Andertoons Cartoon Blog

Kids Cartoon in Brandweek

Brandweek readers may have noticed one of my kids cartoons in the September 19, 2005 issue.

Those of you who missed it, go check it out!

Psychology Cartoon in Commonweal

Hey, one of my psychology cartoons is in the September 23, 2005 issue of Commonweal.

Check it out, won't you?

If I Were CartoonistMan...

...my arch-nemeses would be:

The Crybaby

Powers - Deafening whine

Weakness - Unable to look forward

Battle Cry - "There's used to be so many great markets..."

The Know-It-All

Powers - Giant inflatable head

Weakness - Krypto-new-idea

Battle Cry - "I've been in this business 40 years..."

The Inquirer

Powers - Assumes competition wants to help

Weakness - Unable to dial phone and/or use Google

Battle Cry - "Who's the editor there and what does it pay?"

Kids Cartoon in Funny Times

One of my kids cartoons is in the October 2005 issue of Funny Times.

Here it is...

Dog Cartoon in Forbes

One of my dog cartoons is in the October 3, 2005 issue of Forbes.

Check it out...

Cartoonversations

So last Friday I went downtown and hung out with some Chicagoland cartoonists for a few hours, and I gotta tell ya, it felt good.

There were some folks I didn't get the chance to really sit down and talk to, but I got into some good (and funny) discussions with Compu-toon's Charles Boyce, Sue Cargill of Commie Dog, and illustrators Brian Diskin & Neil Shapiro.

Most everyone brought a small portfolio to pass around, and Pat brought his copy of his new book, What Would Satan Do? and cell phone pics of his daughter.

So often being a cartoonist means working in your own little bubble. It's a funny bubble, and it's really comfortable, but a bubble nonetheless, so it was nice to be able to commiserate and goof around in some other bubbles for a while. Hopefully this will become more of a regular event!

New Panel Is Pure Bliss

You know what's weird, I'm not a big comics reader anymore.

Maybe it's the whole stay-at-home dad lack-of-free-time thing, or maybe it's being too involved in my own cartoon work, but I just can't find the time anymore except for a cherished few, and even those are more and more occasional lately.

But during a rare perusing of the paper the other day, I noticed a new panel in the Trib by New Yorker cartoonist (and illustrator of my son's perennial favorite Diary of a Worm) Harry Bliss!

His ComicsPage.com page is a tad sparse, and the captions read more like filenames (I'm assuming some sort of web snafu), but it's great to see this level of art and humor in a daily panel! Hats off to Tribune Media Services for getting Bliss on board!

Check it out, and write your editors and demand Bliss! (And while you're at it, demand Spot the Frog too!)

Checking Out The Locals

This Friday I'm meeting with some other cartoonists downtown for beer and whatnot, and I'm trying to learn a little about the local cartoon community so I come off as less of a boob. I found this on Pat Byrnes and his wife, Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan from a piece in the Trib's Sunday magazine:

The two met in a North Side sandwich shop four years ago and were married shortly after her inauguration as attorney general.

One of his favorite stories from his courtship is the time she insisted that the two of them try to help a woman caught in a domestic altercation on a city street.

On another occasion, he says, one of his neighbors was having a hard time as she struggled to care for an ailing husband and her own aging mother while holding a job and trying to organize a household move.

One day, while Madigan and he were outside his house, the woman pulled up to unload some boxes. "Lisa looked at me and said, 'Come on,' " he recalls. "It wasn't exactly an order, but it wasn't exactly a suggestion. She piled a stack of boxes in my arms, loaded up her own and marched up to the second floor flat before [the neighbor] could even figure out what was happening.

"Funny thing," he adds, "now that she is actually a mother, that instinct is even stronger. Not to sound too much like Mr. T, but I pity the fool who tries to mess with her these days." Madigan gave birth eight months ago to Rebecca Grace Madigan Byrnes, the first grandchild in the family.

Byrnes, a cartoonist, has a basement office in the couple's home in the 47th Ward. His work frequently appears in The New Yorker, and he is preparing to release a collection of his works entitled, "What Would Satan Do?"

Her influences on her husband sometimes show up in print. One of the framed Byrnes cartoons in Madigan's office depicts one lawyer saying to another, "Remember, we can only afford to do all this pro bono because of how much the anti bono pays."

I like Lisa and I think she's doing a good job, and Pat's work and example had a big influence on me early on. Nice little find, eh?

(I wonder what it is about smart, attractive, successful women like Lisa and my wonderful wife that attracts them to goofball cartoonists?!)

You can read the entire article about Lisa here. (Note to self, avoid admitting any illegalities to Pat Friday night...)

People With No Lives Open Hong Kong Disneyland

This from a Disney press release regarding the new Hong Kong Disneyland's opening:

Derrick Johnson was so elated when he beat thousands of people to become the second person to charge into the brand new Hong Kong Disneyland that he dropped to his knees, raised his arms and bowed to worship the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

O... K...

Robert Sher, from New York City, and Thomas Taffinder, from Orlando, Calif., came armed with sophisticated audio visual gear and a mental map of the park memorized from a virtual Internet tour.

I can just see these two quizzing each other... "OK, Tom, is Space Mountain east or northeast of the Software Pirates of the Caribbean?"

What keeps these grown-ups hooked on to the cartoon characters? "They keep on reinventing different things, unlike Universal or Six Flags," said Sher. "The idea of Disney doing another foreign country, with the Chinese Communist government - going for business like that is just amazing."

Yeah, EuroDisney turned out great! (Think EuroKrustyLand...)

Dougie Robertson, a 35-year-old businessman from Edinburgh, Scotland, said his favorite thing about Disney was the cheerful workers, or "cast members" in Disney lingo. "The cast members make people smile. It takes people back to their childhood. Smiling is a big thing," he said. "I believe in the magic."

Pretty much what I'd expect from a grown man who continues to call himself "Dougie."

Hosting Outage

Just a heads up... For those of you trying to use Andertoons.com, it seems that power outage in California has affected my servers. Hang in there while we regroup...

Thanks!