Depositions: Stan Lee and John Romita

From Bleeding Cool News, excerpts from depositions that John Romita and Stan Lee gave in

"the Kirby family v Marvel case which involves the Kirby family’s quest to terminate Marvel’s copyrights on 45 characters Kirby helped create. Transcripts of these depositions have recently become public."

More information at the Bleeding Cool Links above.

There was a lot of comics history that came out in these depositions, including the way that Marvel comics were produced, the trouble between Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, working with Jack Kirby, Barry Windsor-Smith, on creator's rights, and on and on.



Via Marvel Masterworks: John Romita's first drawings of Spider-Man - from the pages of Daredevil!


For instance, here are some good descriptions of what was called "the Marvel method:" batting out a comic book story in a couple of paragraphs or sentences, "Or like I foolishly did," adds John Romita, "a verbal plot."

When Stan Lee was behind,

"... when he couldn’t keep up with the artists and he did not want the artists to stay idle, because the deadlines were looming, he would give them a descriptive verbal or written — quickly-written synopsis of what to do. And that’s how the plot first and script second, script third came about, which was called the Marvel method, which I believe made the comic industry what it is today. I believe there would be no comic industry if it weren’t for that."

Romita adds how difficult it was to deal with no script, and also: what a good thing having no script really was:

"I was terrified because I had always worked with a script. This was the first time I was deciding what was going to go on the splash, what was going to go on page 2, what was going to go on page 3. It was very difficult for me, very hard, but it turned out to be the greatest thing for the industry and for me, because the comic — the comic medium had been a script first and visual second and this made it visual first and script second, which was probably the greatest innovation, completely done for expediency sake."

Some fascinating reading and I'm still going through it.

A large tip of the hat to Dirk Deppey.

Ward Sutton on the Spider-Man Musical

Vis the Village Voice: Ward Sutton reports on the Spider-Man musical ("Yes," he tells us. "I saw it.").

A big hat tip to my friend Sean Kelly for this! Thanks, Sean!

THE REAL BOOK OF JOKES Art by Leon Winik

This is one of those joke books for kids, full of of puns and stodgy jokes. The plastic library cover and the book's binding show it was abused and/or well loved by 57 years' of kids.




The saving grace of THE REAL BOOK OF JOKES (by Margaret Gossett, edited by Helen Hoke, published by Garden City Books in Garden City, New York in 1954) is the spot art by Leon Winik.




Some of the gags, like the "little morons" series, making fun of people who are not so full up in the brains department, would be unlikely to be published in this enlightened age.





And some (like the one above) are rather risque for a kiddy joke book!



Is the idea, above, that Mr. Revere cut and run, offensive? Ah well, this was a different time, eh? Back when a monkey smoking a cigarette was funny, or just the mention of "Brooklyn" in a movie would elicit some giggles.



Leon Winik was a veteran comic book illustrator, working for, among others, Archie and Timely in the 1940s and 50s. He replaced Gill Fox on the strip JEANIE from 1952 to 1953. Ger Apeldoorn posts samples at his blog.





He also was the man behind Winik Art and Film in New York City.


Related: Helen Hoke selected the jokes and Richard Erdoes drew them in JOKES, JOKES, JOKES

Sam Gross: 27,592 Cartoons and Counting

In this age of hype, maybe a hyperbolic phrase like "if you read only one cartoonist interview, then read THIS one" would come as ho hum and cliched.

But, really, this is one of the best interviews with one of the greatest cartoonists and well worth the time to take in.



Above: Matt Diffee, Sam Gross and Ken Krimstein at the June 24, 2010 Bunny Bash.

Veteran cartoonist Sam Gross gives a career-spanning interview to Richard Gehr at TCJ.com.

Below are just 2 of the many informative questions and answers from the piece:



Above: an early wordless Sam Gross cartoon.

RICHARD GEHR You seem very organized. What’s your working process? How many cartoons do you generate per week?
SAM GROSS Every Wednesday I just clear everything, sit down, and trip. I don’t draw for markets like The New Yorker at all. I just trip. I’m still doing stuff as if National Lampoon still existed. This week I got sixteen or seventeen drawings. I number and date all my drawings. First they get photocopied on forty-four-pound stock paper. Then I punch three holes and they go into loose-leaf books like the black books back there and in the kitchen. And I think I got 27,592 cartoons now.

Above: Another early Gross cartoon.

GEHR: What’s your equipment?
GROSS: Number 1 and 2 ½ Rapidograph pens. That’s it. And a pad of cheap-shit paper. This is twenty-four-pound stock scratch and for finishes I have two-ply vellum.



Related:

1987 S. Gross Interview

Sam's famous "frog legs" cartoon on eBay

Some of Sam's early cartoons from the book TABOO edited by Charles Preston (1966): Parts one and two.

And it's true what Sam says: Bill Woodman is one great cartoonist.

1970: More of Roy Crane's Scrapbook

From the dusty pages of Cartoonist PROfiles #6, May 1970, comes "More of Roy Crane's Scrapbook."



