Spot the Seven Differences

Credit to the original artist. I first saw the above thanks to Eric Orchard.

CAPTAIN VIDEO #5

The Saved From the Paper Drive blog gives us a story from the "Famous Star of the Dumont Television Network" CAPTAIN VIDEO comic book. This is issue #5 from 1951, about 2 years into the show.

Artist Jay Shells: 'Metropolitan Etiquette Authority'

More here. This is all an art project, but, yeah, the signs should be for real!

Thanks to Alisa Harris for the link!

ZIGGY Creator Tom Wilson Sr. Dies at 80

Via Universal Uclick:

Tom Wilson Sr., creator of comics page and licensing icon Ziggy, died September 16, 2011, after a long illness. He was 80 years old.

Ziggy which celebrated 40 years in syndication in June 2011, continues to be produced by Wilson's son, Tom Wilson Jr., who has handled the day-to-day operation of the panel since 1987. Ziggy is distributed to newspapers worldwide by Universal Uclick, an Andrews McMeel Universal company.

"We are saddened at the passing of Tom Wilson, a visionary cartoonist and longtime friend," said John McMeel, chairman and president of Andrews McMeel Universal. "Tom leaves behind a wonderful legacy in Ziggy, a hard-luck comics page hero who serves as a reflection of Tom's endearing wit and optimism in the face of adversity. Our hearts are with the Wilson family during this time of loss."

"Tom Wilson had a unique gift for producing creations that stirred imaginations and touched people's lives," said Hugh Andrews, chief executive officer and president of Andrews McMeel Publishing. "It speaks volumes about Tom that Ziggy, a character he held very dear to his heart, has been a mainstay on the comics page for more than 40 years and continues to make new fans worldwide to this day. We join millions of fans around the world in mourning the loss of a truly exceptional innovator."

Tom Wilson was born August 1, 1931. For more than 35 years, he served as a creative director at American Greetings, where he was responsible for the development of many breakthrough card lines. Wilson first published Ziggy in the 1969 cartoon collection When You're not Around. The Ziggy comic panel, syndicated by Universal Uclick (formerly Universal Press Syndicate), launched in 15 newspapers in June 1971.  It now appears in more than 500 daily and Sunday newspapers and has been featured in best-selling books, calendars and greeting cards.

Throughout his career, Wilson demonstrated a remarkable ability to anticipate future trends in the marketplace. A veteran of the licensing business, Wilson headed up the creative team that developed such character licensing blockbusters as Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears.

In 1987, Wilson passed the Ziggy torch to his son, Tom Wilson Jr., after the younger Wilson had served as an assistant on the strip for many years.

Wilson was a talented painter, with works appearing in exhibitions throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Society of Illustrations annual show in New York. He also made his mark in animation with the Emmy Award-winning special, "Ziggy's Gift," which was re-released on video in 2005.

Tom Wilson is survived by his wife Carol, son Tom Wilson Jr, and daughters Ava and Julie.

Hat tip to Corey Pandolph.

MAUS Rejection Letter

The quote below is from an early 1980s rejection letter for MAUS by Art Spiegelman. It was reprinted in this month's Atlantic Magazine. (This piece is not online so far as I can tell, so to read more you would have to buy the paper copy):

"The contrast between the seriousness of the subject and the apparent frivolity that 'a cartoon with Jews as mice and Nazis as cats' inspires is so great I had in several cases to talk for five minutes just to convince someone to even read the book. I believe to overcome this you would have to enlist the support of well-respected individuals in many fields — get strong quotes and endorsements from a variety of people (not 'cartoon people')."

The above rejection letter is just one tiny part of METAMAUS, a new book full of background documents about the Pulitzer Prize winning 1983 graphic novel, plus a DVD with a digital version of the 2 volume book as well as the original audio recordings Mr. Spiegelman made with his father. The 300 page hardcover is scheduled to be published next month by Pantheon.

