Dark Horse Publishing Profile in NY Times

[Concrete is TM & © Paul Chadwick, 1986-2006. Dark Horse, Legend, Maverick are TM & © Dark Horse Comics.]

SIN CITY, HELLBOY, CONCRETE are all imprints that began at Dark Horse Publishing, created by Mike Richardson, 20 years ago. George Gene Gustines writes the story of the company, and its founder's philosophy in today's NY Times.

“We built our publishing platform around creators’ rights,” Mr. Richardson said. “Our pitch was, ‘We’ll match the rights that you get from other companies and we’ll let you own the work.’ ”

I remember reading the CONCRETE story that is reprinted along with the article. I was into the indy comics scene 20 years ago, and would buy comics weekly at a comic book store on West 86th Street. Itwas only a block away from my then "real job." The shop is now long gone. I was struck by the mood and pace of Paul Chadwick's CONCRETE, and how beautiful the drawing was. I became a regular buyer of CONCRETE for a time.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been handed 4 contracts (2 for magazine cartoons, 2 for books). It's great to get work in the competitive business of cartooning, but the contracts want all rights. I won't be selling all rights. (I routinely cross out the sections of the contracts that I don't agree with.)

It's refreshing to see a company that extends rights to its creators be successful.

Jack Williamson Passes Away

The man considered by many the “Dean of Science Fiction” — Jack Williamson — died Friday November 10, 2006, at his home in Portales, New Mexico. He was 98.

Links at The Albuquerque Tribune here and the Portales News-Tribune here.

Samson

Here is Samson. He is a 6 month old rescued cat. The nice people at Slope Street Cats found him. He was abandoned in a vacant lot. Since then, he's been taken to the vet, been given his shots and received lots of love from his foster mom.

After filling out the paperwork, and having our references checked and writing a check to Slope Street Cats, Samson was officially approved as our pet.

His foster mom, and the woman who found him, brought him over last night, and

S L O W L Y ,

our big orange cat Rufus ("Roo" for short") and Samson are making friends.

Scott Adams on Suffering Fools

Am I being disloyal to DILBERT if I think today's Scott Adams blog, titled Blame Room Service, is funnier than his DILBERT comic strip? Well, it is today.

(Left: a photo of Scott Adams from the Keynote Speakers, Inc. Web site which informs me that Mr. Adams speaker fee is "$40,001 and up." Yeah, "$40,001." Not $40,000. Not $39,999. It's $40,001 -- AND UP (emphasis mine) -- darn it! Go figure!)

Hat tip to Dirk Deppey over at Journalista!

Rejected by The New Yorker

(Above, one of my thousands of rejected New Yorker submissions. This was later published.)

Like Roy Delgado (see yesterday's post), I've submitting cartoons to the NYer mag for years. First by mail, and in the last 5 years, in person. Getting rejected in person is not for the weak! Mail is better! I try not to dwell on it. Besides, if they ever bought, it might mean one less Sam Gross or Gahan Wilson or Ziegler cartoon.

Matt Diffee celebrates rejection in his REJECTION COLLECTION book:

"I CONSIDER MYSELF a pretty lucky guy. I have a cartoon in the New Yorker almost every week. I couldn't be happier about that, except for the small nagging fact that I also have, every week, about nine cartoons that don't appear in the magazine. Every silver lining has a cloud. "

More here.

In addition to being rejected by the NYer mag, I was rejected by the REJECTION COLLECTION book. I wrote about that here.

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

In 174 days, SPIDER-MAN 3 opens. Last night, a new trailer for the movie was on TV. Publishers Weekly's THE BEAT has posted it. I'm sure it's all over the Web by now, and that was where I first saw it this AM.

Gag Cartoon Rejection and Persistence

Something I meant to mention in my October 20, 2006 entry:

Cartoonist Roy Delgado told me he's going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. I laughed, but he pointed out that he's been submitting to the New Yorker since 1992. "That's 19,000 cartoons -- all rejected!"

He really has been in touch with the Guinness editors, and is serious about becoming the most rejected cartoonist. Which, really, he is not -- since a lot of those cartoons that are rejected by the New Yorker magazine do get sold to other major markets like Barron's, Reader's Digest, etc.

