1977: QUINCY Comic Book Part Two

This is the second part of a look at the complete rare 1977 QUINCY comic book. The first part is here. 

 

OK, the blog title is "1977: QUINCY Comic Book Part Two," but "What Have They Done to HENRY?!?!?!!" was a close second. And a third would be "Who in the World is 'Little Guy and Professor Noodle?" But I digress. 

This QUINCY book has HENRY as a backup feature. The HENRY comic strip by Carl Anderson was, like Otto Soglow's THE LITTLE KING, a pantomime strip. HENRY, a hairless boy with a receding mouth, did not speak. This all changed when the comic strip HENRY became the comic book HENRY. In Dell Comics' CARL ANDERSON'S HENRY, the title character spoke like anyone else. So much for the feature staying "on model." It sure sounds like a wrong-headed idea to take away a comic strip character's gimmick, but the transformation worked. The Dell Comic was around from 1946 to 1961. Every issue drawn by Carl Anderson's successor, John Liney. This King Comic continues the tradition of HENRY speaking. 

 

Above is one of the educational pages, with the pretty blonde floating head of "Ms. Anne" (Dr. Anne Mueser) asking you to work out some subject/verb agreements using QUINCY as her muse. 

 

Another educational page, this time with Richard Guttenberg "Mr. G." And now we have a 6 page feature: "Little Guy in 'The Big Swap' with Professor Noodle." It's signed by John Liney. This story features much making fun of being small, being fat and features a kid who talks to strangers about trading comics. But it's all in fun, and the QUINCY comic itself makes a cameo which is very exciting. 

 

Today's lesson: five 'Klunks' equal one 'Quincy.' 

Above: the answers to all those educational questions posed by the floating heads. An inspirational page filler telling you that if you want to get ahead in life the follow directions. And thus completes the complete scan of QUINCY "R-05," copyright King Features 1977.

1977: QUINCY Comic Book Part One

 

QUINCY was a newspaper comic strip by Ted Shearer. The King Features strip, which ran from 1970 to 1986, was in the tradition of SKIPPY and LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE - a scrappy kid who is pushing to better himself; sometimes falling on his face, but always philosophically optimistic. QUINCY chronicled a group of multi-cultural kids in a New York City neighborhood. 

Shearer was a cartoonist I admire, and I've previously showcased QUINCY (part one, part two). He's a cartoonist that deserves to be remembered. This giveaway comic book (there is no cover price) is numbered "R-05" and is copyright King Features 1977. I bought it last week and it was advertised as a "rare King Comics' test market comic book" that was never circulated. In the indicia, on page 3, you can see that this was part of the "Supplementary Reading Program developed and editor by Richard Guttenberg, Dr. Anne Mueser and Sherman H. Saiger." So, it may have been distributed as art of a school program. 

There are a couple of QUINCY comic books, and a TIM TYLER'S LUCK book in the series, which all seem to feature King Features properties. Each comic book also has a featured co-star, in their own, separate story. With the QUINCY books, you have HENRY and Hamlet (!), HAGAR's son. TIM TYLER's LUCK gives us a FELIX THE CAT back up. All of the art is uncredited. The stories appear to be cobbled together from Shearer's QUINCY dailies. 

I think that the "Ms. Annie" and the "Mr. G." in the All-Star Cast are in fact two of the Supplementary Reading Program editors, Dr. Anne Mueser and Richard Guttenberg. 

 

Next time: part two, in which co-star HENRY is re-imagined -- and I don't mean in a good way. Edit: part two is here.

Pascal Girard Diary: Day 1: MoCCA

Here's a link to Pascal Girard's new cartoon diary. This caught my attention. Not only because I like Girard's style -- but, by a coincidence, I'm in the middle of reading his new graphic novel memoir REUNION.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter!

