Andertoons Cartoon Blog

When Worlds Collide: The Edward G. Robinson/Dick Van Dyke Show SNAFU

Oh yeah, the Gold Key DICK VAN DYKE comic book. And there's Millie and Jerry and Mel and Buddy and Sally and Mary and Edward G. Robinson! Say wha ---? Above Mr. Robinson's head is a real cover of the real comic book. The one and only Mark Evanier has written a great story about how Edward G. Robinson wound up in the world of Dick Van Dyke here. Please read for lots of large laughs!

And join me next week when Pickles will be played by Judy Holliday!

The Explaining Hand -- A Cartoonists' Obsession

I was chatting with some cartoonists and we were talking about the over-reliance on this gesture. Once you start looking for it, you see it a lot. A character is talking, usually some kinda expository dialogue, and the cartoonist draws him/her with this hand out, palm out "explaining hand" gesture.

Above, kind and sweet syndicated cartoonist Stephanie Piro and slob magazine cartoonist Mike Lynch demonstrate the technique used.

There are some other choices, more interesting choices that the cartoonist could have made, but the explaining hand is old reliable. Here are examples from 6 syndicated features dated March 29:

I see it a lot and it's getting cliched. Or maybe I'm the only one seeing it. Maybe I'm the only one obsessing over it. Maybe I need to get out of my Brooklyn apartment and live life. Oh, who the hell am I kidding? It's gorgeous out there today, but blogging about all things cartoony must continue! I apologize for mentioning the outside world. Let's get another cup of coffee and continue to ruin our posture hunched over the computer. Onward!

The king of the gesture's gotta be the new strip GIRLS AND SPORTS, using the EH a dozen times in the 5 strips below.

And I'm guilty of it too ...

Glad that's outta my system. Maybe you'll all start obsessing about it now. Yeah, that's it! If I passed my obsession on to you, then this has all been worth it!

From the Guy Who Gave You BATMAN: TIRED AND CHEESED OFF in the 1980s ...

Frank Miller's graphic novel series SIN CITY opens April 1st. Everyone knows about it since it's being promoted up the wahzoo, or, depending on your location, the ying-yang. I don't know that much about the movie, but I'm an American and that means that that won't stop me from giving some my ill-formed opinions:

Robert Rodriguez insisted comic book auteur Frank Miller direct. This is against the Director's Guild rules. So, Rodriguez resigned. The last guy I know who did that was George Lucas. For a big-time director guy insist that the visionary comic book guy direct is reason enough to see this one.

And look what they did to that sweet Gilmore Girl (above). They turned that nice fast-talking pastel-wearing cutie all gothy!

And, more importantly -- Chicks in S&M gear: much more interesting than a guy in a bat suit!

Yesterday, I saw a bus on Adams Street, in downtown Brooklyn. It had this big "John Travolta in THE PUNISHER" advertisement. The poster was worn and peeling, but it was still hanging on to the side of the bus. Bad comic book movies can be so bad ... I hope that SIN CITY is "Internet buzz"-worthy.

"A Comic Strip Reveals a Secret to a Pretty Girl Artist in DEATH DRAWS THE LINE"

"Death mysteriously strikes down top-flight cartoonist -- twelve unpublished comic strips disappear -- a nude woman holds a supernatural rendezvous in a dead man's studio -- a blue sedan roars down upon two persons in a cab ... purpose: death for two -- and murder strikes again and again in this exciting mystery which reveals some unusual trade secrets of the men who create newspaper comic strips." Ooh! Yup, just another day in the life of a cartoonist!

Now, why isn't this old Dell paperback still in print? It's got a wonderful cover by artist Harry Barton. Dig her pearls and nice hairdo! She's high maintenance. This guy's strip must've been in 2000+ papers for her to be that well-coifed!

From Chapter 3, "Cartoonist in a Tailspin:" " ... it got so he was too drunk most of the time to do the drawing."

You see? One of the trade secrets revealed! "Drawing While Drunk" is one of the regular symposiums at the Cartoonists Association. Why, this tale is as contemporary a story as when Mr. Iams wrote it in 1949!

OK, now I know. It's right there on the back cover. Cartoonist "Zeke Brock's" apartment is in the West Village. This ruins the believablity! This is back when a cartoonist could afford to live in Manhattan!

Lo Linkert -- 1923-2002

Lo Linkert was born in Westphalia, Germany. He served in the German army. Lo was a paratrooper and almost became a "dead duck when on August 26th, 1944, at St. Lo, Germany, a grenade blew my left lung out." He spent a couple years in a Wittmundhaven, a Canadian POW camp. He drew caricatures in the hospital. The going rate was one caricature earned one carton of cigarettes. "I ... became the richest soldier (in cigarettes) because if you had cigs you had everything!"

After the war, he returned home. Lo had lost touch with his wife, but through the Red Cross, found her in the Russian sector in 1946. The next decade, Lo was a freelance artist, drawing posters for MGM and 20th Century Fox. He also did a nightclub act, drawing caricatures in nightclubs for US troops.

In 1956, he moved his family to Canada. He had little knowledge of the English language. "Looking back now, we don't know how we did it." It took him seven years of perisistant submissions before making his first North American sale to the Saturday Evening Post. But thru hard work, and the support of his wife Inge, he managed to be in all the major gag markets of the day, produce 24 books, as well as 1500 greeting cards.

There is a story that my cartoonist colleague and friend Dave Carpenter (www.carptoons.com) tells. I'm going to relate it here with his permission. He and Lo would chat about the state of the cartooning business, the diminishing magazine markets, and so on. After complaining about a particular editor, Lo said in his German accent, "Well, still, this is nothing to complain about compared to the jerks I used to work for!"

"So if you want to be a cartoonist, be sure that there is nothing else in the world that you want to be, work hard and practice self-criticism to the utmost. Make sure every new cartoon you draw is better than the last one. Be sure that it will seem funny to most people. You can't please them all. Work fast because speed gives you a distinct style. Slow lines look stiff."

Andertoons Regime Takeover

(Quick note here - Outstanding cartoonist and good friend Mike Lynch has agreed to take over the blog for the next five days. Unfortunately when I explained to Mike how everything worked, I neglected to tell him how wide the graphics could be. Mike did a beautiful first post with great art, but, thanks to me, the art was all just a tad too big. So, I've resized each piece for the blog itself, but now you can also click on each graphic to see it at the size Mike intended. Anyway, enjoy Mike's contributions, and I'll see you next week!)

Hi, I'm Mike Lynch and I'm subbing for Mark Anderson while he takes this week off. Please be advised that my opinions do not reflect Andertoons or its subsidiaries.

Thanks to my dad (or blame, depending on how sales are going ) handing down his "Pogo" books, and his "Barnaby" collection, I always was dabbling in cartoons.

I went to school, moved to NYC ...

I began a career as a college administrator. Developed a side career illustrating recital posters for the music students at the conservatory where I worked and sold the occasional cartoon. I changed careers, doing desktop publishing and computer graphics for Goldman Sachs and Deloitte & Touche. But I always dreamed of being a full-time cartoonist and a member of the National Cartoonists Society.

In late 1999, I left my last salaried position and went freelance full-time. After a couple of attempts to get a strip syndicated, I started doing single panel cartoons and submitting them to the magazines.

After 6 months, when I had about 100 cartoons in circulation to the various markets, sales started to dribble in. Since then, I have sold hundreds of cartoons to publications in North America and Europe and am co-chair of the Long Island Chapter of the NCS (the Berndt Toast Gang).

A question cartoonists are often asked is, "Where do you get your ideas?" This guy,

Esquire cartoonist Dan A Runyan, figured out a way to answer that question and make a buck doing it. He developed the "Laugh Finder", a Depression-era "computer" for aspiring cartoonists I recently came across on EBAY. From the cover: "The Laugh Finder is a collection of the fundamental sources of humor that keep repeating themselves in cartoons.... With this comprehensive collection of cartoon fundamentals, the variety of combinations you can create from them is almost infinite. You simply spin for your combinations." Who needs to write gags? Who could resist?

Above is the front of the thing. It opens up like this ...

... revealing long lists of characters, places, accessories -- and the spinner that you use to put all the elements together:

So, by following the directions, I have all the elements I need! Hmm. I spin the dial to get my characters (dinosaur, party guest), an accessory (door) and a "basics of humor" situation (embarassment):

Yep, this thing's gonna pay for itself in no time!

See ya tomorrow! -- Mike

A Well Earned Vacation

My wife teaches first grade and has next week off for spring break, so I'm playing along and taking a well deserved break as well.

No new art, no writing (unless stuff pops into my head) and no blogging.

But fear not, gentle reader, your favorite cartoon blog will continue with hot cartoon news thanks to cartoon compatriot Mike Lynch, who's been kind enough to accept an offer to guest-blog next week.

Mike's not only a good friend, but a wonderful cartoonist whose work challenges me to try to stay at the top of my game.

I'm sure you'll enjoy what he has to say as he's a wealth of knowledge on all thing cartoon!

So, see you in a week or so, and play nice with Mike. Peace out!

Adult Swim Wants You! (To Be Funny...)

Lately I've been really into the whole Clone Wars thing over on Cartoon Network, and in my surfings I ran across this article.

It's a nice look behind the scenes at Adult Swim.

Hopeful writers often have no concept of what Adult Swim wants. Someone once pitched Weidenfeld a feature-film length script about a woman who discovers she has breast cancer, becomes a yoga instructor, finds love and recovers. In other words, the perfect Lifetime movie, but completely wrong for the fast-paced, "something different" comedy that the Adult Swim audience expects.

Many pitches are derivative twists on other Adult Swim shows, starring more defunct superheroes and classic cartoons. "People pour their hearts into these things, and they just aren't funny," says Weidenfeld. "It's like I break 10 people's hearts every day."

But Adult Swim needs fresh ideas. The staff is stretched thin with many people working triple duty on multiple projects. "There's like three people at [Atlanta's] Williams Street [lab]," says Weidenfeld, exaggerating for effect. "They can't produce any more shows."

Maybe I'll have to send them something. It'd be a nice change from syndicate rejection.

Check out the whole article here...

Mark Heath at The Comics Reporter

Spot the Frog creator, and frequent Andertoons Blog commenter, Mark Heath is the subject of a fascinating interview over at The Comics Reporter.

Not only is Mark a brilliant cartoonist, but he's a great writer as well. Check out this thoughtful excerpt:

"By default I have a Pogo-like strip -- in the way that a rowboat might suggest an ocean liner because both can float and take on passengers. But few would confuse one for the other. And Peanuts -- my prime inspiration -- is so big I can't really see it whole. It's just there, informing everything I do. I don't like to compare my strip to others because it would be ridiculous -- I'm the flea dodging an elephant's foot. I'd rather hop onto the elephant's back and see how far I can go."

The whole interview is like that! Dont miss this! Go read now!

Clone Wars Episode 23 Available

Watch it you will...