ode to his firearms: a song titled simply "Ka-Pow! Ka-Pow! Ka-Pow!"

Related: the Children's Records and More blog has a Dennis the Menace "original TV soundtrack stories" available for download.

Another odd DTM item: "Dennis Takes a Poke at Poison" comic book from the Comics With Problems site There's also scans from "Dennis the Menace returns for Child Abuse and Neglect." The comic was drawn by Al Wiseman, long-time assistant to Hank Ketcham. Illustrator Bill Alger (and a friend that I don't see near often enough) notes this on his Al Wiseman blog.

Storytelling 101 with ZIP & LI'L BIT's Trade Loeffler

When I first saw the Webcomic series ZIP & LI'L BIT "The Upside Down Me," I was really impressed. "Who is this Trade Loeffler guy who drew all this amazing stuff???" I thought to myself. I fired off a fan e-mail to Trade. And Trade answered back!

Within a couple of emails, we found out we both lived in Brooklyn, and we were just a couple blocks away from each other! So, we started hanging out, having some beers, stopping by Rocketship to say hey to Alex. I miss seeing Trade around the neighborhood since moving away (and Rocketship, and all those pubs), but I can always check out Trade's great work online.

Beginning this fall, he's been doing writing some behind the scenes, informative "how I draw what I draw" background. Trade is a meticulous guy. He was showing me roughs of the current adventure, The Sky Kayak, last winter. Here are some of his insights into the process:

Storytelling 101a

Storytelling 101b

Storytelling 101c

Storytelling 101d


Thanks for this, Trade! Fascinating reading! And here's hoping it's a matter of time before a major publishing house picks up Zip & Li'l Bit! Sign me up for a limited edition hardcover!

Related: From Pappy's Golden Age Blogzine comes the same sequence of events from the TARZAN origin, three times over; each time, as drawn by a different master comic book artist.

Snow Snow Snow

Another couple of inches fell last night, which makes it near 2 feet of snow so far this winter. Above is my snow blower eye view of our place in the woods, around 9am this morning, with our long, long driveway half-way blowed. It take about 3-4 passes of the snowblower to clear the driveway; about 10-15 minutes at most.

2008 TREK Merchandise

Save some money for some of these STAR TREK items coming in Spring 2008! Above: the CAPTAIN KIRK"S GUIDE TO WOMEN book, creepy looking "mini-mate" dolls, and an art book of THE SHATNER SHOW, a Calgary gallery art show relating to "The Shat."

Galactus: Cute or Not?

When I was a kid, I read what's called "The Galactus Trilogy" in a giant size reprint book of the FANTASTIC FOUR. Galactus was a super-bad guy. A name to be feared. The Voldemort of the Marvel Universe!

And now some dang toy company has made a bonehead item: Cute Galactus. It's just wrong wrong wrong.



Outrage and more at Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin blog.

Caldecott/Newbery Award Winner Videos

The New Hampshire Public TV Web site has a video on demand of classic children's picture books for online viewing.

Some of these are short films, mostly produced by the Weston Woods company, of classic children's books like LENTIL or WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. When I was a kid, these are the kinda movies that we watched in class, or maybe saw on Captain Kangaroo. The camera pans over the illustrations, with a narrator reading the text. Nothing fancy. These are charming and I'm enjoying the camera languishing over some beautiful watercolors on TIME OF WONDER by Robert McCloskey, a book I haven't even thought about in a couple of decades.

Jeannie Schulz on SCHULZ AND PEANUTS book

Jeannie Schulz talks to Jeet Heer about her reaction to the SCHULZ AND PEANUTS book by David Michaelis.

"David Michaelis said in an interview that he couldn’t decide if Sparky had been happy his last 25 years. All he had to do was ask. The last two years of Sparky’s life were measurably different from the years leading up to them, as Sparky didn’t always feel well those last two years and the pressures on him from fans and business were a tremendous stress. But the 25 years I knew him he loved to laugh and tease, and did a lot of both."

There are links to more family members' reactions as well.

Michaelis's book, and the PBS American Masters special, for which Michaelis acted as consultant, follow the template that Schulz was a cold man, who felt empty/bitter because he could not show his love. The family has disputed this, as well as many of the factual details in the book, a major Holiday release from Harper Books.

To paraphrase a vice presidential debate: Well, Mr. Michaelis, these people KNEW Schulz. I agree with Mark Evanier, who also picked this up today, when he commented that the author is on thin ice.

Hot Women of Star Trek TOS

Posted on Flickr by a fellow named Poletti comes The Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek TOS!

Sure, there's no Seven of Nine here, but you do get a sample of some of The Old Show's great line up of ladies of the Federation:

Above: Droxine, Number One, Lt. Helen Noel, Lt. Mira Romaine.

And there's many more at The Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek TOS site. And there's a voting session for you to vote on the hottest.

