Andertoons Cartoon Blog

Conventional Disappointment

So this week I decided that it might be a good idea to leave the house once in a while and meet other people in cartooning and related industries. Cartooning is a wonderful profession for homebodies like me, but even we hermits like to mingle occasionally.

Mike Lynch (who filled in here at the blog my last vacation) recommended the Licensing Show coming up this summer and I was really excited about it and had already begun making plans to attend, but it turns out I had forgotten about some curriculum writing for school my wife had committed to the exact same three days of the convention.

I was really bummed out. I had planned to head into the New Yorker and use my not inconsiderable bulk to maybe scare Mankoff into a buy or two, have lunch with the cartoonists, walk the show with Mikey and just generally enjoy a cartoony couple of days.

I was grumpy for most of the night but then found some other conventions that looked like possibilities. The National Stationery Show in particular looked promising, but, again, to quote Sallah from Raiders of the Lost Ark, "bad dates."

But I am determined. The MoCCA Art Fest is a possibility, SPX looks like it has some potential, and I might even venture out to Comic-Con, but wherever I go, I'm only going to go to one convention this year.

Anyone have any advice?

Vote Paroubek!

The Czech Republic has a new Prime Minister, and according to Czech tabloid Blesk, he's a dead ringer for The Simpsons' Mayor Quimby.

Paroubek/Quimby

According to Yahoo News...

"Not only does Paroubek bear an uncanny resemblance to Quimby but like his cartoon counterpart he also served on the city council, for four years as deputy mayor. At 52, Paroubek is also just two years younger than Quimby."

You know, I wasn't convinced, but with a little help from our old friend Photoshop, I-yuh, er, am a believer.

Military Marvel

The United States Department of Defense has teamed with Marvel Comics to create a comic book for U.S. troops.

According to the New York Times (sign in required)...

"...the story features the Fantastic Four and the New Avengers on a mission to discover the origin of an ancient spacecraft found in Louisiana."

Over one million copies will be printed and distributed to troops as part of the D.O.D.'s "America Supports You" campaign.

Why do I see Operation Clobberin' Time in our military's future?

"The Art of The Incredibles" -Review

The Incredibles is one of my recent favorite movies, animated or no, in recent memory, so I'm glad to report that The Art of The Incredibles is great too.

There's not a lot of text, but, to be fair, you don't get a book like this to 'read' per se. This is a book you just want to gape at and revel in pure graphic splendor.

Organized into three main sections ("Meet the Parrs," "The Golden Years" and "Showtime"), you get an in-depth look at gobs of sketches and concept art presented big and beautifully.

Favorite art of mine included production designer (and voice of Bernie Kropp) Lou Romano's beautiful gouache work, and character designer Teddy Newton's pencil/markers and fascinating collages.

Kari concepts by Teddy Newton

Fans of the movie will really enjoy this, as well as illustration and design devotees.

I don't know if I'd pay $25.00 for The Art of The Incredibles, but if you can get you local public library to order it (hint hint!), by all means do!

24 Hour Comics Day

Saturday was 24 Hour Comics Day and cartoonists all over the world took the challenge.

Throughout the event/ordeal cartoonists chimed in via blog.

Here are some random quotes I found entertaining:

"With the Governator in charge of Sacramento, he comes to the rescue and solves our alien crash dilemma."

"Four words: Have a coffee bitch."

"There’s weird smells coming from outside. Kind of distracting, but also encouraging the artists to work that little bit faster."

"Zander: I totally set up a plot device that never got used at all.
Quillan: That’s the best part, the gift that keeps on giving.
Shad: What are you even saying Quillan?
Quillan: What does it say to you?"

“Here’s the stripeless zebra. It’s a horse. It’s a @&%@#^ horse.”

"What I wouldn’t do for a hand massage…"

Maybe I gotta try this next year...

Anyway, give the whole blog a read. It's a lot of fun.

The Out-Of-Towners

Hey everyone!

I've got family coming in to town today. I'm going to be vacuuming, doing dishes, and various other chores that will hopefully trick them into believing that I keep a clean house, so I'm taking a day off from the ol' blog.

See you on Monday!

(OK, if you're really really jonesing for your daily cartoon fix, go check out Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown.)

Cat Fight!

There's an interesting and entertaining article at Metaphilm.com in which Galvin P. Chow explains that Ed Norton's Fight Club character "is really Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes."

Picture this: a hyper, self-absorbed child initially concocts an imaginary friend as the ideal playmate, to whom more realistic qualities soon become attributed. This phantasm becomes a completely separate personality, with his own likes, dislikes, and temperament—and the imaginer and the imagined clash and argue constantly, though remaining fast friends. This pattern continues to the point where the child begins to perceive what was originally mere fantasy to be reality.

Just as Calvin has an imaginary jungle-animal friend named Hobbes, whom everyone else believes to be nothing but a stuffed toy, "Jack" in Fight Club has an imaginary cool-guy friend named Tyler, whom no one but Jack can see.

In both cases, the entity that began as the ideal companion soon took on a more realistic, three-dimensional quality. In other words, they became real. This is evident in that both Hobbes and Tyler also began to function as scapegoats for their creators. For instance, consider that Calvin often blames broken lamps and other assorted household mischief on Hobbes, and that Jack is inclined to believe that Fight Club and other various anti-society mischief is brought about by Tyler, not himself. Calvin claims Hobbes pounces on him every day after school; Jack believes Tyler beats him up next to 40 kilotons of nitroglycerin in a parking garage—the list goes on and on. The relationships between the two sets of friends are the exact same. Is this mere coincidence?

The whole thing is a hoot, and oddly fascinating, but I think this excerpt from the "Marla Singer—Avatar of Susie Derkins?" section is my favorite:

Somewhere between the end of high school and beginning of college, uptight, grade-obsessed Susie Derkins lost her way. The pressure to get good grades, the pressure to succeed, simply became too much for her, and she snapped.

Free from the protective bonds of her parents’ guidance and the bland safety of her suburban home, Susie loses her moral bearings entirely and sinks into a dark, seamy, grim world of sex, drugs, and eccentric Albert-Einstein-like hair.

Check it out if you got a few minutes...

Animal Cartoon in May/June '05 Saturday Evening Post

Another of my animal cartoons is in the May/June 2005 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
Here it is...

Animal Cartoon in May '05 Good Housekeeping

One of my animal cartoons is in the May 2005 issue of Good Housekeeping. Check it out...

Cartoon in May '05 Reader's Digest

One of my cartoons is in the May 2005 issue of Reader's Digest.

Here's the B&W version...