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Monday, November 30, 2009
"How the hell did you get the idea you could draw?" - Michael Maslin Remembers James Thurber
Above copyright The New Yorker.
From Michael Maslin's Posted Notes series, titled "Thurber's Unbaked Cookies:"
New Yorker historians remember that Harold Ross, the magazine's founder and first editor, initially didn't care for Thurber's drawings. When Thurber first submitted them to The New Yorker, Ross said to him, "How the hell did you get the idea you could draw?" It wasn't until Thurber and his friend and colleague E.B. White had a hit on their hands with their 1929 publication, Is Sex Necessary? that Ross caved, demanding to see a previously rejected Thurber cartoon: "Where's that goddamn seal drawing, Thurber?"
Read it all here.
30% Fantagraphics Books Sale TODAY ONLY
From the press release:
We've got Cyber Monday fever! Today only (Monday, Nov. 30, 2009), all of our currently-available and pre-orderable 2009 releases (with a few exceptions) are marked down 30%! That's a fantastic deal on over 75 items, including but not limited to: deluxe box sets like Humbug and Gahan Wilson; gorgeous, oversized, impressive-under-the-tree volumes of classic newspaper strips Popeye, Prince Valiant, and The Brinkley Girls; no less than 4 books from the Hernandez brothers (including the big Luba and Locas II omnibuses); new & reprinted stuff from mainstays Peter Bagge, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, R. Crumb, Tony Millionaire, Richard Sala, C. Tyler and Robert Williams; classics from Boody Rogers, Steve Ditko, Fletcher Hanks, Basil Wolverton, and the various artists of Blazing Combat and Supermen; two by the great Jacques Tardi; new comics from cutting-edge faves Al Columbia, Jordan Crane, Paul Hornschemeier, Kevin Huizenga, Jason, Miss Lasko-Gross, Michael Kupperman, Anders Nilsen, John Pham, Johnny Ryan, Dash Shaw, and Esther Pearl Watson; amazing art books like Portable Grindhouse and Rock Candy; Monte Schulz's novel This Side of Jordan; fully half a dozen issues of The Comics Journal; even some of our already-crazy-cheap Mome multi-packs — and much much more! Holy smokes, what a year it's been... and now's your best chance to get caught up and spread the love of comics with beautiful gifts for all your friends and family!
(Sale ends midnight Pacific time on December 1, 2009. Don't delay!)
Click here to see all the newest releases from Fantagraphics Books.
Video: THE LITTLE KING by Otto Soglow
Above photo of Otto Soglow nicked from The Bijou Blog.
Here is Otto Soglow's THE LITTLE KING in a 1933 Christmas animated short titled "Christmas Night." It runs about 7 minutes and has one of those great jazz scores. Produced by the Van Beuren Studios, direction by James Tyer, produced by Amadee J. Van Beuren, and written by the one and only Otto Soglow. Original release date: December 22, 1933.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Video: MISS PEACH OF THE KELLY SCHOOL (1982)
From 1982, here is a clip of a MISS PEACH made-for-TV video based on the Mell Lazarus comic strip which ran for 45 years (1957-2002).
The videos, titled MISS PEACH OF THE KELLY SCHOOL, featured a live actress and puppet versions of the children characters. Below is the first ten minutes of the Thanksgiving special. There were five different specials distributed by Carousel Film and Video. The others include the first day of school, Valentine's Day, career day, and the spring picnic.
1982 was also the year that Mell received the Reuben Award, the "Oscar" of cartooning, presented by the National Cartoonists Society.
Oddly, I can find no actor credits for the specials online, other than Martin Short providing some of the voices.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
$4 Off All T-Shirts, $3 Off Mugs
Blkack Friday Sale at the Mike Lynch Cartoons store going on until midnight tonight.
NEW Sled Dog Race mug.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Video: Why You Should Watch DOCTOR WHO
Above: "Tomb of the Cybermen" from a 1960s Radio Times cover, copyright the Radio Times. Complete DR WHO Radio Times cover gallery here.
Here is the long version of a BBC America commercial for DOCTOR WHO in which producer Russell T. Davies and star David Tennant talk about why the program is worth watching.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Birthday, Charles Schulz
Tomorrow is Charles Schulz' 87th birthday.
Ted Dawson, one of the Three Men in a Tub blog, shares the photo below. It's an ice sculpture, that was created in Schulz's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota almost ten years ago, to commemorate the very last PEANUTS Sunday strip on February 13, 2000.
As you may remember, Mr. Schulz passed away the day before his last strip was to run. It was on the news that morning, just as the Sunday papers were delivered.
The sculpture became not just a tribute to the newspaper comic strip, but also the focal point for fans to stop and honor this great cartoonist. People heaped cards and flowers in remembrance of the man and his Charlie Brown and Snoopy and all of those moments that have stuck with us.
Like so many people I know, I grew up with the newspaper strip, the CBS specials and the collections. It was so cool that the libraries in the small towns I grew up in (Iowa City, Lawrence, KS) stocked those PEANUTS paperbacks. I learned words from Lucy, like "psychological" and "real estate." I tried to copy the drawings when I was a kid, too. Schulz's simple style was deceptively hard to reproduce!
Happy Birthday, Charles Schulz: an American original.
R. Crumb's and guitarist Dominique Cravi's "Les Primitifs de Futur" Band
Yes, that's Mr. Crumb himself in there, seated behind the drummer.