Mike Lynch Cartoons in October 2011 READER'S DIGEST

I have a couple of cartoons in the October edition of READER'S DIGEST.. It's their humor special. I'm honored to be in there a couple of times, along with other great cartoonists and friends. Here's the roster of great cartoonists all packed in this one issue:

• Mark Anderson
  
• Daniel Beyer
  
• Marty Bucella
  
• John Caldwell
  
• Dave Carpenter
  
• Roy Delgado
  
• Nick Downes
  
• Ralph Hagen
  
• Mark Heath
  
• Glen LeLievre
  
• Mike Lynch
  
• Rina Piccolo
  
• Dan Reynolds
  
• Harley Schwadron
  
• P.C. Vey
  
• Kim Warp
  
• Westmach (Elizabeth Westley and Steven Mach)

THE MAD FOLD-IN COLLECTION

From Chronicle Books comes a four volume set of all of Al Jaffee's MAD Magazine Fold-Ins titled THE MAD FOLD-IN COLLECTION 1964-2010.



Now remember to buy two sets -- one for keeping in mint condition and the other to fold fold fold!

Big hat tip to Andrew Farago!

On TCM Tonight: William Hartnell in CARRY ON SERGEANT

A pre-DOCTOR WHO William Hartnell (he's the sergeant; that's him with the big head yelling the title in the above poster) stars in CARRY ON SERGEANT (1959) on Turner Classic Movies tonight at 8pm EST.

Here's the trailer:



It's the first of the "CARRY ON" series of movies, which would continue through the 1970s. More about all this at the Taste Me You Will See blog, which is where I nicked the clip below from:



Buy CARRY ON SERGEANT.

The Garden As of Mid-September 2011

 

 

Related:
The Garden As of September 1, 2011
The Garden As of Mid-August 2011

The Garden As of August 1, 2011

The Garden As of Mid-July 2011
The Garden As of July 1, 2011
The Garden As of Mid-June 2011
The Garden As of June 1, 2011
The Garden As of May 1, 2011

The Garden As of September 1, 2011

Related:
The Garden As of Mid-August 2011
The Garden As of August 1, 2011

The Garden As of Mid-July 2011
The Garden As of July 1, 2011
The Garden As of Mid-June 2011
The Garden As of June 1, 2011
The Garden As of May 1, 2011

The Garden As of Mid-August 2011

 

Related:
The Garden As of August 1, 2011
The Garden As of Mid-July 2011
The Garden As of July 1, 2011
The Garden As of Mid-June 2011
The Garden As of June 1, 2011
The Garden As of May 1, 2011

Video: Boston Globe Editorial Cartoonist Dan Wasserman

Video: Marcus Hamilton DENNIS THE MENACE

Bill Woodman Cartoons

I want to tell you a bit about Bill Woodman, who is one of my favorite cartoonists. The best introduction to Bill is to show one of my favorite cartoons. I like a lot of his cartoons. They are sketchy, loose and very expressive.

Above: The man, impatiently looking at his watch, as his self-obsessed dog tries on a variety of hats is funny. What puts it over the top for me -- what made me love this cartoon -- was the smile of the dog. It's just a short line -- but very expressive. The dog is delighted with his hats and this is a fun decision.


Bill is a Mainer, which means he was born in Maine. After a stint in the navy, he went to New York City. From his bio:

Upon discharge, he took the next bus to New York, knowing that that was the place to start his cartooning career. He says he didn't know how bad he was so he began submitting his work.

He worked for years in New York City, drawing cartoons and children's books. He is still working, and has returned to Maine. Bill just had a couple of cartoons in recent issues of Playboy. Cartoonists never retire.

I can attest to the above winds along Casco Bay, where John Klossner and I have visited Bill for lunch a couple times.

Above: click to supersize this one. A great gag.


Above: there used to be days like this in NYC, but milder winters have been the norm in recent years.


The amazing thing about those subway girders is that, yes, in real life, you COULD put shelves in them.

I hope that Bill doesn't mind me posting just a few cartoons from his site Bill Woodman Art. Take a look at some of his paintings as well. A multi-talent, this guy is.

EDIT: The above is from a 2008 blog entry. Today., I'm off to Maine early to go visit Bill, along with John Klossner. There will be much cartoon shop talk. It will be a good day.

Related: Sam Gross: 27,592 Cartoons and Counting

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU edited by Charles Preston

Here are a few cartoons from the book HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU edited and copyright 1964 by Charles Preston, with a few comments from me. (I've contributed gag cartoons to WSJ for 10 years myself -- and that's where these gag cartoon panels originally appeared.)

 

Above: cartoonist Brad "Marmaduke" Anderson gives us these great sweeping stokes of ink. I like his style. Very striking.

Scott Taber was born in Illinois, but by the 1950s, this prolific gag cartoonist was living in Northport, NY, a Long Island Railroad commute away from the NYC gag cartoon markets. Daughter Joan Taber writes a wonderful blog "Family Stories." Take a look at this one about her father meeting George Booth. 

Bo Brown deserves to be better remembered.  "Over 33,000 cartoons published in over 600 publications," he declare in his NCS bio.

I liked Carl Thomas' cartoon for the very reason that it still works today. And that's a sad state of affairs.

Doris Matthews cartoons graced The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal. No further information on her or her work is available online -- except to say that she was one of the few WSJ female cartoonist regulars.

Herbert Goldberg was a New Yorker regular for 26 years. His cartoon above, for the WSJ, is an evergreen if ever there was one.

I love Mort Temes' cartoon above. This woman is so BAD. I really laughed out loud. Loved it.



Yup. Just change "my crossword puzzle" to "updating my Facebook" and this Bob Weber cartoon would work just fine.  Oh, and no smoking in the office these days, natch! BTW, Bob's long-running King Features strip MOOSE has been around for over a quarter century.

Sid Harris, like Bob Weber, is still cartooning. Sid is producing gag cartoons, as well as painting in his New Haven, CT studio.

 Above: the prolific Al Johns with a great gag. Uh ... can anyone translate?

Video: Gag Cartoonist Doug Sneyd

Video: Staples Commmercial "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

I miss this 15 year old commercial that would run in the fall for Staples . . . .



Hat tip: Amanda H!

Stephen Bissette: “Draw My Graphic Novel! Storyboard My Movie!”

Stephen Bissette writes about the reality of drawing a graphic novel in his “Draw My Graphic Novel! Storyboard My Movie!” blog entry. If you ant to read the unvarnished truth from a comics pro about the time and effort it takes to create a graphic novel, take a look.

Stephen is responding to the many queries he gets, asking for him to work for free on projects. (Now, to be fair, one project he mentions is for a contest -- so, if he wins the contest he gets some money.)  A lot of the people who approach him are 100% convinced that they have a popular and lucrative success ala WIMPY KID and HARRY POTTER. That's just fine and good, but as he points out:

"How do I eat/pay rent/mortgage while dedicating my life to this venture"

And Mr. Bissette talks about the difference between time spent writing and time spent drawing the thing:

For instance, when John Totleben and I were doing Swamp Thing, it was all we had time for. Alan Moore finished a script for Swamp Thing, for the most part, in one week; that gave him three weeks per month to do, oh, Watchmen, V For Vendetta, various one-shots and back-up stories, etc., and build a formidable career during three-four years in which John and I could only do Swamp Thing.

Few writers understand or want to understand (much less concede) that point.

There's also the issue of who owns it.

Recently, an ongoing collaboration in progress is about to terminate because the writer is now demanding, mid-way, a higher percentage of page rate and ownership (as any good attorney would advise)—but, hey, it’s a two-edged sword. Without an artist, you don’t have a comic page to publish.

I agree: it's important to have all of that legal stuff hammered out before things begin. And Stephen is right about the enormous time disparity between writing and drawing.This is some good, grounded advice from the trenches. Bullseye!

Please go read it all here. 

A big thank you to S.R. Bissette for writing this. I've read it twice and its timing could not be better.

Hat tip to Eric Orchard!

Above image from the 1985 issue of SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #34, art by S. Bissette via CBR.

Happy 45th Anniversary STAR TREK

45 years ago today, STAR TREK "The Old Show," premiered on NBC in color. The first episode aired was "The Man Trap," which was about a salt vampire and a lost love of McCoy's. It was not the first one filmed, but the network thought it was a strong pick since it since it had a monster in it.

The rest of it is history. And here's some clips from a whole buncha TREK titled "STAR TREK Eternal" in honor of the show's 30th anniversary way back in 1996. It was posted by Videoholic90sA:



The music is by John Williams. It's the score from, of all things, his soundtrack for the NIXON motion picture.

"We're Almost Outta Marshmallows. What Else Is There to Eat?"

Have a great holiday, everyone! I'll see you on or after September 8th!