But -- uh -- Spock's Mom in one of the hotties? Eew. Dude, she deserves a little respect, huh?

But you overlooked my favorite:

Unless I missed it, Zarabeth from ALL OUR YESTERDAYS, needs to be part of this! A crime, Polettti! Please deem fit to add Mariette Hartley's character to the roster. And, if I may be so nerdy hardcore ("nerdcore"), The Companion from METAMORPHOSIS should, technically, be on the list.

Related: Seven & Uhura are 1/25th of AOL's 50 Sexiest Women on TV.

Related: The Women of TOS by Laura Goodwin.

H/t to The BEAT.

Shatner Not Playing Kirk in New STAR TREK Movie

And here's his reaction:

Rat own, rat own, Jim baby.

Meanwhile, Trekmovie.com reports it ain't over til it's over and maybe he'll be in it.

Darth Vader's Christmas List

The Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun Blog is always a regular read for me. Recently, Bully gave us Darth Vader's Christmas Amazon.com Wish List. Funny stuff, Bully!

"I feel the Holiday shopping is strong with this one!"

And keep reading for the Amazon.com wishlists for Superman, Popeye, Batman and The Incredible Hulk!

Related: speaking of sci fi icons: Bully has a preview of the new Dr. Who Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned."

The Naked Campaign by Steve Brodner & Gail Levin

The New Yorker Web site showcases a bunch of videos with Steve Brodner, drawing the presidential candidates and talks politics. Emmy winner Gail Levin directed the streaming vids.

New Syd Hoff Web Site

Gag cartoonist, illustrator and children's book auteur Syd Hoff has a shiny new Web site devoted to the man and his many, many works. The site is the result of a lot of hard work by Syd's niece, Carol Edmonston. I've barely had enough time to look at all the terrific, preciously unseen material at this site. Thanks, Carol!

Oh, and she says there will be more to come.

Bookmark now, and visit and revisit during those long winter evenings!

SCTV - Count Floyd's Scary Little Christmas Promo

Over at Sandra Bell-Lundy's Between Friends Blog, she reviews the new scary movie I AM LEGEND.

I read I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson and it scared me a lot. And that's just ink on newsprint. Cheap paperback newsprint at that!

I believe in what the host of Monster Chiller Horror Theatre Count Floyd says about scary movies. I can still remember his lame Transylvania accent, "Ooh. We gotta scary movie tonight, kids! Really scaaary -- but too scary."

I've never seen any of the movie versions of I AM LEGEND because I avoid most scary movies (exceptions: THE HAUNTING (1961 version), 28 DAYS LATER (I had to keep stopping the movie to calm down), and SHAWN OF THE DEAD). I'd rather watch something not too scary, thank you very much!

So, here is Count Floyd, and his Christmas Special promo.

I miss SCTV!

Bill Watterson Documentary

Above: a screen capture from the Dear Mr. Watterson site.

A film is in the works dedicated to Calving & Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson. While Mr. Watterson is not scheduled to participate in this documentary, the movie will be dedicated to him and his influence.

From what I was able to understand, the director will talk with other people (primarily cartoonists?) about C&H. Worth keeping an eye on, but anything could happen at this early stage.

H/t to The Weekly Geek and Editor & Publisher.

Matthew Diffee Interviewed

New Yorker cartoonist, and editor of not just one, but two REJECTION COLLECTION books, Matthew Diffee is interviewed for Print Magazine by Emily Gordon.

Do most New Yorker cartoonists also try to sell elsewhere as well--Playboy, Reader's Digest? Who else buys single-panel cartoons? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? What would a Playboy Rejection Collection look like?

There is Playboy, which is, I understand, the next place to go with your stuff if it happens to be Playboy-type stuff…but they don’t pay as much as The New Yorker and I think they buy all rights while The New Yorker only buys first printing rights, and the copyright goes back to the cartoonist after 90 days. That is, if I understand the legalese of my contract properly. Also, cartoons in The New Yorker have a prominent standing, and respect whereas Playboy cartoons are not what you first think of when you think of the magazine. I’m told they have pictures of naked ladies in there.

As far as other mags, I’m not really sure, there may be people who send their rejects other places and some have probably found comfortable places in second-tier markets. Personally, I’m not organized enough for all that and also I never really wanted to be a cartoonist in the general sense, I just wanted to be a New Yorker cartoonist. Before I die though, it might be nice to get a cartoon or two in Cat Fancy.

H/t Comics Reporter.

David Gantz 1922-2007

Above: Dave Gantz's National Cartoonists Society page.

Cartoonist David Gantz, a veteran comic book artist andwriter, newspaper strip cartoonist and graphic novelist, who had worked with many greats including Al Jaffee of Mad and Charles Schulz, passed away this morning. There is no further information at this time.

