The New Adventures of Queen Victoria sent me on a bum trip down memory lane this morning, not only based on my own bad memory but on a rumor that seems to have been incomplete.The rumor was that the Houston Chronicle was going through a design change that would put an end to its “build […]
Rob Tornoe has a piece over at Editor & Publisher entitled “Staff Cartoonists Make a Comeback.” The column isn’t so much as newspapers are hiring staff cartoonists again, but focuses on the changing role of the staff cartoonist. Rob cites Scott Stantis (Chicago Tribune) for his role in expanding the avenues for “readers to communicate […]
The long overdue Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips is now at the printers according to The BeatEach volume contains two years of Walt Kelly’s magnum opus. Since the first year started in mid-year, there’s room in the book to also include the pre-syndication Pogo strips he did for The New York Star, […]
Here’s the news: Stan Lee is suing the producers of the new Conan the Barbarian movie alleging that he bought the rights to the character in 2000 and during the 2001 bankruptcy his attorney made an illegal deal giving away the rights. According to Craveonline.com, the company that bought the rights has been using the […]
In “Heart of the City,” Dean is working on a new superhero comic and Heart is, as if often the case, less than impressed. Mark Tatulli seems to get more attention for his pantomime strip, “Lio,” than this older, more conventional strip, but there’s a lot to like in Heart.This is a moment of self-effacement […]
I swear I posted this before, but can’t find it in the archives. Interesting collection of film featuring the cartoonist who worked for the Chicago Tribune. Here’s the description of the film as posted by Hugo.An edited excerpt from the silent 1931 promotional documentary, “From Trees to Tribunes,” focusing on the Tribune company’s stable of […]
After Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis created a remembrance video of Mark Tatulli, Mark has finally fired back with his own video remembering Stephan.To ge this all in chronological order:First there was Lynn Johnston talking about her memories of Charles Schulz:Then Stephan posted a video about his memories of Mark.Then Mark fires back (video […]
Steve Skelton has announced that he has decided to hang up his 2 Cows and a Chicken feature that has been running on GoComics. Steve tells me his goal with the strip has always been to land a syndicate contract, but despite some interest by a syndicate, he can no longer dedicate the 25 hours […]
Pixar has unveiled plots for two new films in the works for release in 2013 and 2014. The first “Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs” will be directed by Bob Peterson and the story centers around the idea that the dinosaurs never went extinct and co-exist with humans. The second “Untitled Pixar Movie That Lets You […]
Great news from Joe Wos, founder and Executive Director of Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum. The little museum has announced that it will triple its size to allow for additional exhibits, a permanent collection display, reading rooms and expanded office space and storage.The ToonSeum was founded in 2007 and moved to the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to its […]
The Bluefield Daily Telegraph in WV has added Chad Carpenter’s Tundra to their line up and posts an interview about Chad and his strip.
This last weekend was the Baltimore Comic-Con! and with it the announcing of the Harvey Award winners. Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau beat out Ruben Bolling, Patrick McDonnell, Wiley Miller and Richard Thompson in the Best Syndicated Strip or Panel category. HARK! A VAGRANT creator Kate Beaton took the best online comic artist.The rest of the […]
I was trying to thin out the boxes of stuff in my closet this weekend and came across this example of “Freckles and His Friends” from the 1920s, probably 1923 or 24. Back in the 1990s, I produced a weekly historical piece for the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh, NY, that involved going back through all the […]
The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, with a commentary on the state of education.Edison Lee is a solid little strip that will celebrate five years of syndication in November, and John Hambrock has managed over that time to develop a good sense of the ridiculous, after a period in the early days of being too […]
When I saw Norm Feuti at the One Fine Sunday exhibit in Boston this spring, we talked a little bit about Marla’s ongoing plan to open her own store and he told me he was going to do something with Retail that might be risky.So I’ve been watching the strip since then, trying to figure […]