From eyefortalent's description:
From eyefortalent's description:
Legendary underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and guitarist Dominique Cravic founded Les Primitifs du Futur in 1986 craving real Parisian musette instead of poor imitations heard in variety shows. Sounding like they've stepped right out the '30s, the members of Les Primitifs du Futur brilliantly blend world-musette and Django-style guitar into old-fashioned originals.
With their three albums "Cocktail d'amour", "Trop de routes, trop de trains" and World Musette" made up of original compositions, Les Primitifs du Futur remain at the forefront of the renaissance of chanson française manifestly occurring in France today.
Carolita Johnson and Michael Crawford
Above: a photo of Carolita Johnson and Michael Crawford in their Inwood apartment by Tina Fineberg.
"Where Punchlines Pay the Rent," and article for the New York Times by Constance Rosenblum, showcases the lives and habitats of New Yorker magazine cartoonists Carolita Johnson and Michael Crawford.
Hat tip to John Klossner for the link."The two became good friends by way of Mr. Crawford’s admiration for Ms. Johnson’s work.
"'She had a great drawing style,' he said. And, he thought to himself, “The New Yorker could use a woman with her offbeat wit.'
"He encouraged her to try drawing cartoons for the magazine, and his instincts proved correct. It took her only five weeks to sell her first drawing to The New Yorker; it had taken him half a dozen years.
"Eventually, a relationship blossomed. They are not married, but as Ms. Johnson describes the arrangement, 'we just like to say that by the power invested in Michael and Carolita, we pronounced ourselves Michael and Carolita.'"
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sadowski Edits Toth, Jack Cole, Dick Briefer, Wolverton and More
Via Digital Spy:
Fantagraphics has announced a six-book deal with editor Greg Sadowski. All of the books will focus on old comic books.
Sadowski will produce a series of new collections of classic comic material for the publisher, reports ICv2.
The first collection, due in April 2010, is titled Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s. The massive 300 page book will feature comic book reprints by Ditko, Frazetta, Jack Cole, Basil Wolverton and Al Williamson.
The other planned titles, schedule for a one-a-quarter release are:
- Setting the Standard: Alex Toth at Standard Comics 1952-54,
- The Road to Plastic Man: The Golden Age Comics of Jack Cole 1937-41,
- Away from Home: EC Artists at Other Companies,
- Creeping Death from Neptune: Basil Wolverton’s Sci-Fi and Horror Comics 1938-55,
- and The Comic Book Frankenstein: The Monster According to Dick Briefer.
THE LAND UNKNOWN by Alex Toth
Alex Toth is one of the giants of the comic book business and his career -- whether it was Hanna Barbera character designs, Hot Wheels comic strip ads, or his hand-written postcards to friends -- is always worth paying attention to. Here is the complete THE LAND UNKNOWN via the Hairy Green Eyeball blog. It's a movie adaptation Dell comic book from 1957 and it's full of dinosaurs and helicopters and sweaty men and women in danger. It's also full of great composition, use of black spotting and fearless, clear drawing. In other words: typical great Toth!
THE STRANGE WORLD OF MR. MUM by Irving Philips
Strange things happen in THE STRANGE WORLD OF MR. MUM by Irving Philips. Mr. Mum himself tends to look on as things get odder and odder. Ger Apeldoorn, who shares some of the early 1960s panels, describes him as "a curious man in a weird world, who never gets involved, but only observes with ever growing amazement."
And with his large glasses, blank expression and floppy bow tie, he lived in this weird, wordless panel that was syndicated for 16 years (1958-74).
Joe Maneely
Ger Apeldoorn shares some Joe Maneely art from a short-lived Stan Lee-edited parody magazine (i.e. MAD magazine imitation) SNAFU. Maneely's ability to ape gag cartoonists is breathtaking.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Video: TINTIN Museums
A video tour and chat with Luc Mieuws, who has been collecting all things related to TINTIN for a dozen years. A fun tour and the amount of TINTIN collectibles is boggling. I forget how wonderful the "clean line" drawings of Hergé are to linger over. Within a minute, I was getting iterested in having a couple of the items that Luc has as well! Och! Thanks to Jogee for putting this up on YouTube.
The official TINTIN Museum is in Brussels. Below is a report from the BBC from July:
Related: Confused by the cult of TINTIN? You're not alone.
Also: that new TINTIN movie that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are readying for 2011.
Video: David Small: "From Crayons to Rembrandt"
Above: a capture from the video.
Below is a link to David Small, whose graphic novel, STITCHES, has been getting critical acclaim. He talks about loving to draw as a kid, trying to decide what he would do with his life, his favorite artists and his education.
He mentions Rembrandt. It wasn't until I visited the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam that I saw so many of Rembrandt's sketches with, as David says, loose, relaxed brush strokes. Rembrandt could have been a great graphic novelist!
From Crayons to Rembrandt | David Small | Big Think
What's the Deal With Those New Yorker Cartoons?
Above: a screen capture of the David Remnick video.
A site called Big Think has a 2 minute video of New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick titled What's the deal with New Yorker cartoons?
He talks about how hard it is to find young cartoonists to submit to the magazine and how hard in general it is for cartoonists to make a living.
He doesn't answer "What's the deal with those New Yorker cartoons?" or why acquiring young cartoonists is important to the magazine. But, he does acknowledge how hard it is to be a cartoonist -- in particular a gag cartoonist -- and how some people, for instance Bruce Eric Kaplan, have other ways of earning a living which help.
Me? I'm still working without a net.
Hat tip to Michael Maslin.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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