The Magic Whistle

Lick It and Keep It ratings

2012-01-27T00:15:00.001-05:00

Calvin and the Colonel, 4 of 4

2012-01-26T00:08:00.005-05:00

Concluded from Monday.

I had a video clip, but I guess the poster wouldn't let me embed it. Look up 'Calvin and the Colonel' on YouTube.

Scoop Scuttle

2012-01-24T23:46:00.001-05:00

This is from Daredevil Comics #18, August 1943

From Ibis the Invincible #5, Fall 1946

From Ibis #6, Spring 1948. It's from the British edition, which is why it's two colors.

Lick It and Keep It

2012-01-24T10:08:00.001-05:00

Calvin and the Colonel, 3 of 4

2012-01-23T00:12:00.000-05:00

Continued from last Thursday.

concluded on Thursday

Crimestoppers' Club

2012-01-22T00:06:00.006-05:00

I'm doing another reading/performance this Tuesday for you New York City people, hosted by Michael Kupperman and Kate Beaton, also featuring Matt Koff, Dyna Moe, Lisa Hanawalt, Geoff Lapid, and Anthony Wilson. Many of the cartoons I've put here acted out live. Information is on the flier below.

Esquire Cartoon Album, pages 44-49 I think

2012-01-21T00:06:00.000-05:00

Ty Mahon

Lawrence Lariar

Abner Dean

Bill O'Malley

E. Simms Campbell

Ty Mahon

Gardner Rea

Jaro Fabry

Can't make out the signature here

George Lichty

Raeburn VanBuren

E. Simms Campbell

Sit on It

2012-01-20T00:23:00.001-05:00

Calvin and the Colonel, 2 of 4

2012-01-19T00:04:00.002-05:00

continued from Monday

continued on Monday.

Mystic Moot and His Magic Snoot

2012-01-18T00:31:00.001-05:00

I will be posting more foreign editions of MAD on Wednesdays, but since I plan these things so far in advance, I didn't get copies in time, so for the next couple weeks here are some Basil Wolverton fillers that were in various comics in the 1940's

First up is a strip from Fawcett's Comic Comics #6 in September, 1946.

From Comic Comics #7 in October, 1946

From Horse Feathers Comics #1, November 1947

Too Many Fingers

2012-01-17T00:30:00.000-05:00

Calvin and the Colonel, 1 of 4

2012-01-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

This was the last issue of Dell's Four Color Comics series. Calvin and the Colonel was basically the same show as Amos 'n' Andy but with animals so as to not get backlash.

Continued on Thursday

Esquire Cartoon Album, part 3 or 4- I forget

2012-01-14T00:27:00.000-05:00

Raeburn Van Buren

Robert Holley

Barbara Shermund

Gregory d'Alessio

Unknown

Irving Phillips

Henry Boltinoff

Gardner Rea

Arthur Getz

Stanley Stamaty

Ty Mahon

Gardner Rea

Cat Squad

2012-01-13T01:12:00.000-05:00

Smokey Stover, 4 of 4

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

concluded from Monday.

Mexico MAD

2012-01-11T00:11:00.003-05:00

Once again here's an example of another foreign MAD, this time issue 9 from the Mexican edition in 1979. Again, thanks to Gabriel Corbera for providing me with information. I've asked him to provide me with an edition from Spain, which might be used in a future post.

Unlike the American things I post from my own collection, I've had to rely on contacts in other countries for these, or at least point me in the right direction, and so far I've been successful.

This version has mostly American content as well, like this one that uses the cover from March 1979, #205. The inside front and back covers are a pull-out poster of the cover.

from parody of Grease, which they call Fat

The Lighter Side of Weekends from #156, January 1973

Don Martin's sound effects would translate into any language.

They must have made up their own dialog in order for it to rhyme when they translated MAD's Rhyming Guide to Pro Football from #148, January 1972

When I first saw this, I thought it was a translation of the Battlestar Galactica parody but I see this was a show native to this country or this is a translation from another foreign MAD

The Small Businessman from #151, June 1972. It must have been easy to translate Sergio Aragones since his work didn't have words.

The back cover of #206, April 1979

I'm still trying to find versions from Greece, Brazil, South Africa, Iceland, Puerto Rico, China, Denmark, Finland, India, Turkey, and France. Preferably Gaines era since that's probably the version people (or at least me) are most familiar with. If you have information or leads, let me know at mwhistle@aol.com.

Movin' In

2012-01-10T00:03:00.001-05:00

Smokey Stover, 3 of 4

2012-01-09T01:17:00.000-05:00

continued from last Thursday.

Concluded this Thursday.

Esquire Cartoon Album further

2012-01-07T00:33:00.000-05:00

Continuing as I do each Saturday scanning pages from the Esquire Cartoon Album

Barney Tobey

Gregory D'Alessio

Dorothy McKay

Artist Unknown

Syd Hoff

Grgory D'Alessio

Roland Coe

John Pierotti

???

Adolph Schus

Gardner Rea

Raeburn Van Buren

also Raeburn Van Buren

Couldn't decide either?

2012-01-06T00:07:00.001-05:00

Smokey Stover, 2 of 4

2012-01-05T00:02:00.001-05:00

continued next Monday

Argentina MAD

2012-01-04T00:06:00.006-05:00

There's a foreign version of MAD in almost every country now, 25 editions at last count, and I plan to post them when I can get access to them. This one in particular is mostly foreign translations from the existing American MAD. The amount of original material varies from country to country, the magazine is mostly a humor magazine with access to the American MAD's archives, sometimes when they have original material, it's in that style.

Here is the version from Argentina, issue 42 in 1980.

Thanks to Gabriel Corbera for letting me know about this. Someone else scanned it but I couldn't make out exactly who because of the language barrier.

This is from their parody of Being There in issue 218, October 1980, which translates to From the Garden. Their version is called From the Channel

Apparently, Maradona was a star soccer player at the time. This article is called If Maradona Didn't Exist

The Lighter Side of Inadequacy from #209, October 1979

The Diplomat from MAD Special #1

Great Moments in Bad Timing, from #187, December 1976, which translates here to Frustrated Desires

The parody of Lou Grant from #205, March 1979. They call it Lou Goose.