Dave attended the High School of Music & Art, the National Academy of Design and the University of Iowa.

Dave was a golden age comic book artist. His first job, back around 1940, was with Magazine Management, a company that later changed its name to Marvel. Dave drew "Mighty Mouse and "Patsy Walker," among other titles.

He continued as a comic book artist for the next couple of decades, producing mystery, horror and romance comics for Lev Gleason, St. John and Ziff Davis. He's also been credited with drawing the Classic Illustrated version of Huckleberry Finn.

Dave was a syndicated comic strip artist. He had a number of his own strips, notedly "Dudley D," which ran from 1961 to 1964 with the Herald Tribune Syndicate, and "Don Q," a strip that ran from 1975-80, syndicated by the New York Times Features Syndicate. Below is an interview from the JewishPub Web site:

Q: And you had a political cartoon strip for The New York Times.

Dave Gantz: My strip “Don Q” was syndicated by the New York Times Special Features Syndicate and ran from 1975 -1981. In its time, Don Q appeared in over 100 newspapers throughout the world, daily and on Sundays, but it never appeared actually appeared in The New York Times.

Q: Why not?

Dave Gantz: I was told that because The New York Times was distributed nationally, if the strip appeared in the Times it would hamper sales of other papers throughout the country. I remain skeptical about this explanation because I know that The New York Times published a comic strip in 1906 to compete with Pulitzer’s “World.” It was called “Roosevelt’s Bears” and it flopped after 6 months. The publisher, Adolf Ochs, vowed that the Times would never again publish a comic strip. Not even “Don Q.”

David Gantz also created freelance cartoons and illustrations for major publications including Boy's Life and Mad Magazine.



Above: JEWS AND THE GRAPHIC NOVEL by David Gantz; an online illustrated essay on the impact of Jewish creators. Thanks to Steve Bergson's Jewish Comics blog for the link.

David Gantz wrote and illustrated over 75 children's books for Scholastic, Random House, Simon & Schuster and others. In addition to his commercial work, he was a fine artist, working in print making and sculpture. He exhibited in the US and Canada.

He won a 1997 National Cartoonists Society Newspaper Panel Division Award for "Gantz Glances."

He worked with Chaim Potok on his (Dave's) most recent book, JEWS IN AMERICA.

Dave was a member of the National Cartoonists Society Long Island Chapter (the "Berndt Toast Gang"). Berndt Toast Chairman Adrian Sinnott adds:

"David was one of the kindest, intelligent, and creative people I've ever met. An artist, writer, and sculptor. His work included scores of books and whenever you spoke to him he was working on another project. He was a great inspiration to me and countless others. Another great loss."

Above: one of the many terrific samples of his comic strip work from Allan Holtz' Strippers Guide blog here (scroll down a bit).

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry

Harvey Pekar talks about the Coventry neighborhood in Cleveland Heights, OH, where he lived during the 1970s and 80s in this interview from September 8, 2007.




I lived near there -- in the next suburb over -- in the late 1970s and 80s. I went to school at Shaker Hts. High, where I (of course) drew cartoons for the school paper. When I was 19, I ran the small theatre one summer at Cain Park for its summer festival. I used to watch old movies at the New Mayfield Repertory Theatre in Coventry (where I first saw Chaplin's THE CIRCUS & Hepburn & Tracy in BRINGING UP BABY), managed one of the Arabica coffee shops; not the AraFREAKa one in Coventry, but the AraSHEIKah one in Shaker Square. Yeah, that's what we called them. I met a girl, a very pretty redhead, that I would later marry, on my morning shift at Arabica.

Anyway, on to the video: this is sort of a video slide show, with Harvey off camera. The visuals pan and linger over photos of the area, ala a Ken Burns documentary. Listening to his reminiscences reminded me how much the world has changed since that time. Why go to the used record store -- Record Revolution -- if you can get your stuff off the Web. And usually for free! At one point, some photos from the 1930s are shown over Harvey talking about the 1970s. I don't know why this was done, but it kinda does seem like it was that long ago ... sometimes.

At the very end of the first part linked above (there's a total of 6 parts), he speaks about wanting to do something creative, even though he wasn't an actor and couldn't dance, etc. I admire him for deciding to go into comics and to keep working at it. Who knew that it would be successful?

Keep watching, even thru the end credits that pop up in these segments, since there's more talking and photos. Interesting, if you're a fan of his work -- even more interesting if you're a Clevelander.

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part one

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part two

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part three

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part four

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part five

Harvey Pekar Talks About Coventry part six

Oh, and Tommy's restaurant did have great food!

Manga to Help Find Real-Life Killer

Above: Kyoto Seika University manga students in a photo from the KSU Web site.

Kyoto Seika University has a Manga Department, where students learn how to create manga.

