Kerry Lockner’s Super Baloney
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,
What do you do when you’re trying to remember the name of a long-forgotten indy comic book from the 1970s and all you can remember is that the creator’s first name might be Kerry, and he might have been from either Seattle or Portland.
Or not.
It’s a puzzle, and without Google, I’d never have pieced it together. For a long time, I didn’t even remember the “Kerry” part.
I could picture the art style, but it never led me to the name of the comics or their creator. Fortunately, over time I pieced together fragments of my brain to come up with the guy’s first name, and then went hunting.
I figured he had to have a web presence - any cartoonist still working would have that. He didn't.
Click to continue reading Kerry Lockner’s Super Baloney
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Norm Feuti’s Gil Debuts From King Features
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews,
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Congratulations to Norm Feuti on Gil!
He started the strip as a webcomic, then put it on hiatus to work on other things, then brought it back through King Features. You can read about that process here.
It debuts this week in classic newspaper syndication (you can also find it online).
It’s a great, funny strip and Feuti’s an excellent cartoonist.
I interviewed him awhile ago when he was first starting on Gil and I wish him nothing but success.
Bookmark the strip, write to your local paper to make them aware of it, and read the heck out it.
There’s also the Gil Blog with lots of fun extras to enjoy.
[Artwork: Gil, © Norm Feuti]
R.I.P. Simon Bond
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
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I missed this but Steve Holland at Bear Alley caught it. Cartoonist Simon Bond, creator of the best-selling 101 Uses For A Dead Cat, has passed away. That book, an acclaimed best-seller, sold more than 2 million copies and spawned a sequel, another 20 or so books from Bond, and at least a generation of similar titles from imitators and followers.
[Artwork: Cover to 101 Uses For A Dead Cat]
Read More 
| Bear Alley
British Comics: Hagar The Horrible?
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,
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When I lived on the East Coast, I knew a lot of old school cartoonists like Jerry Marcus and Orlando Busino. I’d met Mort Walker and his son Brian and Ron Goulart and comics historian Rick Marschall. The cartoonist and their friend Dik Browne, creator of Hagar The Horrible, had long left Connecticut for the warmer pleasures of Florida so I never got to meet him.
But they spoke of him with such awe - of his abilities as a cartoonist and how his irreverent sense of humor was perfect for his chosen profession - that I was really sorry I hadn’t moved to the area much earlier.
Click to continue reading British Comics: Hagar The Horrible?
Forgotten Comics: Lyonel Feininger
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Ordinarily, I’d just put this down in my Weekend Reading section on Friday, but it’s so beautiful and wonderful to look at, that you need to see it now.
If you love old comics, want to see how one of the masters used to use his newspaper space or wonder why so many cartoonists complain about how the shrinkage of the reproduction size of their art harms the art form, go check this out.
Animator Michael Sporn has posted a nice selection of Lyonel Feininger’s classic strip: The Kin-der-Kids. Michael says the strip stands “with the best of Winsor McCay’s comic strips and, in some ways, is even more graphically daring than McCay.”
Feininger had a fascinating career that started in cartooning and ended in fine art.
After you're done looking at his comics, be sure to check out his wild, later stuff.
Click to continue reading Forgotten Comics: Lyonel Feininger
Peter Steiner: Cartoonist & Thriller Writer?
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
I’m always the last to know.
I knew of Peter Steiner’s work as a cartoonist because he’s had something like 400 cartoons published in The New Yorker over the years. And I’ve probably seen most of them. He has a loose, fun style that’s classicly New Yorker-ish and his gags are very funny.
Then I found out that he’s also a writer of books as well. Only he’s not writing comic novels about summers in Connecticut or the party crowd in the Hamptons. He’s doing a 180 from his cartooning and he’s writing, wait for it, spy thrillers.
And he’s got not one, not two, but three of them, including his latest that came out earlier this year called The Terrorist. It shouldn’t surprise me, but maybe I’m a cartoon bigot who expects cartoonists to only do funny things.
I’m over that now, and I accept that cartoonists can also be writers of thrillers, science fiction novels, and historical mysteries, or even drive cabs or fix leaky drains. I certainly didn’t complain when I found out that New Yorker cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan (BEK) was writing for Seinfeld and producing Six Feet Under.
Click to continue reading Peter Steiner: Cartoonist & Thriller Writer?
Irwin Hasen: A New York Story
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, DC Comics,
Artist Irwin Hasen was the co-creator (with writer Gus Edson) of the long-running comic strip Dondi, the poor little orphan boy who never aged in his 30+ year run (1955-1986).
But Hasen’s career goes back to 1940 when he started in comic books, drawing for Harry "A" Chesler’s shop. His later work includes Green Lantern, Justice Society and Johnny Thunder for DC and he’s credited with creating one of my favorite old-school DC characters, Wildcat.
Now he’s the subject of a new documentary: Irwin: A New York Story that’s debuting as part of FilmColumbia in up in Columbia County (about two hours north of NYC) this weekend, October 24 at 1 pm at the Morris Memorial Theater.
Click to continue reading Irwin Hasen: A New York Story
Comic Book Jobs: Uncle Sam Wants You!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
I think people sometimes forget that there's a world of printed comic books that exists outside the Direct Market. They come from advertising agencies, video game companies, and even the government. They're out there - and they need people to make them happen. Maybe someone like you.
If the phrase "Army Graphic Novels" sounds inviting, you've come to the right place. I doubt you'll be working on a new Sgt. Rock or Sgt. Fury knock-off, but still…a job like this would make you a government contractor. And that's gotta look good on the ol' resume.
SAIC is "a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company" that contracts with the U.S. Army, and lots of other clients it seems, to "solve problems." You can find out a lot more at the SAIC site.
One of the problems they appear to solve is the creation of a graphic novel – they need an artist to work on one for Uncle Sam.
The America’s Army team (the guys who make the official U.S. Army game) is "seeking a talented Artist to support the development of Army based graphic novels."
Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Uncle Sam Wants You!
Doug Wright’s Nipper Vs. Amazon
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Independent,
I've been reading that Nipper, the first collection of Doug Wright's cartoons, is out from Drawn & Quarterly and already getting some nice notice.
Nipper's a "mischievous little kid" who appeared in newspapers across the country in the mid 20th century." D&Q's Nipper 1963-64 is the first of what the publisher plans as a long-running series of books collecting Wright's classic.
There's a preview of it (pdf) at the D&Q website that offers a nice taste of Wright.
Click to continue reading Doug Wright’s Nipper Vs. Amazon
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Weekend Reading: Stephen J. Cannell, Shel Silverstein And The Flintstones
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, Reviews, Television,
Sad news in the world of television and novels. Stephen J. Cannell, one of Hollywood’s legendary writers has passed away. The list of shows he worked on and created is legendary. Comic fans might know him best from The Greatest American Hero. He mentored a number of famous writer-producers, much like Roy Huggins had mentored him. When he got tired of television, he reinvented himself as a novelist – the ones I’ve read are quite fun – and actor (he had a somewhat recurring role on Castle). Jaime Weinman has a nice appreciation of one of my favorite writers.
The Flintstones: Now that they’ve turned 50 years old – yikes! – the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon show has attracted a lot of media attention this week. Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew noticed the coverage…particularly how stupid the Christian Science Monitor was about it.
Appy: It’s not too late to check in with the Appy Entertainment blog and see what I and two friends have to say about the digital age of comics.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Stephen J. Cannell, Shel Silverstein And The Flintstones
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