A subscription ad from #187. Presumably, these celebrities would be recognized there as well. Ironically, though this was drawn more than 35 years ago, every one of them is still alive. Everyone I recognize, that is. I'm not sure who is behind Wilt Chamberlain or Lee Majors.

Kool-Aid Headquarters

2012-01-03T00:31:00.000-05:00

I'm not in the habit of using writers unless someone comes up with something good like in this case.

Smokey Stover, 1 of 4

2012-01-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

I've posted Smokey Stover before. This is different since it wasn't done by Bill Holman. It's from issue 730 of Dell's Four-Color Comics in 1958. The art was by some Dell staffer who mimicked many of the popular comics of the time.

Happy 2012

2012-01-01T02:14:00.001-05:00

I have a very active social life, if that includes my computer.

And let us not forget everyone whose ass fell off in 2011.

There's this new book that claims Nixon was gay. I could have told them that 10 years ago.

January Schedule

2012-01-01T02:13:00.001-05:00

S 1/1-Happy New Year

M 1/2-Smokey Stover, 1 of 4
T 1/3-Magic Whistle Cartoon
W 1/4-Argentina MAD
T 1/5- Smokey Stover, 2 of 4
F 1/6-Magic Whistle Cartoon
S 1/7-Esquire Cartoon Album

M 1/9-Smokey Stover, 3 of 4
T 1/10-Magic Whistle Cartoon
W 1/11-Mexico MAD
T 1/12-Smokey Stover, 4 of 4
F 1/13-Magic Whistle Cartoon
S 1/14-Esquire Cartoon Album

M 1/16-Calvin and the Colonel, 1 of 4
T 1/17-Magic Whistle Cartoon
W 1/18-Mystic Moot and His Magic Snoot
T 1/19-Calvin and the Colonel, 2 of 4
F 1/20-Magic Whistle Cartoon
S 1/21-Esquire Cartoon Album

M 1/23-Calvin and the Colonel, 3 of 4
T 1/24-Magic Whistle Cartoon
W 1/25-Mystic Moot
T 1/26-Calvin and the Colonel, 4 of 4
F 1/27-Magic Whistle Cartoon
S 1/28-Esquire Cartoon Album

M 1/30-Sick #40, 1 of 4
T 1/31-Magic Whistle Cartoon

The Esquire Cartoon Album IV

2011-12-31T00:03:00.003-05:00

Here's more from the book I bought a while ago. It collects the best cartoons from the first 25 years of the magazine

Gilbert Bundy

George Lichty

Syd Hoff

I couldn't make out the signature here.

Dorothy McKay

Arnold Spilka

Presumably, this is the same William Pachner.

E. Simms Campbell

Barbara Shermund

Irwin Caplan

Unsigned

Ty Mahon

William Reinecke

What shall I wear today?

2011-12-30T00:36:00.001-05:00

Like Nobody's Bizness Funnies, 4 of 4

2011-12-29T00:02:00.000-05:00

Recent Sketchbook Pages

2011-12-28T00:04:00.001-05:00

I posted these on various social networks and here they are for you. They're all from 2010 and 2011. I put up high school and college ones a while ago. I haven't changed much since then.

Hat required

2011-12-27T00:02:00.000-05:00

My obligatory ass/ fart cartoon for 2011.

Like Nobody's Bizness Funnies, 3 of 4

2011-12-26T00:03:00.001-05:00

Esquire Cartoon Album, pages 21-25

2011-12-24T00:48:00.003-05:00

Here are more from their 25th anniversary cartoon album, published in 1957

As the book says of him, “SYD HOFF's drawings have appeared in Esquire since the third issue, February 1934. He was born in New York, attended the National Academy of Design, studying fine art. 'Since magazines began buying my cartoons', he says, 'I stuck with it. He lives in Miami Beach, Florida”

George Lichty

Frank Beaven

Irving Phillips

Also in the book: “E. SIMMS CAMPBELL has been Esquire's most prolific creator of cartoons, and has never missed an issue. He attended University of Chicago and Chicago Art Institute, holds honorary degrees from two other universities, is a charter member of the National Cartoonists Society, has illustrated a dozen books and written numerous articles on jazz.”

Richard Taylor

Jay Irving

Henry Boltinoff

Tony Barlow

Frank Beaven

Syd Hoff

Barbara Shermund

Dorothy McKay, whose bio I transcribed last week.

Lamps Gone Wild

2011-12-23T00:14:00.000-05:00

Like Nobody's Bizness Funnies, 2 of 4

2011-12-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

Things I invented

2011-12-21T00:09:00.001-05:00

The third page is missing because I forgot to scan it when I was putting together these minicomics and now I don't have them anymore. You don't need to see this to make sense of the whole thing, though.

I re-used this joke in Magic Whistle

Dog intervention

2011-12-20T00:45:00.003-05:00

Like Nobody's Bizness Funnies, 1 of 4

2011-12-19T01:11:00.001-05:00

George Hansen is a friend on Facebook, and I tried a couple months ago to contact him for an interview, but never heard back from him. From what I know, he was born in 1951 and lives in Chicago. In the 1970's he ran Adam's Apple Distribution Company, which published this comic as well as Choice Meats, Judy Tunafish, Let's Not and Say We Did Funnies, as well as other underground comics in the early 70's. Right now he concentrates more on his music, and runs the business Bloody Murder Records.

There's plenty of information about cartoonists like Robert Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, and many of the underground pioneers, but George Hansen has fallen through the cracks of underground history. If his birthdate is correct, he was obviously very young when he did these comics. This particular book seems very influenced by Crumb and Moscoso, particularly Ultra Super Modernistic Comics and the non-narrative montages of Griffin and Moscoso in the early Zap Comix.

I got this comic and some of Hansen's other comics “new” sometime in the early 90's even though it came out in 1972. There were many stickers over each other that showed the distributor changed the price several times to adjust to the inflation of other underground comics.

Nancy Meets Garfield

2011-12-18T00:36:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd post this before SOPA is passed and allows the federal government to enforce United Features Syndicate's copyright and shut down Google.

It's from the upcoming SUSPECT DEVICE which features different cartoonists doing strips that begins with a panel from Nancy and ends with a panel from Garfield. It will be in black and white but here's the color version.

