Gahan Wilson Teaches Cartooning

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

One of my favorite cartoonists is Charles Addams. From the time I first saw his cartoons, I loved them. And then I saw Gahan Wilson.

He had such a unique style and a bizarre Addams-like sense of humor, but he went off into different areas - childhood, zombies, science fiction. He was a little grosser, a little weirder, and his style of drawing was not slickly mainstream.

He was a breath of fresh air.

Wilson has lived the charmed life of a cartoonist that you don’t hear about much anymore. He had a regular strip, Nuts (a kind of anti-Peanuts) in National Lampoon (the earlier, funny Lampoon), nearly 50 years’ worth of cartoons in The New Yorker and Playboy, wrote novels, had a syndicated newspaper strip called Gahan Wilson’s Sunday Funnies, book collections and a whole lot more.

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Prince Valiant Meets Tom Yeates

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

Tom Yeates has been selected to take over the art chores on the classic Prince Valiant comic strip. He posted the brief announcement at his blog, that included this quote: "Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz have been doing fantastic work on the strip, and Yeates hopes to maintain that high quality in the tradition of Hal Foster."

Writer-artist Hal Foster created Prince Valiant in 1937.

I worked briefly with Tom on a Tarzan mini-series back in the 1990s and got to see his original art up close. It’s beautiful stuff and he’s an excellent choice to replace Gianni on the strip.

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Weekend Reading: The Damned, Apes, Simpsons and Tex Avery

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Television, Independent,

Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, power outages. It's been a wild couple of climate change-enhanced weeks. Let's play catch-up across the internets:

Cullen Bunn is having a career year and let’s hope it’s the first of many. The creator of The Sixth Gun got his Oni Press series, The Damned, picked up by Showtime for a series. He’s already gotten The Sixth Gun optioned to SyFy for a series. If they both make it to air, Bunn will have two more shows on the air than DC Comics.

Apes: Rich Handley reviews the fourth issue of Darryl Gregory and Carlos Magno’s Planet Of The Apes, from Boom! “BOOM!’s Apes run stands on a pinnacle, one sure to end badly for humanity.” But all good for readers and fans.

Republicans: My pal Doug Molitor from Funny Or Die looks at 12 Republican super-heroes. My favorite? The Human Torturer!

Jack: Man, that’s a lot of nice Jack Davis work that Michael Sporn posted. I really love those western covers, too.

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R.I.P. Simon Bond

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

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,

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.

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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.

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Weekend Reading: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, R2D2 And Ronnie Corbett

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

Hey, 2010 is over and 2011 is here! Happy new year and in lieu of alcohol, here are a few links.

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British Comics: The Rebranded Dandy

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews,

In the world of British comics, there's big news happening near the Thames in the past week.

In an effort to turn around its declining sales, publisher DC Thomson has rebranded and relaunched its 73-year-old comics magazine, The Dandy.  

Starting with issue 3508 (!) which was on sale last week, The Dandy has been changed, revised, updated, modernized, you pick the word. New strips, new artists, a new look, a new price (dropping it by £1 to just £1.50, which is not at all bad news for the wallet, especially given the exchange rate), and cover-featuring a current British comedian as the star of his own strip.

I think this is a step in the right direction and I applaud publisher DC Thomson for making it. From 2006-2008, the newsstand comic had seen a 16% drop in sales, down to 23,000 copies an issue on average. Yet by June 2010, sales had dropped to 14,000. Something had to be done.

I have yet to see a copy - it’s not the kind of thing I’m likely to find over here, but I’m anxious to get back to London and grab a copy next time I’m there. In the meantime, I’m having a couple of issues sent to me by a friend.

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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."

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MoCCA: Paul Levitz, Stephen DeStefano, Robert Sikoryak

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Is The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art the smartest kid in class? Their fall education programs make me want to hit Hotwire for a cheap flight to NYC and spend a few months with a laptop and some pencils.

My old friend Danny Fingeroth, the Senior VP of Education for MoCCA, gets a tip of my cap for putting together an excellent slate of programs.

Here’s a peek at the list:

Robert Sikoryak and Kriota Willberg are teaching “Anatomy For Cartoonists Workshop” (4 sessions). “This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters — in any style — that are consistent and believable.” Bonus: “nude models will be employed.” Nude models should never be unemployed, even in a recession.

Sikoryak is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics and his work appears frequently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Kriota Willberg teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies.

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