Mr. Crane shows and tells about panel composition and, the above case, dramatic angles.


Above: "the Value of Black" in the composition.



The scrapbook was originally put together for Crane's assistant.



A big hat tip to Don Orehek for this issue of Cartoonist PROfiles!

Related:

Cartoonist PROfiles #3 Roy Crane Scrapbook "How to Draw Buz Sawyer"
Cartoonist PROfiles #38 Roy Crane Scrapbook "How to Draw Women"
1968 Visit with Frank King and Roy Crane
Roy Crane" The Rise and Fall of the Comic Strip"

Video: Tom Gammill "Learn to Draw" #26

Famous Cartoonist Tom Gammill visits the Center for Cartoon Studies to see if these kids have the talent to make it as newspaper and magazine cartoonists. Hilarity ensues.



Warning: bodily fluid humor.

Feeding the Cat by Mike Lynch

The trials and tribulations of feeding your cat.

First, you buy the fancy stuff; "Le Chic Meow:"




The cat response:



You buy another kind of cat food:

Cat response:




Back to nature with this, another wonderful food choice for kitty:


Cat response:

Video: 1973 STAR TREK Conventon

Thanks to beyondspock over at YouTube, here is a 6:40 film of the International STAR TREK Convention from February 16-19 1973, which was held at the Commodore Hotel, New York City. Attendees included in the film: Isaac Asimov, Oscar Katz, D.C. Fontana (on a TOS bridge mock up set) and Leonard Nimoy.



I don't know what the context is here. This was shot on film, edited together in a professional way, and is generally respectful to this odd little show that would not die. It's funny to recall this time, when if you said you liked STAR TREK it meant that NBC show from the 1960s. It was not this multi-limbed media machine, spewing out copies and reimaginations.

Perhaps this was a testament to early ongoing interest in the show - and the potential to make money from the franchise.

1973 would see David Gerrold's great books about STAR TREK, THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES (all about writing that episode) and THE WORLD OF STAR TREK. James Blish continued with STAR TREK 9, another book in the series of STAR TREK episode serializations.

The first of the new permutations TOS (The Old Show) would appear that fall, with the all new STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES. Within 5 years, the new STAR TREK 2 TV series was announced -- with all of the cast returning except Leonard Nimoy -- and then suddenly transformed into a theatrical movie (with Nimoy, natch!) a year later.

The girl at the end of the clip, who moves herself to tears, reminded me that the whole STAR TREK mythology came from people like her: sincere, true believers. A little crazy, maybe. But a good kinda crazy.

THE FLINTSTONES by Gene Hazelton

Via Comicazys: a whole slew of THE FLINTSTONES Sunday strips by the one and only Gene Hazelton.

The Law of Cartoon Pants

Above: NO SHIRT: Mickey; NO PANTS: Porky; NEARLY NUDE: Tony the Tiger

The Wolf Gnards Culture Pop Blog looks at famous animated cartoon characters and their various stages of dress and undress.

States of Cartoon Characters Undress

No Shirt	No Pants	Nearly Nude
Mickey Mouse	Porky Pig	Tony the Tiger
SpongeBob SquarePants*	Chip & Dale (Rescue Rangers)	Yogi Bear
Crash Bandicoot	Donald Duck	Donkey Kong
Kung Fu Panda	Winnie the Pooh	Wally Gator

A tip of the Donald Duck sailor cap to Bob Flynn!

Tom Toles wins 2011 Herblock Prize

Congratulations to Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles upon his winning of the 2011 Herblock Prize! The Post's "Comic Riffs" writer Michael Cavna has more here - as well as Mr. Toles' entire submission portfolio.

Roy Crane and BUZ SAWYER

From the fifth issue of Cartoonist PROfiles, February 1970: Roy Crane shares more from his scrapbook "How to Draw Buz Sawyer."

This is the second part of the series. The first "How to Draw Buz Sawyer" is here.



From Jud Hurd's into:

"Following are some additional selections from what is in reality a big textbook on how to use the 'Craftint' shading medium effectively. It was prepared originally by Crane as a guide for the use of Roy's artist assistant Hank Schlensker, and was donated by Roy to the Syracuse University Manuscript Collection some years ago."

A big hat tip to Don Orehek for this issue of Cartoonist PROfiles!

Related:

Cartoonist PROfiles #3 Roy Crane Scrapbook "How to Draw Buz Sawyer"
Cartoonist PROfiles #38 Roy Crane Scrapbook "How to Draw Women"
1968 Visit with Frank King and Roy Crane
Roy Crane" The Rise and Fall of the Comic Strip"

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Above: a sketch from Stacy Curtis' sketchbook of the man himself. Copyright Mr. Curtis!

Today, March 2, is Read Across America Day, in celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss in 1904.

Random House has a list of activities here.