Esquire Cartoon Album, part deux

2011-12-17T00:09:00.002-05:00

Here are more cartoons from 1957's Esquire Cartoon Album

These two are by Irving Phillips

André François

Barbara Shermund

It doesn't mention Esquire, but I think this is the same Ty Mahon this links to.

Another cartoonist better known for his fine arts background, Everett Shinn.

I can't find any reference at all to Alex Young.

Ty Mahon again.

Dorothy McKay. According to this book:

“DOROTHY McKAY's cartoons, covers and illustrations appeared regularly in the old Life, College Humor, New Yorker, Ballyhoo and Forum until, she says, 'Esquire began to corral my time—from the second issue on.' She grew up in San Francisco, where she studied at the California School of Fine Arts until she moved to New York.

I don't know who did this. I suppose I could use process of elimination of the list on the back flap if I had the time.

Gilbert Bundy

Dorothy McKay again. It's ironic that a magazine meant for men had more female cartoonists than other magazine at the time.

When I can't find information online about a person, I consult the 1980 volume World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, and the biography of Paul Webb is right here

Trumpet Lessons

2011-12-16T00:09:00.003-05:00

If anyone doubts the veracity of this cartoon, since different parts of the country have a different idea of what "take" music is remember it can be a trumpet or a trombone, three notes or four.

Deputy Dawg, 4 of 4

2011-12-15T00:29:00.001-05:00

World of Friends

2011-12-14T00:42:00.000-05:00

Self-trepanation

2011-12-13T00:12:00.000-05:00

Deputy Dawg, 3 of 4

2011-12-12T00:31:00.001-05:00

Comics: What's Up With That?

2011-12-11T00:09:00.006-05:00

Here's my anti-comics manifesto, which it turns out is actually not one.

I wrote this thing a while ago and it seems to have gotten a response. It's one of my many rants about comics which includes a lot of what I've said here.

So I just did this convention. The people who organize it are great and it's always good to see old friends again, see what's new in the world of comics, and have conversations more than 140 letters. It wasn't like most comic conventions that smell like fast food full of guys without social skills, and the pageantry of conventions you always see on TV was thankfully absent. I'd do it again in a second.

BUT (you were waiting for that, weren't you? The word that negates everything you just said. Instead I'll surprise everyone by saying...)

THAT SAID, there must be more than seeing the same 200 people for the past 15 years. There has been some new talent and new fans in the intervening years, but it's few and far between. For the most part, everyone in comics I know now was in the twentieth century as well. It starts out like a fraternity hazing then eventually gets to be like Groundhog Day. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the company and often the work of all these 200 people, but it seems so limited, not branching out, too much of a ceiling. Someone just said “You can't be responsible for the scene. Just keep doing what you do.” That's completely true, though doing what you do can sometimes be frustrating in a world where the audience doesn't change or expand, and it won't get any bigger than it's been.

Most people think of comics as heroic fantasy for teenage males. That is the bulk of the product. There's also another side, kind of the equivalent of independent cinema. I find that too to be similarly marginalized in its own way. While I like mopey comics about leaves falling as much as the next guy, I still find it stifling regarding my own status as a cartoonist.

I do silly surreal non-sequitur humor. Granted, the death of the periodical comic has kept me out of the public eye and I'm not as prolific as I once was, but I never left. People like what I do and it means a lot to me when someone tells me how it influenced their life. When someone says they've shown my work to other people. It has sometimes opened doors many of my peers are jealous of. I can see how it can be insulting, though, to someone who spends months working on a graphic novel and it gets the same attention as something I've spent three minutes on, sometimes directly in ink. It's not something in anyone's top ten canon when they think of comics, though.

I'll admit it, I can't draw for shit. What I do relies more on sense of humor and intellect and not skills. It's still legible. Nobody has ever said they can't tell what something is, only that it's not drawn as well as it could be. That doesn't matter to the general public, though. Walking out in the street, I see dozens of hipsters and every one of them would appreciate my cartoons if they knew they existed. No offense, but more so than something fully rendered with more substance. There are those like Chris Ware, Seth, and Daniel Clowes, all exemplary cartoonists I envy, but having a fine art and literary aesthetic I don't think would resonate with the general public. I find more of an affinity with people like Michael Kupperman, Tony Millionaire, and Johnny Ryan, all of whom are better than me at draftsmanship yet people who don't quite fit in to the general consensus of what “indy comics” are. The average person (I'm talking about our own circles, not red-staters that shop at Walmart) doesn't care about that kind of thing. They're not going to gamble with a $25 hardcover when they can take their chances with something for $4. Anyone who's seen Sullivan's Travels knows that people don't want to watch an arty picture, they want belly laughs.

I'm often told when I pitch projects that this is not what the market wants. I never tell them, but I don't think that they don't think it will sell, it's just that they don't want to be the ones to deal with it. I think ultimately it's a polite way of rejecting me. I don't blame them, since what I do is neither blockbuster material or prestigious. But most of all, it's not what the market wants mainly because they don't know it exists.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... I need an agent.

It seems to have been misunderstood as an anti-comics manifesto or declaration of my quitting comics. If anything, it's to get more people reading comics. I include myself as one of those “same old 200 people” and want to stay in that world. I'm only speaking for myself when I feel my own work is more comedy in comics form than “comics” and think there are venues other than the comics world. Think outside the pull box, if you will.

Going back to the incestuous world of comics, the eleventh issue of Smoke Signal has been published, with a cover by Charles Burns. There's also a six-pager from Michael DeForge and Benjamin Marra in material by Tony Millionaire, Kaz, Bill Griffith and Harvey Pekar, Zak Sally, Matthew Thurber, John Porcellino, Julie Delaporte, The Trubble Club, Jonny Negron, Travis Millard, Gary Lieb, a color centerfold of Michael Kupperman's
Moon 69, a back cover by Tim Hensley, and myself.

Sometimes I get weird unsolicited things in the mail. A few months ago I got this painting:

The return address is from “Scott Boyd” but the cover letter was from “Jimmy”. I don't know if they're the same people, but maybe he/they want to keep it that way. I'll send him/them a copy of FREE ICE CREAM.

But that doesn't mean you'll get one, though. Remember they're only $3 and make the perfect stocking stuffer. You can get it by clicking three buttons instead of one, but in the future you'll be able to order things through thought transference.