I guess the real question is: Why not quit? I mean, if you've been trying to scale a cartoony Everest for 14 years, without the payoff of actually summiting -- then why oh why keep trying?

A successful cartoonist is not necessarily smart, but he/she is persistent.

"I WILL be published in the New Yorker," states Roy.

(Above cartoon by Mike Lynch, rejected by New Yorker, bought by Harvard Business Review.)

Trailer for "CRAFTSMEN OF HUMOUR," a New Spanish Cartoonists Documentary

Director David Orejas has a documentary on these cartoonists, all of whom are unknown to me. I feel so provincial. I want to see this documentary!

"People who are the least to stand humour pretend to be really self-confident people. But in fact, they're insecure people." - Maxima

Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Tales of Two Cities

From today's NY Times.

Sempé is a master cartoonist.

National Lampoon Favorite Cartoons of the 21st Century

This is the window of Coliseum Books on 42nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. I'm posting this to show that the National Lampoon cartoon book is out (second row, 4th from the left; between the 1,000 COVERS OF THE ROLLING STONE book and Bob Newhart's autobio).

I wrote about the book, and why I'm not in it on August 4th here. Since then, I've talked to a couple of other pro cartoonists who also declined to participate due to the conditions of the contract.

Regardless, congratulations to my friends and colleagues whose work appears in the book. And, all of you, deserve better than the terms you got.

Spin the Charts Cartoon

Sometimes people get your cartoon and they laugh. Sometimes people look at your cartoon and they scratch their head.

And sometimes people look at your cartoon and they find something horrible wrong about it.

Here's a cartoon that was published last week. I got a couple of emails about it the day it appeared.

One fellow -- actually the first of many to catch the mistake that I had unwittingly made in the cartoon noted that the cartoon:

" ... stated that if they rotate the charts 180 degrees that
would allow them to get out by 5 o'clock. If you rotate the charts 180
degrees they would look the same. You need to rotate them 90 degrees
counter clockwise in order make them look like they are increasing.

"I don't know why I decided to take the time to send you this note but for
some reason I did.

"Let me know if I am the only person that is so anal to have pointed this
out to you."

I wrote back:

"OK, you caught me.

"Looks like you are a savvy reader. Perhaps executives can use this
cartoon as a screening tool for potential management."

Actually, I was withholding the truth. I thought the cartoon was valid.

Like any good son, I went to my Dad for an explanation. He replied:

"Draw a slanting line on a scrap of paper and rotate it!"

After finally doing this, I had my "Aha!" moment.

My thanks to all the readers who wrote in, and for my Dad, the PhD, for pointing out how wrong the idea behind the cartoon was. The laugh, and the egg on my face, is on me.

Tribbles and Effects

Above, a 1967 special effects shot from the original TRIBBLES episode.


Above, the STAR TREK Remastered shot from 2006.

Below are several FX reels from any version of STAR TREK containing tribbles.

• STAR TREK The Original Series: THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES from 1967
• STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9: TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-ATIONS from 1997
• STAR TREK Remastered: THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES from 2006

YouTube has, for now, the original TRIBBLES episode, sliced into several bits:

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES Part 1

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES Part 2

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES Part 3

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES Part 4

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES Part 5

Star Trek: "The Trouble With Tribbles" TOS FX Reel

An effects reel from the original 1967 Desilu/Paramount STAR TREK series (no sound). These are the original effects.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Trials and Tribble-ations" Paramount FX Reel

An effects reel for the 1997 ST:DS9 Paramount TV series. In this episode, the DS9 crew visits The Original Series' most famous episode.

Star Trek: "The Trouble With Tribbles" Remastered FX Reel

An effects reel from the 2006 remastered CBS/Paramount STAR TREK series (no sound). This was just aired this past weekend.

Andertoons on PSP

Mark says:

Between iPods and PSPs and whatever the Zune ends up turning out like, this sort of instant personal media bodes well for cartoonists.