Thou Shall Not Steal

From the You Thought We Wouldn't Notice blog, here's a PEANUTS ripoff from the Christian home-schooling publisher Alpha-Omega, ripping off pretty much word for word Lucy and Charlie Brown.

"YTWWN is a blog where users have taken notice to a blatant rip off of a creative work, and shared it with us. Sharing and discussing the observations and casualties of improper use of creative property is what we're all about here."

Video: Howard Cruse Interview

Mr. Media interviews veteran cartoonist Howard Cruse.

Video: 1964 Jonathan Winters Special

What's the secret to great comedy?

Timing!

It's 1963 and Jonathan Winters' first network comedy special had its initial table reading in New York City. Jonathan, the writers (including Pat McCormick), guest star Art Carney and producer George Schlatter all felt it was shaping up.

But, unknown to them, bad timing was in the air -- to say the least.

"We left the reading," says Schaltter, "and found out that Kennedy had been shot."

The people were stunned. The script was thrown out. Nothing was funny. Everyone retired to bars to think. Production shut down for a week.

When taping was set to begin, there was no script, there had been no rehearsals.

At the YouTube link below, producer George Schlatter reminiscences about the troubled show, titled "A Wild Winters Night." He talks about how Winters and Carney were given a table full of every prop they could find and they were taped for 90 minutes, doing improv bits.

If you are a Netflix member, you can watch "A Winters Night" for yourself by streaming the entire 1964 program, as it aired, complete with commercials. Link here. (I think that the New Christy Minstrels songs were cut, thus the 36 minute running time. Oh, and despite the Netflix title of Jonathan Winters: Rare & Riotous, it really is "A Wild Winters Night.")




There is a specific reference at the end of the program to Charles Schulz and his bestseller HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUPPY. The camera pans to a chair with stuffed animal versions Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and other PEANUTS characters. Continuing the pan, Jonathan Winters is revealed, looking at us. Winters becomes serious, talking to the camera. We cut to a series of still photos of the comedian, his wife and kids as Winters' in voiceover talks about the importance of family.

Perhaps the concept was to add some heart or tack on a parting message.

Perhaps the message is that with love we will be all right ... no matter how sobering the timing.


Hat tip to Roy Edroso for the still photo.

OLLIE & QUENTIN Not Connecting?

My friend Piers Baker lets his readers know "I do not expect to still be doing this in a year's time if things do not improve."

He's writing about his King Features newspaper comic strip OLLIE & QUENTIN.

In his blog entry Blowing My Own Mute Trumpet, he writes that the 4 year old feature about a duck and a worm is not connecting with newspaper editors and they are the ones that determine a comic strip's viability.

Sadly newspaper sales are the measure by which a comic is judged and it doesn't take a genius to work out that there is only so long a syndicate will carry an unviable comic before it is forced to admit that it doesn't work and will have to cancel it. I suspect Ollie and Quentin is going this way unless something changes soon.

Now, he does have a plot twist up his sleeve, but, hey, if that doesn't work, it'll all be over.

I consider Piers a colleague and friend. If you believe his strip is valuable, then I would urge you take him up on his request: contact your local newspaper, ask them to run OLLIE & QUENTIN.

Away

I'm going to leave the blog for a short time, and remind myself of that outside world. Be seeing you.

The Big Draw

I never heard of this -- and it's been going on since 1998. This looks like a lot of fun:

Sharpen your pencil! As part of the Big Draw — an international celebration of drawing — the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design invites visitors to join us a broad range of hands-on workshops, events, and activities in April, culminating in a our Free Community Day: The Big Draw on Saturday, April 30.

To see what's in store, see this video! For the full schedule, visit risdmuseum.org.

Hat tip to my friend Juana Medina, who drew that "Big Draw" sign that's seen several times in the video; at the beginning , again at the 28 second mark and more.

VOICE Decides to Pay Cartoonists After All

Breaking: Heidi MacDonald reports that the VILLAGE VOICE, which has a new all-comics issue wherein they admit they did not pay the cartoonists whose work appears in that self-same issue (see Wednesday's blog entry: If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay?), has decided to pay its cartoonists.