Esquire Cartoon Album

2011-12-10T00:03:00.001-05:00

I didn't get this at a yard sale like other books I posted. This was at a used bookstore with its jacket in a plastic sleeve. I don't know how much I paid for it, but I know it was more than the $5.95 people paid when it came out in 1957. This was the front and back cover.

The first three are by Howard Baer

E. Simms Campbell

Eldon Dedini

Syd Hoff

Jaro Fabry

Adolph Schus.

Here's a bio. from Lawrence Lariar's book, BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1943:

“Born on New York's upper east side. . . lived in Wembly, a suburb of London, where he spent a good deal of his childhood. The zeppelin raids on London during the first world war, sent the family back to America. Except for a year on the continent, during which time he art-edited a publication published in Paris for Americans abroad. He has been residing in New York. Married a Rochestarian in 1938 and their son was born in 1943. Just before the blessed event they bought a home in Harmon-on-the-Hudson, where Schus will continue to do cartoons for the country's leading magazines.”

George Wolfe

Henry Boltinoff

Madness I tell you!

2011-12-09T01:59:00.002-05:00

Michael Kupperman tweeted almost this very same thing a couple weeks ago. The moral of the story is: don't mess with me or I'll get in your head.

Deputy Dawg, 2 of 4

2011-12-08T00:04:00.001-05:00

Continued from Monday

More next Monday.

Moldy?

2011-12-07T00:34:00.000-05:00

Chocolate Spray

2011-12-06T00:35:00.000-05:00

Deputy Dawg, 1 of 4

2011-12-05T00:15:00.002-05:00

Here's another example of Dell's Four Color Comics, this time of Deputy Dawg #1238.

I was going to post a book called These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America's Favorite Comics old art school friend Tristan Elwell sent me, but it was too big for my scanner and I didn't want to risk it coming apart. You can see some of it here.

More on Thursday.

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons T-Z

2011-12-04T01:33:00.001-05:00

Here's the last of The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, the 1980 book I got these from. I'm sure I missed some (that are scannable), so I'll probably go back to it at some later date.

Hilda Terry's feature Teena

Arne Ungermann

Still from Duṥan Vukotić's Concerto for Sub-Machine Gun

Werner Wejp-Olsen (WOW)

Gluyas Williams

Adolphe Willette, 1903

Artist unknown, it was between the W and Y sections. Is it supposed to represent the letter X or is it just a nice drawing?

The Yarns of Captain Fibb, for Judge in 1909

Bill Yates, for Saturday Evening Post

There was a syndicated strip of Yogi Bear in the early '60s.

Pino Zacarria (“Zac”)'s Kirie and Leison.

Heinrich Zille for Simplicissimus

Things to Bite

2011-12-02T00:13:00.000-05:00

Stark Naked, 4 of 4

2011-12-01T00:11:00.000-05:00

Yo-Yo Genius

2011-11-30T00:29:00.002-05:00

The Godfather

2011-11-29T00:03:00.000-05:00

Stark Naked, 3 of 4

2011-11-28T00:11:00.000-05:00

BROOKLYN COMICS AND GRAPHICS FESTIVAL 2011

2011-11-27T00:55:00.001-05:00

It's the time of year again I'll be at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival this Saturday. Everyone who's anyone will be exhibiting there, maybe even you. What makes this different from other ones, you ask? Well, I finally have a table this year. It's a curated show and I'm never on the organizers' radar. That and I haven't had a book out in a while. I kept bothering them about having one and this year I finally do, and I have prime real estate as well. I'm near Fantagraphics, which is probably the biggest exhibitor there. It looks like it will attract quite a big crowd (and fire marshals) since it's been mentioned in The New Yorker and other major magazines. The convention is free and there's all kinds of info with everything about it on their link. Here's this year's poster by Lisa Hanawalt.

And here's the book that will most likely be out in time for it. Free Ice Cream is being printed as we speak. It collects the gag cartoons from 2009 and 2010. If you've bothered to check out the archives here and seen the blurb that says “you have to buy the book”, this is that book. It's 40 pages and comic-book sized, and you can get it from me for $3 postpaid by using the “donate” button on the right.

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons S-V

2011-11-26T01:36:00.006-05:00

Ronald Searle's St. Trinian's series.

They actually have entire movies on YouTube. Who knew?

Before Ralph Steadman was best known as Hunter Thompson's illustrator, he was a gag cartoonist, mainly for Punch.

Here's a cartoon William Steig did for Look.

Saul Steinberg in Liberty

An example of Sunflower Street, which doesn't seem to have any links online, so once again, I'll consult The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons from which this came.

“SUNFLOWER STREET, the creation of Tom Sims (writer) and Tom Little (artist), started in 1934 as a daily panel for King Features Syndicate. In 1929 Sims went on to write the Thimble Theater strip, and by 1940 Little remained as sole author of the feature. Sunflower Street was unusual in that it had an all-black cast of characters (its closest antecedent was E. W. Kemble's Blackberries). Although not devoid of stereotypes, Sunflower Street was far from being a funny-paper Amos 'n' Andy. The people in it—the gentle but shrewd Pap Henty, the sagacious Granny Lou, the white-bearded Mr. Native, the ne'er-do-well Cousin Bobo, the panel's children, Eenie, Meeny, Miney and Moe—had real character and much charm. The pace was relaxed, and the humor always low-key.

“Nothing really disturbing ever happened on Sunflower Street, and its critics have pointed to the fact as proof of the panel's failings; but the same omission also characterized most small-town features of the 1930s and 1940s. Little poured a great deal of heart into Sunflower Street, as well as many fond remembrances of his rural Tennessee childhood. It was therefore with great reluctance that he finally discontinued it in 1949, due to falling readership.”

Maurice Sinet (Siné) in Lui (NSFW).

Image Shack deemed this forbidden, even though racism is OK with them. If anyone knows of a storage site that doesn't censor, let me know.

T. S. Sullivant

Arthur Szyk cover for Collier's.

From the Monmon series of serigaphs by Hideo Takeda.

Still from Dusan Vukotic's Ersatz, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject in 1961, and probably the inspiration for The Simpsons parody of European cartoons.

