The last few months have been filled with dire news of layoffs and economic difficulties within the newspaper industry, so the New York Times wonders in this article (which ran in the Sunday print edition ) what happens to comic strips when their traditional distribution channel is struggling to stay afloat. The answer: digital distribution. Douglas Edwards, Uclick CEO, is interviewed and Uclick is spotlighted, particularly for the GoComics.com comics portal and our recentcomicslaunches on the iPhone. Click here to read the article.
Tim Rickard, creator of Brewster Rockit, is the featured guest on the latest Comics Coast to Coast show. Covered topics include Hee Haw, Star Trek, Lost in Space, Indiana Jones, MENSA, Dodge Coronets and more! Click here to listen.
Pooch Cafe creator Paul Gilligan answers all of the tough questions on the Universal Press Syndicate Editors Blog today:
Q: What is the best part of being a cartoonist? Worst?
Gilligan: The best part about being a cartoonist is getting to work in your underwear.Only we and Victoria’s Secret models get to do that, but we get to eat a lot more pudding.The worst part is the company Christmas parties.They’re not very entertaining when there’s only one employee.And of course someone always ends up drunk and doing something illicit in the closet, and then it’s just awkward on Monday.
Lee Judge, staff editorial cartoonist at the Kansas City Star, gave a special presentation at the Kansas City Central Library last night entitled "A Look Back!: Cartoons We're a Little Afraid to Show You." One of our GoComics Toonologists was in attendance and offered this review:
Judge thanked the crowd for braving the icy conditions admitting, "I wouldn't come out tonight to see me." He shared many of the cartoons that -- for a variety of reasons -- the editorial page editors of the Kansas City Star were unwilling to publish during his 27-year tenure with the newspaper. He also spoke about the challenges newspapers face to be provocative and interesting and commercially viable while also avoiding complaints and lawsuits.
My opinion:
Lee Judge puts on a top-notch comedy show. He killed. To me it was like going to Standfords except the food and wine were free and it was funny.
He had the crowd howling over his censored comics and seemed a bit surprised by how far over the line he could go and still get raucous laughter from the library crowd. In addition to sharing his comics, he was generous with his time, taking questions as long as people were willing to ask them. He described giving the presentation as a "privilege", clearly enjoying the live feedback that newspaper cartoonists don't normally receive.
What can we say about The Doozies that hasn't been said countless times in the strip's near-70 years of existence?
Everyone knows the strip follows the antics of Dean Doozie, a lovable boob, who has an understanding wife and an adorable daughter. Is there anyone on earth who isn't aware that the strip was created in 1939 by Flaude Gammill, and that it helped popularize the phrase, "a real doozy?" You would have to look under quite a few rocks to find someone who hadn't heard that The Doozies is now being drawn by Flaude's grandson, TV writer/producer Tom Gammill (The Simpsons, Seinfeld, SNL), who has recently added such innovations as characters playing video games and women wearing pantsuits.
Well, we'll tell you all of that stuff anyway, despite the fact that Tom Gammill made up all of those historical Doozie facts in a shameless attempt to drum up interest in this brand new, completely original and hilarious strip (but he really is a TV writer/producer for all of those shows, and really has a grandfather named Flaude). You can just pretend like you already knew, since you were about to do that anyway.
The Doozies is the latest addition to GoComics.com.
Here's Tom on YouTube, with Lesson One of his video series "Learn to Draw with Tom Gammill":
And for a few more Tom Gammill comics, visit Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts website and click on the "Don't Let This Happen to You" cartoon ad on the lower left. Then buy another copy of all of Handey's books, of course.
Inside the doors of Universal Press Syndicate a lot of smart people, but they’re busy, so the rest of us have started a blog on the inside workings of a syndicate. While that might sound as exciting as a digestive disorder, the blog may be of some actual value to cartoonists looking for tips on how to become syndicated and for die-hard comic fans who want behind-the-scene glimpses of today’s comics. Go to http://gocomics.typepad.com/editors/and the next sound you hear will be that of a UPS editor giving you the uncensored truth about comics and the syndicate, while giving thanks for his/her job.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is available today at a staggering 47% off on Amazon.com from 10am-2pm PST! This 4-hour sale is your best chance to get every strip from Bill Watterson's masterpiece, preserved in a beautiful 3-volume hardback set. If there are any comic fans on your holiday shopping list (including you!), this is an offer too good to pass up!
Update: The sale is over, but you can still get The Complete Calvin and Hobbes for 37% off through the GoComics Amazon store. Just click on the ad below!
Brooke McEldowney's Pibgorn is now available on the iPhone and iPod Touch! In recent weeks, we've released three installments of "Mozart and the Demon Lover," a time-swap storyline in which Pibgorn and Geoff trade places in time with Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart and Anna Gottleib. While the legendary composer and star soprano find themsleves sequestered in the future under the watchful eye of the god-like Thorax, Geoff works frantically in the 18th century to keep the timestream intact by "composing" Mozart's late works from memory - all while knowing that the date of the real Mozart's death is quickly approaching...
Pibgorn joins Scott Meyer's hit webcomic Basic Instructions and a plethora of comic book titles - including Tales of the TMNT, GODLAND and more - Uclick has recently launched on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Search "Uclick" on the App Store (from your iPhone or iTunes) to browse the entire collection of comic book and comic strip titles currently available.