Which is, of course, what editor Tony Ortega should have done in the first place.

I am sorry that there were cartoonists who were willing to give away their work. As long as this happens, then there's an element of complicity here.

Video: Steve Brodner on Diablo Canyon with Guest Stars: the 3 Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, Spongebob and Many More

A galaxy of stars from Steve Brodner's pen are featured in this brand new excellent video over at Slate. Please go take a look so that Slate will see the numbers and want more of this.

Selling Cartoons to Magazines

I've been getting questions about what I do. Questions like:

What's your process?

Or, how does something I draw at home, on a board, get into a magazine like Harvard Business Review?

Here's the process:

I send cartoons to HBR maybe once a month. I send a batch of 10-20 cartoons. I mail hard copies, with my contact information on the back of each one. I enclose a SASE. Yeah, I mail paper to them.

Paper is better.

The editor doesn't have to disable a firewall, click to see the cartoon, and then print the cartoon if he's interested in it. You mail an envelope full of hard copy cartoons, and all the editor has to to do is open it and there they are; tangible, and ready to go to a meeting.

Editors have meetings throughout the year. I'm not sure how many, but it's probably between 5-7 meetings a year. I've never attended any of these meetings, but I know from descriptions that a number of editors are involved and decisions on cartoons are group decisions. Maybe the cartoon editor does an initial sort, but the final batches are picked by a group.

I try not to edit myself too much. I try to send cartoons that I feel are appropriate. And I also throw in odd things here and there. Harvard bought a cat cartoon from me, for instance. Who knew that a business mag would buy a cat cartoon?

I got a question a while back asking about a batch of cartoons I mailed to the Wall Street Journal. I can't find the comment (It's lost somewhere on another thread in this blog.), but the fellow had a good question: he wanted to know if I requested a set price from WSJ for the batch, or if they just bought a couple, and they decided on the price to pay me. It's the latter.

When WSJ (or any other publication in the business of buying cartoons) is going to buy from you, they have a set rate. All the established publications do. You can't negotiate a different rate.

Once, during a Q&A panel discussion on cartooning, someone asked how I chose where to send my cartoons. I said I started with the markets that paid the most, and worked my way down.

Anything can happen during this process: you can not be able to sell to a market despite your best efforts, you may run out of good gags, a publication will suddenly go from buying your great cartoons to not buying them, etc.

The people who give up are the norm. The rest -- the ones who slog through the not-selling, the no-idea, the collapse of markets times -- those are cartoonists.

-- The above was a rerun from September 28, 2007.

The Cartooning Business

Quitting my day job -- which was years back now -- required a leap of faith. I didn't know a soul in the pro cartoonists "industry" when I started out.

My routine was I'd draw up 20-30 cartoons a week, throw half of them away and then mail out the good stuff to the art director listed in the masthead of the magazine or newspaper I had targeted. Every week I would do the same. It was not that "creative," it was not "fun," but it was something that I thought I had a knack for.

And it was hard work. It took many months before I got my first sale.

"Did you ever think you'd get to your hundredth cartoon?" asked Bob Mankoff, leaning back in his chair. He was holding one of my cartoons, staring at a small, penciled 3-digit number in the corner. I was in his office, on one of those "look days," when invited cartoonists are allowed past the Conde Nast security phalanx, and get to have a sit down with the New Yorker's cartoon editor. I think I had drawn under a thousand cartoons at that point. Anyway, that penciled number was probably in the 500-700 range.

"Well, I knew I had ideas for maybe a dozen cartoons the first week I started drawing single panel gag cartoons, but that second week ... well, that was harder. And it's not gotten necessarily easier." I had been submitting for maybe 3 years when we had this conversation. And my visit with him ended like so many other visits to the New Yorker; with him holding some of my cartoons and inviting me to, "Come back next week."