Hipster Simile

2011-11-25T00:04:00.000-05:00

Stark Naked, 2 of 4

2011-11-24T00:06:00.003-05:00

Continued from Monday

Unitard Sequels

2011-11-23T00:13:00.002-05:00

a "normal" gag

2011-11-22T00:33:00.001-05:00

Stark Naked, 1 of 4

2011-11-21T00:08:00.001-05:00

Another library fair find. I've only included the illustrations by Arnold Roth in this book. It was “a panoramic odyssey” written by Norton Juster and published by Random House in 1969. I'll just let the introduction explain the book:

“Have you ever met a musically oriented Spanish patriot named José Canusee?--or a lady midget named Minna Scule? --or a Welsh after-dinner speaker named Dai Gression? Is Irving Renewal the City Planning Commissioner in your town? Did you know a pregnant woman of twelve named Yetta Nother? Could that sweet old bigot be Aunty Semitic?

“I don't know where you were bought up, but on my block all the kids were convinced that the garbage man's name was, or should be, Hugh Stink. My mother actually had a lady friend she dutifully introduced as Miss Shapen. And, there were those forbidden characters such as I.P. Daily and Seymour Hair who were often the cause of uncontrolled and mystifying hilarity at our house.

“Almost everyone I know has a few treasured examples, by try to imagine a whole town full of them—sort of a panoramistic parade. It is, of course, what follows. (These introductions are never entirely pointless.) They may not be everyone's dish of tea, but like the sole surviving full-blooded Indian in town, Lester D. Mohicans, we present them without reservation”

continued on Thursday.

Squilliam's Yacht

2011-11-20T11:40:00.001-05:00

People seem to think because I worked on SpongeBob, I'm rolling in cash. Sometimes they think I have something to do with the merchandising. It's not the case unless answering yes will benefit me.

I do some writing occasionally for the comic, though. It's one of the only non-superhero periodical comics still being published, and one of the many projects my former Nickelodeon editor Chris Duffy in the wake of the magazine's demise.

One of the stories I wrote was written in comics form rather than script form. It looked like this:

Rather than use the symmetrical Kurtzman/Stanley format I usually use, the layouts were changed, and this was the eventual result. The name of the story has also been changed to Squilliam's Yacht

The layouts are by co-creator Derek Drymon, art by Stephen DeStefano, coloring by Scott Roberts, the lettering will eventually be done by Comicraft. My former writing partner Jay Lender saw this without the dialogue and said “I don't ever want to know why SpongeBob is in Patrick's mouth. The explanation could only be a letdown.”

Viacom is strict about enforcing Spongebob's copyright on YouTube, so it's interesting what gets by. Here are the search results for the episode Rock-a-Bye Bivalve I worked on ten years ago.

And I didn't know this, but another episode, Just One Bite, has a scene which was deleted from reruns, presumably because of “imitative behavior”

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons Pid-Spa

2011-11-19T10:02:00.005-05:00

Here we go again with more of the reproducible cartoons from the 1980 World Encyclopedia of Cartoons.

Here's something from from Australian Women's Weekly by William Edward (Wep) Pidgeon.

Terrytoons looked like they were from the 30s until the 50s, when they looked like they were from the future. Here's a still from Terrytoons' Flebus, one of my all-time favorite cartoons, from the entry for Ernest Pintoff.

Another animation, Professor Balthasar, by Zlatko Grgić.

Hans Quist, who in lieu of no internet presence, is represented by his entry in the World Encyclopedia. Keep in mind that when something is referred to in present tense, it's as of 1980.

“HANS QUIST (1922-?) Born in Fasbourg, Denmark. Hans Quist started out as an apprentice in a sportswear shop, finding out after three years that this was not for him. He tried out his luck as a cartoonist and tennis player in his spare time and was most successful with the latter. Then, in 1950, he managed to get his first cartoon in print. Today he can 'look back in anger' at some dull years as a sporting goods salesperson until 1953 he was able to support himself through his cartoons.

“His drawing style leans toward the absurd, and though one cannot exactly call him a student of Virgil Partch and Cosper Cornelius, it is their artistic effects he has especially adapted into his own highly personal way of expressing himself. His world is one of domineering women and small, cowed, half-bald men with fat stomachs, as well as horrible little boys in short pants and sailor caps with the inscription Pax. His first comics character, Skrækkellige Olfrert,had his debut in the weekly magazine Hjemmet in 1955.

“Gradually he won fame and popularity in the Scandanavian countries, in Germany and throughout Europe. With his immense productivity, he is today seen often in the dailies in magazines. Quist cartoons can regularly be found in competing magazines in the same town (In Copenhagen, for example Ekstra Bladet and B.T.., In Stockholm Expressen and Aftonbladet--the editors seem to have decided to overlook copyright infringements).

“He is an illustrator of numerous books on crazy humor, practical jokes, etc., and he publishes an annual album of Skrækkellige Olfrert, his favorite comic character, who is seen in a daily strip as well as in thousands of panels.”

Hans-Georg Rauch

Dudley Fisher's Right Around Home

John Rouson's Boy Meets Girl

Charles Nicholas Sarka, from Judge 1905.

Charles Saxon

Filiberto Scarpelli

Jean-Jacques Sempé, for Samedi-Soir.

Ronald Searle

I kept looking for information about David Souter, but could only find things about the Supreme Court justice, until I typed his middle name into search engines as well.

Jürg Spahr (Jüsp) for Nebelspalter

Catherine the Great

2011-11-18T00:05:00.001-05:00

The Wacky World of Numburrs, 4 of 4

2011-11-17T00:05:00.001-05:00

Remember, in the mid-sixties, it was okay to make fun of ethnic groups.

I think either the author didn't know the meaning of “69” or thought the reader wouldn't.

Everything about Ed Sullivan was a celebrity more famous for the impression someone else did of him, and all impressions were based on one impression, In these case the standard “really big show” catchphrase was made more famous byWill Jordan, who wasn't known for doing anything else of note.

Unitard

2011-11-16T00:08:00.001-05:00

Next on "Deadwood"

2011-11-15T00:08:00.000-05:00

The Wacky World of Numburrs, 3 of 4

2011-11-14T00:09:00.005-05:00

Ken Nordine on his Word Jazz records, did a bit called Looking at Numbers. Here's what he had to say about them:

“Looking at 1, you see that 1 is upright and straight, in the most beautiful beginning
Now seeing 2, see how she kneels and stares back at the miracle of 1
3 is much larger, is like lifted eyebrows or a bird flying

“4 is an upside-down chair
5 is a lighthouse looking out to sea
6 stands very well on his sick hen

“7 is a cliff below heaven, related somehow to 11
8 are two heads together
9 turns its back on 10”

The Huntley-Brinkley Report was one of the first nightly news programs. Remember those?

Stan Freberg started the whole 'John and Marsha' thing.

Scene But Not Heard: The Videos

2011-11-13T01:00:00.001-05:00

I did these pieces for Carousel last week. You never know what to expect when you do them, but this went really well. In one of the pieces, I pick kids from the audience to make up dialog for one of the strips, often they freeze up, but this time they were really into it. I also do another strip where I give the whole audience bubble wrap (see above), which the organizers were smart enough to save until the end so kids wouldn't be popping bubbles during other peoples' performances.

Here are some promos for the book I've said will come out years ago.

I did an earlier version with the whole thing but Top Shelf wanted each individual strip to have its own video. Plus they didn't want me to use music that was copyrighted. Here's the original which will be up until the RIAA demands to have it taken down. The other videos have music in the public domain.

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons L-P

2011-11-12T00:04:00.001-05:00

Edward Lear, Nonsense Botany

Ferdinand Léger, Ballet Mécanique

Manfred Limmroth, Neue Illustrierte

J. Norman Lynd

John Tinney McCutcheon, Chicago Tribune

Jefferson Machamer, Collier's

Giovanni Manca, Il Travaso

Guillermo Mordillo

Stills from Jason by Camilla Mickwitz

Guillermo Mordillo again

Toshio Saeki

Virgil “Vip” Partch, True

Gustav Peichl (“Ironimus”), Osterreichische Illustrierte

Jean Pennes (“Sennep”)

current events

2011-11-11T00:06:00.001-05:00

The Wacky World of Numburrs, 2 of 4

2011-11-10T10:27:00.001-05:00

Continued from Monday

Ewww

Uncle Shabby and Stinky Crow

2011-11-09T01:07:00.000-05:00

I try to leave out the minis that are some kind of character assassination, but sometimes it's hard to screen them all.

Famous Photos Reenacted by Douchebags with Mullets

2011-11-08T00:03:00.001-05:00

The Wacky World of Numburrs

2011-11-07T10:58:00.002-05:00

I got this book at a library fair years ago. It was written by Sheldon Wasserman and published in 1965 by The Citadel Press. As the introduction states:

“Given life through the imagination of the reader, NUMBURRS are a symbol of the times—an outgrowth of a society that is losing itself in systems, codes, indexes, and computers.

“Spawned in hatbands, dog-tags, credit cards, and licenses, NUMBURRS have suddenly come of age with electronics. From insignificant “fidgety digits” they have matured into full-grown area codes, all-number dialing systems, and postal zip zones—setting the stage for a NUMBURRS EXPLOSION that threatens all mankind.

“The cartoon [on the cover] says it another way...and serves to introduce you to the make-believe world of WORLD OF NUMBURRS...where people are numbers and numbers are fun!

Continued on Thursday

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons G-K

2011-11-05T00:01:00.007-04:00

William Ellis Greene (Weg)

Maurice Henry

Don Herold

Syd Hoff, for Collier's

Gerard Hoffnung, for Punch

Poul Holck

Lee Holley, Ponytail, the Four Color version soon to be a Magic Whistle blogpost when I get to it.

Alberto Huici, Ja-Ja

Once again from the The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons from which this came:

“ALBERTO HUICI (1929-?) exhibited a love from drawing at an early age, and he sold his first cartoon in 1945, while still going to school. From then on he worked as a freelancer, contributing a number of cartoons to various Mexican newspapers and publications.

“In 1952 Huici went to Los Angeles and tried to break into the U.S. market. While submitting cartoons to various magazines (most of which sent back rejection slips), he worked as gas station attendant, dishwasher, and garbage collector in order to support himself. Coming to New York in 1954, Huici again was turned down more often than not, and he went back to Mexico City the following year. With the experience he had acquired in the United States, he soon rose to the top of his profession, having gag cartoons regularly published in the magazine Ja-Ja, and his political cartoons distributed by Editorial Excelsior. He also occasionally contributes cartoons to Los Angeles and New York publications.

“Huici's style is simple, almost stark, with weird characters cavorting in strange surroundings. His humor is mostly visual, and he uses captions sparingly. His cartoons have earned awards in the United States, Europe, and Central and South America, as well as in his native Mexico.”

Rube Goldberg's I'm The Guy

Ted Key, This Week

Walt Kuhn in 1903.

Kukrynisky, 1942

Still from The Human Zoo, an animated film by Yōji Kuri

I've been looking everywhere

2011-11-04T01:18:00.000-04:00

Lolly and Pepper, 4 of 4

2011-11-03T00:08:00.000-04:00

Concluded from Monday.

Here's an example of what the Lolly strip looked like.

Whose ass is it, anyway?

2011-11-02T00:12:00.002-04:00

Famous Photos Reenacted by Martians

2011-11-01T00:20:00.001-04:00

I suppose I could have saved this until the 22nd.

Lolly and Pepper, 3 of 4

2011-10-31T00:14:00.001-04:00

Continued from Thursday.

Continued on Thursday.

I was wr... I was wr...

2011-10-30T00:02:00.004-04:00

I've been wrong in criticizing things before, and likely will be again.

I'm not one to be prudish while pretending not to be. I'm not one to add “but” in saying anything about shocking humor, especially since I'm guilty of it myself. Some things I don't like for whatever reason. I'm sure it's happened to you. I've given all sorts of things a second thought and had a different opinion from my first impression. It's like when you recommend a TV show to someone who won't give it a try, and when they finally do it's always the worst or least representative episode.

When I first saw South Park I hated it. To me it was just a show about gratuitous vulgarity and nothing else. I said that and people kept telling me that wasn't entirely the point, that the one I saw wasn't the best one. I respected their opinions of other things, so I thought I'd give it another try. While I find the show very inconsistent in quality, I get the humor more and realize it's not just the creators seeing what they can get away with.

Family Guy was something else I didn't like upon first glance. To me it seemed like a Simpsons clone and another example of shock for shock's sake. I've looked at more of it online and though I still feel they rely too much on cheap laughs most of the time, one out of five gags is pretty funny. That's still a higher ratio than most sitcoms. Using the “even a stopped clock is right twice a day” principle they're so rapidfire that every episode has at least one moment of brilliance. And Seth MacFarlane is usually funny when he does talk shows.

I still think the design looks like shit. And when Peter Griffin says something politically incorrect, I realize the joke is not the slur but that Peter is stupid for saying it, but that's probably lost on the average frat-boy who only has their prejudices reaffirmed. I don't hate the show anymore though.

I do hate when people quote catchphrases or wear them on their T-shirts, though, and you'll never change my mind on that.

That brings us to Hoofjob. A few months ago I was doing an ego-surf on Amazon. When you look at anything there, they'll always suggest a similar book you might like. I was horrified when they suggested this book.

My immediate reaction was that the author, Geoffrey Sanchez Reed, was trying to imitate me. I put up an angry post on Facebook saying so. Additionally I felt insulted because I haven't been on peoples' radar the past few years myself. The responses were all like “don't worry about it, he's not as funny as you” and trashing him. I was also annoyed because of criticism I've received in the past from people (most of whom have never actually read them) who thought this was what my comics looked like.

Within hours Mr. Reed contacted me. He said that he was glad to have received feedback from me, even if it was negative. He explained that he wasn't trying to copy me at all, but was just a big fan. He had no aspirations to be a professional cartoonist. It was just something he did to amuse himself and his friends. He preferred to do music.

I took back what I'd said when I realized it wasn't a competition to see who's the best. My ego is such that adulation can make me do a complete 180. It doesn't matter if someone is a millionaire movie producer or a 13-year-old copying my drawings in his notebook, it flatters me equally no matter who it is if I'm an influence in any way. Flattery will get you everywhere. As a friend once aptly said “cartoonists are all self-deprecating narcissists.”

A few days ago, cleaning out my browser, I saw his work again. Even though things were fine between me and Geoffrey, I still felt bad telling him he should shoot for polish when he told me didn't consider himself a cartoonist foremost. I take what I first said back. I wouldn't point him out as an up-and-coming cartoonist if someone were to ask me who I liked, but I still laugh at his work occasionally.

I still feel justified in my initial knee-jerk reaction. Years ago a few people showed me something from a runner-up of the annual SF Bay Guardian cartoon contest. This was clearly an imitation of me. The judges were friends of mine and one of them thought it was me submitting as a joke, especially since the person's name, Extra Maat, didn't seem real. A few people met him and he claimed to have never heard of me. To this day, I don't buy it. I shouldn't stay mad at him, though. For years I was able to pad my comic with a “contest” allowing readers to send in their imitations of my comics.

(I had to request the cartoon below on Twitter since I couldn't find the comic this was printed in. Thanks to Jason Dupuis for coming to the rescue. Yes, it was originally pixillated like this.)

Once in a while, someone will point out something similar to mine, sometimes it's a blatant copy, more often it's someone influenced by the same things I was. In one particular instance where the case was the latter, a girlfriend at the time urged me to threaten to sue. I'd like to use this opportunity to apologize. And it would be hypocritical if I actually followed through, since as I've said before, I feel it's a mockery of the courts to settle petty squabbles between cartoonists.

Shifting gears, if you're in the NYC area, especially if you have kids, here's info on one of the Carousel events I participate in every few months. We did one for kids last year. With everyone else, I'll be reading some of the pieces I've done for Nickelodeon which will hopefully finally be collected from Top Shelf in early 2012. I know I've been saying it'll be out soon for the past two years. It's been finished and camera-ready all that time and scheduled to be released many times, they've even promoted it, but they keep saying they don't have the funds. So whatever the case, I can't say it's my fault.

And did I mention there will be audience participation at this show?

I was a bit disappointed in the way the Carousel for Kids flyer turned out. R.Sikoryak didn't use my suggestion. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

I suppose that in order for last paragraph to have been grammatically correct, I should have ended it with a semi-colon and close-parenthesis.

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons D-G

2011-10-29T00:32:00.003-04:00

Gus Dirks, 1901

Boris Drucker, Saturday Evening Post.

Dr. Seuss before becoming a children's book author, doing a cover for Judge.

John B. Gruelle, Judge

Rose O'Neill, The Kewpie Korner

Kukrynisky, The Big Three Will Tie the Enemy in Knots. The top was cut off like that.

Albert Levering, Christmas page for Puck

Sandro Lodolo

Jacques Faizant

André François, Punch

Joseph Farris

Rube Goldberg, Foolish Questions 1912

Franz Füchsel, Hendes Verden. Füchsel was one of the cartoonists who drew the infamous Muhammad cartoons.

Alfred Freuh, caricature of Winifred Linehan as Saint Joan.

Orla Getterman (“Get”)

Famous Photos Reenacted by Pigs

2011-10-28T00:16:00.000-04:00

Lolly and Pepper, 2 of 4

2011-10-27T00:02:00.001-04:00

Continued from Monday...

Continued on Monday.

Tintin-Batman Team-Up

2011-10-26T00:06:00.015-04:00

Everyone's a Comedian

2011-10-25T00:16:00.005-04:00

Anyone know of a good photo storage site? By good I mean free. I want everything to be 400px wide, but through the default Google site everything is 400px only on the longer side of an image and then gets blurry when I expand it. Maybe the problem is my ignorance of HTML. You can click on it so it's actual size and not blurry but I want things on the home page to be clear like they used to be. I had things on Photobucket up until about a month ago when they started censoring things. Anyone...anyone? My address is mwhistle@aol.com so if you have an answer you won't have to help through the comments.

Update: Thanks to many of my followers on Shitter, I got a few suggestions so now everything will be back to how I wanted it.

Lolly and Pepper, 1 of 4

2011-10-24T00:09:00.009-04:00

Lolly and Pepper is another forgotten comic strip by Pete Hansen adapted by Dell's Four Color series.

