When Character Design Goes Bad

I found these little fellows, who are the cover boys for a childrens book, to be a little creepy. Just look at their swollen jowls and red noses and the lines under their eyes. It's the morning after for these lads. Kind of like a wrong-side-of-the-tracks version of those Kellogg's elves.


Those chaps are the dwarfs in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, copyright 1955 by Wonder Books, Inc. Illustrations by Art Seiden. My pal Leif Peng, at his Today's Inspiration blog, has a couple of great items about Mr. Seiden: a bio here, and some more art here.

OK, now I will concede that Mr. Seiden is a man of great talent, but the Wonder Books people must have told him to go as far off-model from the Disney version as possible. Miles off the Disney model. Whereas Disney made cute cherubs, they might have advised, make your guys chubby wee grubs.

They all have this bad boy Michael J. Pollard twinkle in their beady eyes. And that's just not the right way to look at Snow White!

Below is the book:

1969 Marvel Bullpen Photos

More at the always entertaining Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun! Blog.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Season 4

BSG premieres its new season 3 weeks from today, on April 4, 2008. Oh boy! Click to supersize the above BSG-style Last Supper.

Catch up on the past 3 seasons in a quicky 8 minute vid at SciFi.com's BSG page.

Related (and very funny): Becca at her No Smoking in the Skull Cave blog gives us a hilarious series of photos in The Last Suppers of Pop Culture.

Also related: on April 13, Bear McCreary conducts his BSG score, along with James Callis (Gaius Baltar) acting as host, at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, which I would totally go to if I was living on that coast.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in Chronicle of Higher Education

I have a particularly hairy cartoon in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.

I'm in the company of a couple of excellent cartoonists: Carole Cable and Mary Nadler, whose work I admire.

I wish I could somehow link this obnoxious Lothario with higher education, but it would be a dreadful stretch of lies to even attempt to weave some sort of connection here. I have no idea what he has to do with a life in higher education.

I like the Chronicle and I enjoy (and, indeed, profit from) the fact that sometimes they'll purchase a cartoon just because it's funny. The above guy is the epitome of the gadget-obsessed dude who has no personal boundary issues during, or even prior to, the evening's date.

She should've told him she had to stay home, doing homework.

Ahh! I've woven the connection!

Getting an education would save you from Hairy Dude!

Thus here ends today's cartoon lesson.

THE QUESTOR TAPES (1974)

[Mild spoiler alert]

THE QUESTOR TAPES pilot echoed a lot of Gene Roddenberry's favorite ideas: an android trying in a Pinocchio-like way to understand what it is to be human, searching for its creator, and we even touch on a superior benevolent alien race that's attempting"to prevent Earth from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society." Plus the movie has Dean Wormer (John Vernon), acting as bad guy, so it's got that going for it. Not to mention the ever-so-likable Mike Farrell and the commanding presence of Robert Foxworth as Questor.

The series, if it had been made, would have been a buddy series with Mike Farrell helping the android become a bit less of a fish out of water as they had a series of adventures.

The best of the post-TREK pilots, QUESTOR's themes were woven into the next 2 Roddenberry produced projects; principally the characters of V'ger from STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE and, I know you all ready know it: Data, from NEXT GENERATION.

Richard Colla, the director, is quoted in Retrovision Magazine's fond and thorough overview of the pilot titled Gene Roddenberry's The Questor Tapes: The Unfulfilled Promise:

"It was a wonderful experience for me," he says. "We were kind of reinterpreting Spock and Kirk, because that's really what it was -- the emotional side of man and the intellectual side of man and they come into conversation with each other. So what you really have is a character talking to himself, and that's delightful."

Above: the cover to the novelization by D.C. Fontana. Below, the pilot, cut into its requisite YouTube wee chunks:

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 1

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 2

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 3

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 4

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 5

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 6

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 7

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 8

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 9

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 10

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 11

THE QUESTOR TAPES Part 12

A note on the Gil Melle music that's heard at a minute plus in: yes, that theme is the same music that Melle used for the later 1970s NIGHT STALKER series. Melle was so fond of that cut, that rather than see it forgotten in this unsold pilot, he played it for STALKER's producer Dan Curtis, who agreed and used it in the main title for the short-lived series. This is all from my memory of reading TV’s Biggest Hits (Schirmer Books, 1996) by Jon Burlingame.

Dave Stevens 1955-2008

Dave Stevens passed away from the effects of leukemia on March 10, 2008. He was 52 years old.

He was, along with Jaime Hernandez and Steve Rude, one of the talented newcomers to comics in the 1980s. In 1982, when he debuted his most famous creation The Rocketeer, I was in school and money was very tight. But for Stevens, I would forgo _____ (pick pretty much anything) just to be able to possess some of his amazing, cool comics.

At the time, I had no idea that the man had worked with two of my favorite names of an older school of drawing: Russ Manning and Doug Wildey. He was in lock-step with the old school technique, lovingly drawing old time planes and automobiles and gorgeous gals (natch!) in a grand, polished style for the new generation. We -- us young fans -- ate it up.

Tom Spurgeon has a wonderful biographical write up of the man and he has a mass of "collective memory" links to other salutes to Mr. Stevens, a name that will endure.


Above: oh yeah, another thing, Dave could draw these beautiful women. And he was, as you may all ready know, responsible for revival of interest in Bettie Page.

HUMBUG and TRUMP Book Collections

Reasons to get a second job: to pay for the upcoming HUMBUG and TRUMP collections of great satire by Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Russ Heath, Arnie Roth, Wally Wood, Al Jaffee and others.
It was over a year ago when, by chance, the subject of these two aborted satire magazines from the 1960s, was brought up with Arnie Roth. He mentioned that Humbug was jointly owned by four of its contributors, including Mr. Roth, and that it took a bit of time, but Gary Groth put together a deal to get it into print. I'm very glad he did.

PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN Edited by Charles Preston

Here are some cartoon from PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN Edited by Charles Preston. The cover is by Leo Garel.

This is copyright 1956 by Charles Preston. This is a Permabook edition published in January 1957.



Above: Mort Temes, who is alive and well in New Jersey, contributes the above. The self-satisfied expression on thew wiener dog is simultaneously funny and, well, speaking personally, just makes me feel a little bit queasy about that darn dog's boundary issues.




Bernard Wiseman, just by drawing a few lines on the grounds, suggest a wide city sidewalk -- probably on the Upper East Side.


David Pascal with a gag that's maybe not as fresh as it was 51 years ago, but I love watching the guy pantomime his interest and then zealous glee at riding the coattails of the performing dog.


Gallagher's cartoons are so animated, they deserve to be animated.



Pascal with another, very clever one. Those are darn big fish!


I enjoy Irwin Caplan's sharp, controlled line and his sense of environment. The dog's happy expression as he destroys what looks like a very nice table is great counterpoint.


Another Wiseman cartoon with a subtle juxtaposition style gag. The one line in the background suggests the sidewalk -- and that's all there is to the background. And that's all you need.


One of the great before he was one of the greats: Gahan Wilson, in an early cartoon, gives us an uppity actor dog. I always thought there was a touch of Silverstein in Wilson's older works.



I like Bill Harrison's foliage in the above cartoon. But those tracks don't look like women's shoes. Dig those trees along the top, one after another, and they stop before you see any leaves.



Jerry Marcus with his breezy inking gives us the moment before chaos erupts.



There are a lot of details in this Gallagher single panel cartoon. A lamp & table in the foreground left, a table with the doggy treats on the left, a planter in the background. They all have nothing to do with the gag (which made me laugh out loud), but they enhance the whole experience of looking at the cartoon. An experience which, according to my research, is about 3 to5 seconds long.



Above is Lee Lorenz, back before he was the The New Yorker's Cartoon Editor; back before he had found his brush & wash style. A bittersweet little story in 4 panels.



Eric Ericson gives us a very well dressed couple and their solution to kitty's clawing. They obviously have a large disposable income!


And finally, another Gahan Wilson cartoon to conclude today's visit with PETS -- INCLUDING WOMEN.

Jack Davis Video

It's a little too pixilated and the sound's not the best -- but Jack Davis's drawings and Jack Davis the cartoonist do shine through in this video portrait of Mr. Davis focusing on his prolific output for his alma mater, the University of Georgia "Bulldogs" team. It runs over 6 minutes and it was for WAGA's PM Magazine TV show.

John ("Jack") Ruge

My pal Leif Peng focuses his Today's Inspiration blog on cartoonist John "Jack" Ruge, with a remembrance by illustrator/former Ruge student Larry Roibal.

"He would bring in his gag illustrations and pin them up along with the instructional newsprint drawings. It was a real treat to see that as a student because it was a practical application for good draftsmanship. His gag cartoons were not cartoony, they were beautiful studies in draftsmanship and anatomy that just happened to be funny (take a close look at his hands) ..."

WIT FROM OVERSEAS

 

WIT FROM OVERSEAS, a collection of wit (cartoons and prose) from various foreign periodicals. It's edited by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr. and is (I swear to goodness) copyright: 1950, 1951, 1952 by Farm Journal, Inc.; 1952 by Hulton Press, Ltd.; 1950, 1951 by The Elite Publishing Corp.; 1950, 1951, 1952 by Bradbury, Agnew, Ltd.; 1953 by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr.



I don't know the work of most of these cartoonists, so please excuse my ignorance. I'd love to hear from someone who may know something about these cartoonists.

Above: I love the old robots: all boxy, with knobs and gears and sometimes an old fashioned lightbulb for a nose. The cartoonist added that great big wind-up mechanism in back and it just is a wonderful gag. The smug reaction on the bearded scientist tells you that the poor robot is right.


Above: the drawing makes the gag. Click to really supersize the cartoon. Look at that detail! Look at all that patience to get it all looking right.



The above cartoon COULD be the way it all works. Maybe there's this WHITE CONCRETE, y'know? I recall an episode of the British comedy series THE GOODIES wherein one of the guys is making an old time black and white movie, and he truly believes that he must paint everything within camera range with black or white paint.


Above: you get a great feel for the space in the compartment. Yeah, it's a potty joke -- but one that's clever, and, international -- since it's wordless.


Above: Just look at the cartoonist's command of perspective and excellent reference. And this was before Google images!


Above: a creepy one that would plague me if I saw it when I was a tot. What kind of product are those statue heads using?


Above: some gorgeous work by a Mexican cartoonist. If anyone knows who the cartoonist is, please drop a line. Note to Mr. Hoopes: this wit is not from overseas, since Mexico is part of the North American landmass.



Above: a silly and twisted little cartoon. Who knew that umbrellas were so prim and proper!


Chaval is a name that I see a lot -- but I know nothing of the human being behind the pen. His bold, wordless gags work so well because they're all rooted in human behavior. Not necessarily the kind of behavior that would win you a merit badge, but human behavior nonetheless.


Above: the cartoonist Wiles (?) puts together this grand vertical composition with exacting precision.


It's the appearance of that one high heel -- and leaving their view to the imagination -- that makes this one so successful.



Above: a silly gag, but one full of good drawing: the watery squiggles, the spritzing leak, the Commander in full Napoleon pose.



Not only that, the divan looks like it's floating! An eerie cartoon that smacked of Edward Gorey or William Steig.



Above: life before the Internet. A sharply drawn cartoon by Starke, whose work I've seen in some other UK collections.


Above: another great silent gag, with just enough detail for you to see what's going on.



Chaval with another winner. Are there really big trucks, lugging wine all over France?



Above: a silly cartoon by some youngster named Ronald Searle!

GENESIS II (1973)

A "lost" Roddenberry pilot for your viewing pleasure.


Four years after STAR TREK ended, CBS broadcast GENESIS II, a new pilot by Gene Roddenberry. It dealt with Dylan Hunt, a 20th century man who awakens from suspended animation in 2133 -- and a brand new Earth.

Using the Sub Shuttle (photo above), Dylan Hunt (a name reused in the Roddenberry-created ANDROMEDA TV series) and the PAX Team of friends, travel from society to society, encountering different social problems and solving them.

The series was in development, and the first season was roughed out. But CBS pulled the plug, deciding to go with a PLANET OF THE APES TV series.

Mariette Hartley guest stars in the pilot, sliced into bite-size YouTube linkies below:

GENESIS II Part One

GENESIS II Part Two

GENESIS II Part Three

GENESIS II Part Four

GENESIS II Part Five

GENESIS II Part Six

GENESIS II Part Seven

GENESIS II Part Eight

Related: Roddenberry's 1970s projects from TVParty.com.