And so I do. But so far, no sales at the New Yorker.

But my work sells to other markets, and so that's good.

I've always thought that my stuff sells because it's funny. I think that because there is no other reason to buy, right? That's what the editors want. Why would an editor buy without an eye to content?

Then again, I just got 15 cartoons rejected today -- 15 real good, rejected, homeless, non-money-making cartoons. Heck, one of them should have sold. At least one!!!

"How do you know for sure," asked a student cartoonist,"that they're even looking at your submissions?"

Well, you don't know. You just have to depend on the kindness of strangers, and have faith that your good work -- like the fizz of a Guinness -- will float to the top.

(Above: Our Sam the cat poses next to a couple of submissions packages to be mailed this day.)

-- The above was a rerun from February 2, 2007.

VILLAGE VOICE Comics Issue: If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay?

Roy Edroso, a freelance writer, pens the article If Cartoons Are So Big, Why Don't They Pay? for this week's comics issue of the VILLAGE VOICE.

This article has quotes from cartoonists about how there's no money for most creators.

Roy also admits (bravely) that

" ... many of the artists in this issue aren't getting paid, but have contributed work for the exposure."

Roy has a "Donate" button on his blog, with the headline "PATRONIZE ME!" so now I worry that the VOICE editors got him to agree to do the same that the cartoonists did.

And there's the rub.

Ted Rall and Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow) are doing OK, we are told, because they have diversified. Ditto Molly Crabapple.

It's a mistake to not consider all of the markets for your talent.

The VOICE, obviously, is not one of them.

Related:

Tom Spurgeon's take
Comics Alliance

Video: R. Crumb

When Robert Crumb sees his original comics work hanging on the walls of the Society of Illustrators, he feels uneasy ....



The show, titled R. Crumb: Lines Drawn On Paper, is on view at the Society through April 30, 2011.

What Were You Doing When You Were 21?

Above: What Bil Keane was up to when he was 21 years old.


This year the National Cartoonists Society celebrates its 65th year. The organization has been thru its toddler stage, teenage years, middle age -- but let's take a look at the April 1965 edition of The Cartoon!st magazine, way back when the NCS had its 21st birthday.

Here are a few highlights from a 1965 photo feature from that April 1965 Cartoon!st mag that asks NCS members what they were doing back when they themselves were 21 years old. The complete photos, all 40 of them, follow below.

Bill Holman:


Paul Fung:



Jerry Dumas:

Prolific gag cartoonist Chon Day:



Here's a the complete 1965 "What Were You Doing When You Were 21?" photo feature:













Hat tip to Don Orehek! Thanks, Don!

Trailer: THE RABBI'S CAT

THE RABBI'S CAT - LE CHAT DU RABBIN - TEASER from Banjo Studio on Vimeo.

Hat tip to Tom Spurgeon!

Ward Sutton's Cartoon Mash Up VILLAGE VOICE Cover

There's a lot to frikkin' love about Ward Sutton's Village Voice cover this week. It's a mash up ode to cartoons, fusing old and new comics icons. Bravo, Ward!

And this gives me an excuse to run Ward's grand Shatner cover from 2009:


A tip of the hat to my pal Sean Kelly for this! Thanks, Sean!

Good Publicity, Bad Publicity

The cutline to the above photo reads "Stuck in Farmington."

It's good to get publicity, but then there's good attention and bad attention. I had no idea that the Rochester Times' "Stuck in Farmington" was part one of a two part photo story. And I had no idea that Part Two would reveal an embarrassing, personal incident from four years ago.


So, the next week in the Times, I was cited as being engulfed in the self-same "River Road Canal." This happened in December 2007. We had just gotten a Christmas tree that was half-hanging out of the trunk. The car slipped on black ice and landed in that same ditch. Well, AAA was called and a wrecker pulled the car out. And the tree was not damaged. The incident was soon forgotten. Happy Christmas!