-----------

Yeah, back at a July fundraising event at Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy, I remember saying jokingly to Guy Gilchrist himself (who draws the NANCY comic strip) that single-panel cartoonists are the future. Who has time to read THREE WHOLE PANELS? Ha ha ha!

He pretended to lunge at me, murderously. At least, I think he was pretending. Veteran comic book illustrator Frank McLaughlin held him back.

But, really, with slow download time and, let's face it -- the whole country has ADD -- the gag panel, even with the slow download, gives pretty much instant comedic gratification!

OK, I gotta go an strike a blow for liberty now ...

Here's the League of Women Voters site for anyone who has questions about voting.

Mike Lynch Cartoon in November 11, 2006 Brandweek

This cartoon -- really an editorial comment on home schooling -- will appear in the November 11, 2006 issue of Brandweek. Brandweek is the sister publication of Adweek.

I'll be honest, I haven't sold to Brandweek recently. I'd been worried.

Brandweek sent me a mass e-mail a couple of months ago saying "electronic submissions only." Until then, I'd sent submissions via the USPS.

So, every month for the past 3 or 4 months, I sent on maybe 10-15 cartoons via e-mail to Brandweek. Some of the cartoons were advertising or business related. Sensible cartoons that would be suitable for the publication. Some were, what I call, the "wrong" cartoons. Like, this cartoon, which has nothing to do with brands or ads made the cut. I'm not sure why, but sometimes cartoons that I don't think will sell, do sell. Which shows you how much I know!

And it was a relief, since I never knew if they were actually clicking on my e-mail submissions and looking opening up any of my JPEG cartoon submissions. At least with a paper submission, I'd get my SASE returned.

But, yeah, to get back to the idea of "wrong" cartoon submissions. I always send along one or two cartoons that I think are funny, but maybe they're off the mark for that market. I always figure that the cartoon editor is looking at images like this all day:

MAN BEHIND DESK
BOARD ROOM MEETING
JOB INTERVIEW
WOMAN BEHIND DESK
ETC.

So, when you kick in some kids in a flat, snowy suburban field (I was thinking of my winters in Lawrence, KS, back in the 1970s), you have an image that, I hope, arrests the dozy editor.

I never expected this cartoon to sell. It's critical of home schooling. I think it's fine to be critical of home schooling. Heck, we're all critical of public and private schooling, why not home as well. I always worried that with home schooling, the kid never learns how to get along with other kids. But at least with home schooling, you can make the claim the kid does in the cartoon.

Fried Pizza at The Atlantic Chip Shop

Today's the day of the NYC Marathon. So, while we may contemplate those amazing people who run, and the incredible shape they keep their bodies in -- here's something from the dark side,from the anti-health and fitness world: fried pizza at The Atlantic Chip Shop.

I have never been to the Shop, even though it's mere blocks from my home. I want to. The fact that they "fry anything" scares me. But fried pizza scares me in a good way. Honestly, this rates right up there with the moment that chocolate and peanut butter came together: too much temptation! Arrgh! I don't need to know about it.

There's a nice video at the link where the owner of the place blames it all on the "crazy Scots."

Didja ever notice the difference between "fried" and "friend" is just one little letter? Don't be fooled!

I gotta go and take a healthful walk now. (ANd, NO, I'm not going to walk toward the Chip Shop.) Just thinking about this is going to clog up an artery.

Hat tip pitu.

Tenacious D: Time Fixers

Here's the TENACIOUS D min-move, available free on iTunes or at their official TD site or on YouTube. I knew very little about what a TENACIOUS D was, but after this 3 minute and 39 second segment, I gotta say I laughed as much as I did at Chad Vader.

The Time Goblin rules, dude!

The Upside Down Me Maze in Real Life

Life imitates art. On page 24 of Trade Loeffler's ZIP & LI'L BIT: THE UPSIDE DOWN ME, he draws a box that can magically unfold into a long, winding maze. It's a fun sequence, and typical of his whimsical inventions in this unfolding (no pun intended) story.


And today I noticed over at Boing Boing that someone has put together a real box maze that is laid out in 2 rooms and a hallway. Love this descrip:

Fog machine. Completely fills maze with fog, making it very very difficult to navigate with a single glow stick.

Hee hee! Fun stuff!.