Related: Dr. Seuss's birthday celebrated by Michelle Obama, schoolchildren across America

Jules Feiffer Honored at Cinema Arts

From left to right: Dr. Jud Newborn of the Cinema Arts Centre; Cynthia Shor, Executive Director of the Walt Whitman Birthplace; Jules Feiffer; Tom Wysmuller, board member for the Walt Whitman Birthplace. Photo by Michele Antonio.

Huntington, NY: The Cinema Arts Centre screened the 1971 movie LITTLE MURDERS, followed by an onstage chat with screenwriter Jules Feiffer. Mr Feiffer also received a literary award, the 2011 'Champion of Literacy.'

"'I grew up on film and comic strips,' Feiffer said. 'Like all kids I had dreams and I tried to act on them. Some people give up their dreams. Cartoonists in part never grow up.'"

Michele Antonio, writing for the Huntington Patch, has the whole story here.

Video: NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES Book Trailer

From the people who gave you PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES ...



This is a video trailer for the book NIGHT OF THE LIVING TREKKIES by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall, published by Quirk Classics. The plot: zombies invade a STAR TREK convention.

Surprisingly funny!

Video: Cartoonist Renald Luzier and Photographer Stéphanie Meylan

Above: Luz wanders Antwerp, recording his impressions.

Cartoonist Renald Luzier, better known as "Luz," and Swiss Photographer Stéphanie Meylan draw and photograph their impressions of the city of Antwerp for a joint gallery show in the foyer of the WCC Zuiderpershuis.

Video: Rebels of the Ninth Art

African editorial cartoonists ask,

"Why are cartoonists in Africa assaulted, jailed, sacked, banned and even assassinated? And some even forced to flee into exile? Can cartooning be part of a democratization process?"

This is part of a longer documentary titled "Résistants du 9ème Art,” available on DVD or VOD formats.

Roy Crane "The Rise and Fall of the Comic Strip!!"

America has been going to hell in a handbasket since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

There is no shortage of yellowing, old diary entries, newspaper editorials and books bemoaning that this age will be, once and for all, mark my words, the ever lovin' blue eyed end. OK? Right now. It's all over. The "good old days" are lost.


With this thought in mind, here is master cartoonist Roy Crane, writing "The Rise and Fall of the Comic Strip!!" The comic strip, you see, died in the 1970s; specifically, the December 1973 issue of Cartoonist PROfiles.



Here's the text of "The Rise and Fall of the Comic Strip!!" including a peek into the future of 1983:



1895

• First Daily Strip

1905-20

• Joke Era ... daily strips 15" wide (7 Cols.)
• Full Sunday Page

1920-30

• Development of continuities into story strips, adventure strips.

1930-40

• DEPRESSION ... Golden Age of the adventure strip ... ALL THAT SPACE ... wonderful fights, action, BACKGROUNDS!
• Publishers amazed that circulations doesn't stop. Publishers find readers want to know what will happen next in adventure strips.
• Throw out the joke strips!
• Buy MORE adventure strips!
• Gratitude ... papers kill goose that lays the golden egg, cut dailies to 6 columns.
• Cut Sundays to 1/2 page and tabloid!

1940-45

• THE WAR! Comics play a big part. Price of newsprint soars.
• Cut dailies to 5 columns.
• Cut Sundays to 1/3 page!

1945-65

• U.S. Comics in the Louvre ... called ART!
• Cut dailies to 4 columns.
• HELP! HELP! They're after the old goose again!
• Cartoonists in serious trouble! Not enough space for adventure and story strip lads to get characters' feet into pictures.
• Not enough room for action shots.
• All strip artists go from 4-picture strip to 3-picture strip!
• Adventure and story strip guys have 72 fewer pictures to tell 12 week story.
• Readers squawk!
• Stories drag!
• Lose wallop!
• Gag strips take over market.
• TV Competition.
• 1965-73
• More troubles!
• Newspaper reduce size of he column which takes another chop out of comics.
• OFF WITH THE LEGS!
• Fewer action shots!

1973

• STRIKES! Shortage of newsprint.
• They're going after the old goose again!
• PAPERS GOING TO 3-COLUMN STRIPS!!
• Yes ... THREE!! And demanding larger lettering!
• Gag strip fellows draw strip in only one Picture.

1974

• Papers cut strips to 11/2" deep.
• NO MORE BREASTS. Only heads are left.
• Last story strip folds! Last adventure strip!

1975

• Papers chop comics to 2-columns.

1977

• Papers chop heads off: leaving only the balloons.

1978

• Polls show no one is reading bare balloons any longer. Editors wonder why. Last comic disappears.

1983

• NEW ERA in American Journalism!
• Editors drop the news!
• TV blamed!
• Issues appear twice weekly ... the supermarket special on Thursday, want ads on Sunday.
• Let us thank God we can still get the news on TV. Also sports, weather, recipes. In fact, EVERYTHING the newspapers carried except the COMICS!

A big hat tip to Don Orehek for this issue of Cartoonist PROfiles!