The Rochester Times has, in the past, given me some good publicity. But, now, as you can see, the photo is right above the most read part of the paper: the Police Log.

Ah well. There is a dark side to fame.

And I'm still missing a hubcap, dang it!

Related: the 2010 Rochester Times Pothole Contest.

HEART THROBS by John Romita

My friend Ger Apeldoorn showcases a complete 1950s HEART THROBS comic book story by the one and only John Romita. The story is told in visuals. There are no word balloons, no "Meanwhile, back at the ranch." Just 100% Romita.

Michigan Bans Ralph Steadman and Beer

The Michigan Liquor Commission has banned a beer with rude name and a label by Ralph Steadman.

"The Michigan Liquor Commission has banned a beer because it is ‘detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare’.

"But the contents of each bottle isn’t what’s upset the sensitive officials. Instead they object to its rather offensive name.

"Raging Bitch, which sells 900,000 cases worldwide, was also censored because of its label which depicts a blood splattered rabid dog drawn by artist Ralph Steadman."

The Daily Mail has the rest here.

Hat tip to Comics Reporter.

The Comic Strip Cafe

Chris Oliveros happens upon the Comic Strip Cafe while visiting the Universal Studios theme park in Florida. Many photos. Some head scratching. A GASOLINE ALLEY washroom?

Tom Spurgeon Visits The Center For Cartoon Studies

Tom Spurgeon reports on his visit to The Center For Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. He includes everything here: how hard it was to get there, the nice hotel, a full report on a panel discussion (Abrams' Charlie Kochman, Barry Matthews and Leon Avelino of alt-publishing house Secret Acres, and agent Bernadette Baker-Baughman) for CCS's annual Industry Day March 31st. And, of course, a glowing review of the "school for graphic novelists" that James Sturm put together.

Video: HD GREEN LANTERN Preview

Here is some footage of select scenes from the new GREEN LANTERN movie, which opens June 17th. This is an abridged 4 minute trailer, with some spoilers, of a reel that premiered at this past weekend's Wondercon.



Big hat tip to The Retroist.

BBC America: Inside Look DOCTOR WHO Series 6

The 2 minute exclusive behind the scenes video is from BBC America. It's a bit from one of two new WHO documentaries the US channel is producing. This snippet premiered at the Wondercon this past weekend. All very exciting. Stetsons are cool!



Big hat tip to Life, Doctor Who & Combom!

Please check out their video from the 2011 Wondercon DOCTOR WHO panel with Neil Gaiman, Mark Sheppard and Tony Hayes.

Video: DOCTOR WHO BBC America Series 6 Trailer

A much different trailer than the BBC version:



A big tip of the fez to Life, Doctor Who and Combom via ZeRedDalek!

Video: AMERICAN POLITICAL CARTOONS 1754-2010

Sandy Northrop and Stephen Hess will be at the National Archives on April 13, 2011, at 7pm, giving a talk about their book AMERICAN POLITICAL CARTOONS 1754-2010. They give us an overview below:



Mike Rhode, at his ComicsDC blog, has more of their DC area speaking dates here.

Video: Posy Simmonds on Flaubert

Watch the full talk on www.culturetheque.org.uk.

When Will THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADELE BLANC-SEC Come to the States?

Slowly, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADELE BLANC-SEC, is making its way.

April 22nd is the recently announced UK theatrical release date.

This 2009 film by Luc Besson based upon a graphic novel by Jacques Tardi has yet to have its wide release in the States.

Below is the new trailer which looks all "Indiana Jones as a French chick" to me -- and that's a good thing!

DOCTOR WHO Mini Episode

From BBC RED NOSE DAY 2011/COMIC RELIEF NIGHT, here's parts one and two of a new DOCTOR WHO mini-episode. I was surprised at how fun this was, and the whole cast is here.






Donate and download exclusive content and top sketches at http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday