Andertoons Cartoon Blog

Christian Science Monitor Lynching

Hey, just a heads up that Andertoons Cartoon Blog reader, commenter, and all around nice guy, Mike "Blind Lemon" Lynch is quoted in an article about Blondie in the Christian Science Monitor.

Cool, no?

"Little Leather Riding Hood" - Part 3

Welcome to Day 3 of "Little Leather Riding Hood!"

(If you're just tuning in, make sure you read the previous two posts so you don't get lost in my intricate sixth-grade plot!)

Click below for 1024 x 768 scans:

• Pages 8 & 9
• Pages 10 & 11

More tomorrow...

"Little Leather Riding Hood" - Part 2

Welcome to Day 2 of "Little Leather Riding Hood!"

This is a book I wrote and illustrated in sixth grade. I dug it out of the attic and thought it'd be fun to share.

(If you're just tuning in, make sure you read yesterday's post first so you don't get lost!)

The plot thickens today! Click below for 1024 x 768 scans:

• Pages 4 & 5
• Pages 6 & 7

More tomorrow...

"Little Leather Riding Hood"

I was doing some more garage rafter scavenging and ran across another piece of my artistic childhood -- "Little Leather Riding Hood."

It's Little Red Riding Hood told with a motorcycle, a well-meaning wolf and some nunchucks.

The illustrations aren't bad for a sixth-grader, and the writing earned its share of "interesting" and "very creative" comments from my teacher.

Click below for 1024 x 768 scans:

• Cover & page 1
• Pages 2 & 3

I'll be posting new pages every day this week, so be sure to stop back and watch the story unfold!

No. 2's Are #1

I love pencils!

Before I was a full-time cartoonist, my inky cubicled coworkers would mock my Ticonderogan tendencies, but I continue to grip graphite to this day.

I love the feel of it rubbing against the paper. I love the hexagonical shape in my fingers. And I love the warm gray against the bright white surface.

My absolute favorite pencil? The American Natural. The smooth unfinished body and firm but yielding graphite has sketched untold thousands of my cartoons.

So, you can imagine my joy when Drawn! pointed out the relatively young Pencil Revolution! Go check it out, it's fascinating.

Cartoon/Comic Creators Combat Censorious Creeps

Good article here on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and attempts at censoring cartoons & comics.

My favorite quote is this from Frank Miller:

"We don't have the massive clout that Hollywood does,'' says Miller, whose "Sin City" was released as a movie this year. "These censorious creeps out there are less willing to go after Warner Bros. than Joe's Comics Shop.''

"Censorious creeps." Don't you just love the way that rolls off your tongue?

Cartoon Network "Sponsors" Dodgeball Team

OK, it's a stretch, but it's my blog and I can publish what I like.

The IUSB Dodgeball Club got some free Adult Swim t-shirts from Cartoon Network, and recently won the outdoor championship in my own hometown, which they misspelled in this article.

Perhaps if IUSB concentrated less on pelting each other will rubber balls and more on spelling they could get more than t-shirts.

A Look At What Some Chinese & Two Free Months Will Get You

Listen, I'm not a Penny Arcade fan. I don't read it, I don't understand it, and I really don't care.

But, they're pretty successful thus far, and this article has an interesting look at their inner business workings.

A short excerpt:

We've evolved into a media company--Gabe and Tycho create content that people in the gaming industry rely on to make informed decisions (much like our filthy competitor GameSpot!). So to an extent we follow the same revenue models other media outlets do. But I didn't say we're not a comic strip all together--we also have the ability to study the businesses of Garfield and Peanuts and the way they've leveraged those brands. We have merchandise; we syndicate the strip out and we've even just signed on with Dark Horse Comics to publish our books (the first one releases in December). We also just signed on with Sabertooth Games to create our first collectible card game battle box in their Universal Fighting System.

Nepal Cartoonist Wanted

And Rob Rogers thought he had it bad over that Hiroshima cartoon!

Reporters Without Borders today called for the immediately withdrawal of the arrests warrants issued for a cartoonist and five newspaper executives over a allegedly "subversive" cartoon...

Link...

"Joe The Piranha" By Mark Anderson (9th Grade)

So my mom came out to visit a few weeks ago and brought with her a piece of Anderson family folklore I hadn't thought about in a while.

The year is 1985: Coke changes its formula, "Out of Africa" wins best picture, and a freshman Mark Anderson sits in Mr. Moore's creative writing class in Eldridge, Iowa.

To be honest, I don't remember how the idea came about, but I decided for my next assignment to do a children's book. But not just any children's book, one of those read-along ones that used to come with the little 45's. (My favorite was a Spider-man one where he battled some sort of dragon creature.)

I wrote and illustrated a weird little tale about a piranha that attacked his victims while they sat on the john, and, with the help of my family, recorded a read-along cassette with page turning noises, music, and everything. It was a hoot!

Well, "Joe the Piranha" was well received by Mr. Moore, and was apparently a big hit in the teacher's lounge as well. I was even asked to transfer the book to those clear overhead projector sheets and present it at a local school writing conference thingy. It was a big hit.

Anyway, my mom had kept the tape all these years and recently had it transferred to CD so future Anderson generations could experience my weirdness.

And it's in that spirit that I present to you, loyal blog readers, my 9th grade creative writing project, "Joe the Piranha."

Listen to "Joe"

(BTW, I think I still have the overhead sheets in the garage rafters somewhere, but I can't find them yet. But, honestly, the audio is the best part here.)