An early cartoon (1903) by Henry Mayo Bateman will not be auctioned off by Christies after a Jewish amateur antiques dealer complained. The cartoon depicts a man with bearded Jewish man with a skull-cap with talon-like fingers and a tail. The auction house consulted with Scotland yard to see if the auction would violate a […]
As always, an interesting interview by Bob Andelman (AKA Mr. Media) with Andrew Farago, who is not only the curator for the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, but the author or a new coffee table book Looney Tunes Treasury: Includes Amazing Interactive Treasures from the Warner Bros. Vault!.
Wicked Local (Concord) has an article about Beetle Baily creator Mort Walker and his career and beginnings. After basic training, he found himself stationed at Camp Crowder, which was the Midwest training center for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was to be a radio repair technician. Walker still has no idea why. ?Of all […]
Ted Key’s Hazel is being adapted for a Broadway musical with music by composer Ron Abel and lyrics by Chuck Steffan. The two began negotiations for the rights before Ted passed in 2008 and were since able to secure the rights with the Key estate. Lissa Levin, the Edward Kleban Award-winning playwright and Emmy-nominated producer […]
I buy comic collections for a number of reasons. Pure entertainment, “behind the scenes” information, interesting comic history and love of the art (or humor). A good book satisfies more than one of these justifications. The latest Doonesbury book, Doonesbury and the Art of G.B. Trudeau by Brian Walker, hits all of them in spades. […]
Chip Kidd of Rolling Stone Magazine has interviewed Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau to mark the 40th anniversary of the strip. Rolling Stone has also posted 10 Doonesbury strips picked by Garry as his favorites. It also includes Garry’s narrative as to why he selected that cartoon. A selection of the interview: How did Doonesbury come […]
Slate has posted what they view as the 200 Greatest Moments of Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of G.B. Trudeau’s Doonesbury, Slate and Doonesbury.com invite you to enter the feature’s 14,600-strip archive and wander to your heart’s content. For the next two weeks this vast labyrinth of storytelling and interconnected lives, […]
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Garry Trudeau’s Doonsbury strip. Here is the first strip:The Guardian reports that Garry’s career was somewhat an accident: The strip had come about almost by chance. Trudeau had been having a bit of fun as a third-year Yale student, dabbling with a sports cartoon called Bull Tales based on […]
Nicole Hollander, creator of Sylvia, was interviewed in The Tablet about her 30 years in comics and her new collection “The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 Years of Graphic Misbehavior from Reagan to Obama.” Speaking of absurdities, in the section on the earliest strips, you mention regretting depicting Reagan as a moron for so long, because it […]
I missed this on TV, but CBS has posted the 13 minute 60 Minutes segment online. The TV News magazine revisits the popularity of Charles Schulz’ Peanuts and rebroadcasts an 1999 interview with Sparky himself.
Alison Bechdel, creator of Dykes to Watch Out For and the graphic novel “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” recently spoke to the 11th annual Stonewall Lecture recently spoke to the 11th annual Stonewall Lecture at Dartmouth College. The topic was creativity and community and she addressed how her work was about a community but part […]
Sunday Press Books has announced that will be offering Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland on the iPad. The series will be introduced with a free mini-book preview, Little Nemo in Christmasland.Sunday Press owner Peter Maresca sees the iPad as a viable platform to display the giants of American comics. As former creative director for […]
In a USA Today interview, Jim Davis mentioned that his short run comic U.S Acres is now running on Garfield.com. U.S. Acres ran from March of 1986 through May of 1989 and features a group of barnyard animals. An animated TV show Garfield and Friends was based on characters from U.S. Acres. Looking through the […]
Charles M. Schulz widow, Jean Schulz, is profiled and interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding her life after her husband’s death and her role in tending to Sparky’s legacy. Q: Ten years after he passed, are you still learning new things about your husband? A: Absolutely. I was always doing my own things. He […]
Bill Boyarsky, writing for LA Observed, recounts the rocky history of Paul Conrad’s employment with the LA Times toward the end of his official career with the paper in the mid-90’s. Otis Chandler steadfastly protected Conrad from criticisms from conservative Chandler family members and Times Mirror executives, who didn’t feel the camaraderie that Conrad shared […]