News Briefs for April 16, 2008

» Stacy Curtis has two new books from the Meghan Rose series that he illustrated.

» The “Inside Peanuts: The Life and Art of Charles M. Schulz” exhibit currently running at the Toonseum in Pittsburgh has been extended until May 18th.

» Mike Witmer, who does the Pinkerton webcomic on gocomics.com has signed a publishing contract with Th3rd World Studios.

» Al Capp family members say that his Li’l Abner feature should be brought back. The once liberal leaning feature went conservative in the ’60s and lost many loyal readers, but the family says that in the current political climate, Li’l Abner could be quite relevant.

» Ted Rall will be speaking along with Valerie Plame Wilson and Judith Miller in Kansas City this Friday at the annual Media and the Law Seminar.

12 thoughts on “News Briefs for April 16, 2008

  1. The more samples of Scary Gary that I read, the more I really like it. I like the greeting card-like art, and the writing is decent. Many of the jokes could be seen coming, but I still liked the toon.

    Here was my fav of the samples:
    http://www.creators.com/comics/scary-gary/18586.html

    And if the Capp family wants to bring back L’il Abner maybe they can also bring back The Honeymooners to prime time tv?

    That would be swell…

  2. Not the first time the revival of “Li’l Abner” was considered. They tried that back in the late ’80s and even made it far to have it listed in the Editor & Publisher’s list of syndicated features. But at the last second, they dropped out and so it was never printed.

    “Scary Gary” looks unique and interesting. Especially the artwork, which is very different from the style seen in Buford’s previous strip, “Meatloaf Night” (distributed by United Media for couple years). The design of the character Gary reminds me too much of Ted Rall’s artwork, tho…

  3. I hope the new strip is a big hit for Mark. Mark is a fantastic talent and a great guy. I enjoyed “Meatloaf” when it was with United….and I know I will be enjoying Scary Gary.

  4. I guess the concept of Scary Gary is classic movie monsters living in suburbia, as the Addams Family is, but if so, why do the syndicates keep pushing the line that concepts should be original, ground-breaking, relevant, whatever?

    I’ve got nothing against this strip, I haven’t seen enough of it to have an opinion as to the level of its humor, I guess I’m bemoaning the general direction of entertainment in general (there’s a TV series about a vampire cop, for god’s sake).

    Once again, in newspaper cartooning it’s about who’s installed as the two or three gatekeepers to the whole industry. What are their qualifications?

  5. Thank you for the kind words, everyone. The sales people are on the road with it now. I’ll know soon if there’s a market for suburban monsters.

  6. I’ve read through the small archive over on Creators. I think that, even though they are monsters, people can relate. Scary Gary has a cute, charming feel to it too. Good luck, Mark.

  7. Mark was kind enough to show us some of the initial strips for “Scary Gary” at our Atlanta cartoonist’s group. Needless to say, he had us in stitches with them. Congrats, Mark, on the strip and on creating a funny strip.

  8. Mark is a talent that keeps me giggling. I am so excited for him,
    it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Now if he could only stop wearing those nylon purple disco pants when he’s at the drawing table,……..

  9. I am a cartoonist living in Arizona…I will
    make my note here, short ‘n sweet…Mark Buford’s SCARY GARY, is the best thing to
    happen to the cartoon world…I am a fan of
    many talentd cartoonists nation wide, but, I
    am grateful and refreshed and remotivated to
    see earth shaking work again, like Marks.
    I am no brown-noser…Marks feature is on top,
    Hands down man. Unbelievable stuff.

    John DeAngelis / http://www.drawingthelinecartoons.com

    author of BONZ & MACKENZY FEATURE
    AND DRAWING THE LINE CARTOONS

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