I doubt Pete Hansen did this art. Most likely it was one of the nameless staffers that worked for Dell in the 50's. This is from Four Color Comics #832 in 1957.

As an adult a question plaguing me for over twenty-five years was finally answered. This article in Mad in 1980 by Henry Clark and Bob Clarke, Comic Strip Cursing Symbols to Match a Given Situation, used many famous cartoon characters which I could identify, but the panel below remained a mystery to me. It wasn't until seeing this comic that I knew what this one was making a reference to. Why they assumed all kids would have heard of this strip, I don't know. They also parodied Henry a lot too. They seemed to think most kids would get references to R-rated movies, Broadway lyrics, and marginally popular comic strips.

It's true my entire world view is based on Mad (me and everyone else in the media for at least three generations) but let's face it, it wasn't until the mid-90s they were able to relate to their core audience. Look at an issue from 1965 and one from 1989 and it's pretty hard to tell them apart. (In their defense, they've heard this accusation before, and justified it by citing a revolving readership.) They seemed to think up until the 80's that rock and roll was just a passing fad. I only stole my grandparents' Oklahoma! album so I'd understand the “sung to the tune of” songs. Then again, I only know some aspects of history because of Monty Python sketches.

more on Thursday...

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons B-D

2011-10-22T00:07:00.001-04:00

Albert Blashfieldin 1908

Jean Bosc

More Bo Brown

Design for Destination Magoo by Pete Burness

Orlando Busino

Giampolo Cheis for Editoriale Corno

Again, according to the World Encyclopedia (keep in mind it was written in 1980):

GIAMPOLO CHIES (b. 1947) Italian cartoonist born in Bologna, Italy. Giampolo decided to go into cartooning after finishing his high school studies. He started his career in 1966, drawing Virus Psik, a comic strip about a somewhat extravagant woman scientist, on texts by"Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi). He then drew a great number of cartoons and illustrations for the monthly magazine Eureka.

In 1971 Chies moved to Milan and briefly worked as an animator for Gamma Film. Later that year he resumed the Virus Psik strip and also created the monthly cartoon panel Monodia. In these somewhat disquieting cartoons,strange objects float in the air, mechanical women nurse real-life babies, and robots weep or bleed. The air of eerie unreality is further enhanced by the total absence of captions or dialogue. Chies [was] working on a comic book adaptation of Pinocchio, scheduled for publication in 1979.

Sam Cobean

Siegfried (Cosper) Cornelius

Campbell Cory in 1919

CAMPBELL CORY (1867-ca. 1925) American cartoonist born in Waukegan, IL, J.C. Cory was educated in Waukegan and began cartooning in New York in 1896. His style was breezy, with slashing, thick-and-thin pen strokes held together by by beautiful areas of precise, old-fashioned crosshatching; he and Fred Morgan of the Philadelphia Inquirer were probably the last great crosshatch political cartoonists. Throughout his career the doctrinaire Democrat drew for many of America's largest newspapers and magazines, including New York World and Harper's Weekly

Cory's significance lies in his enterprising approach to cartooning, however. He was a self-starter, almost a vagabond, who worked in many formats, experimented with the business end and was a pioneer syndicator. As a publisher, he put out the Great West monthly in 1907-08 and the Bee, an oversized chromolithographed humorous weekly during the Spanish-American War. In 1912, beginning a practice that was to continue for two decades, he became a paid cartoonist for a political party; the Democrats supplied Cory cartoons to any paper that could use them. Soon afterward, in the days of large-scale syndication, Cory started a syndicate, distributing his own cartoons and those of others. He ran a correspondence school and published books containing the elements of cartooning, including Cory's Hands, and The Cartoonist's Art. Active in other spheres as well, Cory was a prospector, miner, champion balloonist, pioneer aviator, big game hunter, sportswriter, and athlete.

Cory was responsible for helping many youngsters into professional cartooning careers. Charles Kuhn was one, and Cory's niece,Fanny Y. Cory was another; just after she had her first work published in St. Nicholas, she became a featured contributor to the Bee, and her uncle boosted her early work through syndication as well.

Louis Dalrymple, 1898

Whitney Darrow, Jr., in Collier's

Chon Day in True.

Eduardo Del Rio (Rius) for Ja-Ja.

Michel Demers in L'Aurore

MICHEL DEMERS (b.1949) Cartoonist born in Quebec City, Canada. After studies in Quebec and Montreal, Michel had his first cartoon published in the French language weekly Sept-Jours; since that time he has been contributing one cartoon to the magazine every week.

Michel Demers is [was] now busily engaged in a promising and prolific professional career. His political and gag cartoons have appeared in such publications as Forum, Perspectives, and the daily Le Jour. He has also produced several comic strips, the most notable being Célestin for Le Jour, but none have proved long-lived.

Michel has been influenced, in his graphic choice as well as in his choice of themes, by Tomi Ungerer and Jean-Jacques Sempé: his drawings have a dry, sparse look, while his themes lean heavily toward surrealism, social protest, and black humor.

Jean-Pierre Desclozeaux

Press 1

2011-10-21T00:06:00.000-04:00

Zany #3, 4 of 4

2011-10-20T00:03:00.001-04:00

Continuation of the Steve Canyon parody.

Another cartoon by Martin Friedman, who at one time contributed to magazines like this, and also the father of my friend Dave.

Parody of game show People Are Funny

Mandrake the Magician was popular enough to warrant a parody once.

Teabag Follies of 1938

2011-10-18T14:38:00.005-04:00

We did this before the group that would be known as the Teabaggers. Sorry if we had anything to do with this fundamentalist libertarian movement.

Get your picture taken with an asshole

2011-10-18T00:06:00.000-04:00

Zany #3, 3 of 4

2011-10-17T00:09:00.010-04:00

Hard to believe, but Abbie 'n Slats was once as big as any blockbuster movie.

So was Big Ben Bolt

Marlboro had a campaign as being a "man's cigarette."

I'm not sure what this is a parody of.

At one time, American Express was the only company to have traveler's checques.

I'm not sure what this parody by Paul Reinman is of either.

Zany did their share of TV parodies, like this one of Maverick by Don Orehek, who generally wasn't known for doing caricatures.

concluded on Thursday...