The Seattle Times, taking a page from their past…A few years ago, when The Seattle Times was relocating from its old building on Fairview Avenue North and John Street, a pile of old editorial cartoons landed in my new Denny Way office. The artist, Sam Groff, who worked for The Seattle Times from 1935 to […]
Here are some comic strip and cartoon books scheduled for December 2019 release. Images and links (mostly) via Amazon, though ordering through your local comic or independent book store is a good idea. LOAC Essentials Volume 14: Barney Google, 1928 Anatomy of Authors Rugrats: The Newspaper Strips Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of […]
Johnny Sampson notes:I did the “Special Edition MAD 20 Fold-In”, out this week! Some of you know this but @original.aljaffee gave me his blessing a while back, and this is (to my knowledge) the first non-Al Jaffee Fold-in MAD’s ever published. I’m thrilled he got to see it in print for himself. (I think he […]
Allan Holtz’s Stripper’s Guide has provided comics researcher Jeffrey Lindenblatt a platform to present his latest project. Jeffrey has taken 300 newspapers, from large to small. and used them as a source to extrapolate the best selling newspaper comics strips from 1978 to 2019.Says Jeffrey:I decided that I would research 300 different daily papers from […]
The height of the depression might have been the height of the rule of newspapers, and the major feature in newspapers then was the comic strip. Inflation Calculator says $1,000 in 1933 equals almost $20,000 today. Popular cartoonists were celebrities. and magazines included feature stories about their success. The April 1933 issue of Fortune was one […]
Here’s the story in a nutshell. In May, 1952, after the Russian invasion of Yugoslavia, the principal United Nations countries and the United States declare war. The United States uses atomic bombs against Russian industrial complexes. Soviet forces invade West Germany, the Middle East and Alaska. US forces, in disarray, have retreated on all fronts. […]
In the nearly nine years that Mike Curtis and Joe Staton have been doing Dick Tracy special appearances and cameos began showing up fairly quickly. These eventually turned into regular guest starring roles for (mostly) retired comic strip characters. Currently Steve Roper and Mike Nomad are taking a turn as guests in the Dick Tracy […]
Burne Hogarth took over the Tarzan Sunday page from Harold Foster and, like Foster, became very famous drawing that feature. After eight and a half years Hogarth walked away from the strip.From a 1982 Comics Scene interview:CS: Why did you leave Tarzan after 10 years? BH: Very simply, you’re talking about United (syndicate) and Tarzan. […]
If you haven’t had quite enough Thanksgiving, I recommend a trip to Paul Berge’s blog, where you can check out Thanksgiving cartoons from roughly a century ago, including this post-WWI John McCutcheon piece noting that, while Extravagance, Unrest and the High Cost of Living were still dining at the table, War, Hunger and Hard Times […]
Charles Schulz writing to Walt Kelly (late 1954):My book is filled with so much bad work, that I would consider it presumptuous on my part to send you one. After the first book came out, I wished that they would put out another so that my more recent work would show up. Now that the […]
A collection of news stories and tributes on the death of Gahan Wilson. above: Michael Cavna-WarpedNewsThe Washington PostThe New York TimesThe Associated Press (via The Los Angeles Times)27East – The South Hampton PressCNN Comics SitesThe Comics JournalMultiversity ComicsComic Book ResourcesFour RealitiesGrand Comics Database – bibliography above: Roz Chast-New YorkerClientsPlayboyThe New YorkerMark’s Very Large National Lampoon SiteFantasy […]
Famed comics syndicator Lew Little has passed away.Lewis Auburn (Lew) Little September 1, 1933 – November 21, 2019 From the obituary:Some of the world’s best-known comic strips were discovered by Little during a career spanning 80 years. He launched “Wee Pals,” the first integrated comic strip by Morrie Turner, and “Tumbleweeds,” a wild west spoof by […]
The Improbable RemainsOn his How To book tour Randall Munroe goes north to Alaska. The Juneau Empire reports on Randall’s lecture there. The Spurns that Patient Merit of th’ Unworthy TakesAt the time of this writing, the two most influential politicians in the United States are a real estate developer who became president and a bartender […]
Here are some comic strip and cartoon books scheduled for November 2019 release. Images and links (mostly) via Amazon, though ordering through your local comic or independent book store is a good idea. Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics The George Herriman Library: Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918 Tales From the Trumpster Fire: A Cartoon Anthology […]
Recently Comics Beat asked friends and fans of Tom Spurgeon to “Name your 5 best memories of Tom Spurgeon. It can be ways he influenced you, or the things he did that touched you the most.” This is how they responded.From Comics Beat:In honour of Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Beat created a special “Five for […]