KSU had a tragedy in January: one of its students, Daisaku Chiba, was knifed. The Tokyo police have not caught the suspect.

The faculty and students have gotten together and created a 20 page manga book about the boy, his life, and what happened on January 15, 2007, in the hopes of finding the person or persons who stabbed Daisaku Chiba ten times.

Above: the 20 page pamphlet. A thousand copies will be distributed around railway stations in Kyoto and other places.

Some interior detail.

“Chiba-kun met us through manga. Wouldn’t it give us some comfort if we could help arrest the killer with the power of manga?”

Anime News Network has the story.

A big hat tip to Dirk Deppey at Journalista! for the heads up on this.

Know Your Cow

The week of June 11, 2007, I had the above cartoon in The Chronicle Review. I blogged about it here, and just found out that art -- or, rather, a cartoon -- imitated life. Here's a letter to the editor from the September 7, 2007 Chronicle Review:

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Know Your Cow

Mike Lynch thought he was inventing something funny when he drew a cartoon showing a cow's picture on the side of a milk carton, with the caption "Artisanal Milk" (Letters to the Editor, The Chronicle Review, June 15). But 15 years ago, taking up a restaurant reviewer's recommendation, a colleague and I dined at a restaurant in Edinburgh in which each cheese on the cheese cart came with a photograph, discussed with us by the waiter, of the cow from which the cheese's milk had come.

Who knew? And would the photo of a cud chewing heifer really be helpful in choosing the suitable cheese? Those crazy Scotsman!

Chuck Jones' A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1971)

OK, it's the Holiday season. Let's go watch an Oscar-award-winning adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, executive produced by Chuck Jones with the voice of Alastair Sim as Scrooge! For now, there's only one -- just one place -- to see this: YouTube.

It's not on DVD. Ands that's crummy. This show has some serious pedigree; the guy who brought us THE GRINCH (the cartoon, not the Jim Carrey monster) is the executive producer and it's directed by the animation director of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. I remember seeing it in 1971, and once or twice since then -- but only by chance. It's not a holiday TV tradition ala CHARLIE BROWN or those Rankin Bass puppet specials or the MISTER MAGOO special. Go figure!

YouTube's rules means a 28 minute vid has to be sliced up into smaller segments. Here are the links if you have the time to watch.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave One

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Two

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Three

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Four

Thanks to Grant Miehm for reminding me of this special, which I had forgotten about until now!

Warren Miller Cartoons

"Good morning, Harry Chadwick. This is your id."

Some terrific Warren Miller cartoons here from his 1970 collection PRINCE AND MRS. CHARMING.

Miller was a New Yorker mag mainstay in the 60s and 70s. although he is still around and still producing work, the NYer mag is not buying much these days. These cartoons are a reminder of how good he is.

H/t to Journalista! for the heads up.

EDIT: Oops! I meant to thank Comics Reporter for the heads up. But, hey, Journalista!'s a great site anyhoo.

Caricatures of Cartoonists

The Entrecomics site presents Cartoonists' Self-Caricatures.

Tip of the hat to Dirk Deppey at Journalista!

Valé Paul Rigby | The Godfather of Editorial Cartooning

Via Jason Chatfield comes this tribute video to Paul Rigby as shown at the 23rd Annual Australian Cartoonists' Association Stanley Awards.

Thanks so much, Jason, for making this available to all of us!

Mike Lynch Cartoon in December 10, 2007 Wall Street Journal

"Remember to ask about Santa's needs."

Above is the finished cartoon of mine as it appears in today's Wall Street Journal. This is a redraw of a cartoon that I submitted to the Journal a few months ago. I had to redraw it for them because my original was horizontal, whereas their space is square. They asked me to do the redraw. I hate redrawing. Hate it. Just am not interested in redrawing at all and hard to pep myself up to do it. Bored silly, I am. I guess that's why I had to put in the one kid sticking out his tongue (bottom left), which was not in the original version. I wanted to put something fresh in it.


Above is the original; the one I first mailed to them. I drew this in 2003, and I submitted it a couple of times a year to various markets. I don't know what made me draw those really big candy canes on Santa's chair!

I like the sentiment of the mother. Poor Santa! One of the occupational hazards of being him is having to listen to all these dang kids tell him their selfish wants all the time! What about him?!

Related: Richard Thompson talks about redraws at his Cul de Sac blog. You would be a fool not to bookmark Richard's blog! A fool!

Al Scaduto Links

Photo of Al at his drawing board by Whitney Kidder-Alvarez for the Connecticut Post.

Al Scaduto passed away on Friday due to complications from a medical procedure. He was 79.

Chris Mautner at Newsarama has a good rundown of links to remembrances, including the Comics Curmudgeon meta-post, that has .

Editor & Publisher announcement

Al Scaduto's National Cartoonists Society page

King Features bio