Laugh Tracks

Scribbling and scrawling

A couple of days ago in the Paris Review, Chicago-based cartoonist / comics scholar Ivan Brunetti posted a cool write-up featuring some of his recent projects and scribbles including a pretty amazing childhood drawing of a cat with a sword. I thought it was interesting that he referred to his childhood as his best period as an artist. There's something pure about childhood drawings, and many of the cartoonists I've talked to cite their grade school sribbles as almost direct inspiration for the characters and style they still employ today.

 

I also wanted to be a cartoonist growing up, but the drawings I produce never really evolved in style and tend to look like a cry for help / fodder for an extensive psychoanalysing that I'm not really ready to subject myself to. Plus they would most likley cost me whatever credibility I have as an evaluator of comic work.

 

Personal drama aside, I love it when the enthusiasm and spontaneity of childhood drawings work their way into an artist's professional/grown-up work. In addition to Brunetti's art on the Paris Review site, another good example is Savage Chickens on GoComics, which utilize yellow sticky notes and seemingly hurried drawings to produce a surprisingly put-together comic feature.

 

I also am a big fan of the post-it note portraits (ex. above) of our own Dave Coates, who writes about comics most every week right here on the GoComics.blog. Check out this online gallery of his drawings which are currently on display at a brick and mortar gallery in Kansas City.

Any other notable doodlers / sticky note scribblers I'm neglecting to mention? Let me know in the comments and I'll be sure to check them out and share them next time. Have a great weekend!

 

— Lucas

Related articles

GoComics Staff Pick: Savage Chickens by Doug Savage!

Power of imagination

Do you remember watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid? I sure do. I also remember when one day my normal cartoons were disrupted by this bizarre edu-taining cautionary tale titled "Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue." Garfield is the only GoComics property to put in an appearance here (and a rather lazy one at that), but I thought I'd post this as something of a counterweight to the current pro-legalization movement. The most terrifying part: When Kermit and Ms. Piggie take the wayward protagonist on a journey through his brain by harnessing "the power of the imagination." Truly bizarre stuff.

 

Also involving powers of the imagination is this helpful comics-drawing guide by Rip Haywire / Brevity / KidSpot powerhouse Dan Thompson. This panel is the second-step in his three-page post on drawing comics, and a helpful guide to anyone who doesn't want to draw their own empty panels on a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper.

 

 

Finally, I leave you with this mind-blowing + charming Frank and Ernest from a couple weeks ago. Hope you have a wonderful weekend from all of us here at GoComics HQ.

The weekend update: GoComics style

C'mon Captain. Et tu? Pirating was so 2008. (read more Break of Day here) 

— Gene

Oh, Horace, I feel your pain. Which is why I'm a big advocate for cereal (read more Dark Side of the Horse here) 

— Elizabeth

Ripley's Believe it or Not is such a consistently fascinating feature that it's easy to take for granted. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a nice article about the rags-to-riches tale of the real-life Mr. Ripley, who is the subject of a new book by Neal Thompson. "The awkward misfit-loner became the champion of the freakishness of others," Thompson writes. "He made it mainstream to be weird, teaching fans to gape with awe at America's chutzpah." Read more full-color Ripley's strips every day here at GoComics.

— Lucas

 

Still a more civil, productive exchange than congress can manage, am I right folks?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

— Dave

Saturday morning comics bender

During the course of my plotting out a blog post yesterday, I got carried away and started cruising around the GoComics archives until all of a sudden I looked at the clock and it was well after midnight, which meant a whole new set of comics for today, May 11. In the spirit of the Saturday morning cartoon-a-thons we enjoyed as kids, here's a few of the gems I found via the deliciously addictive GoComics app.

 

 

24/7 cartoons? Thatababy knows what I'm talking about.

 

A bit of classic cartoon superhero humor via La Cucaracha.

 

Lately I have been greatly enjoying Tom Horacek's Foolish Mortals, which features a new work of art each week. One of my favorite additions to the GoComics lineup in the past year.

 

 

Another recent winner is Aunty Acid. Here in the Midwest, people wear shirts with similarly sassy slogans that aren't half as funny/acidic as what Aunty has to offer. I really hope she branches out into apparel soon.

 

 

 

GoComics also offers several comics in Espanol including Trucutu, which English speakers know as Alley Oop. The Spanish-language storyline lags a bit behind the English one, but it reminds me a little bit of the Mexican soaps I watch in the employee lounge each afternoon while I'm supposed to be working. Tip: our Spanish-language comics are also a great way to learn Spanish!

 

 

Finally, a recent Frank and Ernest. These guys might not look like the brightest pair, but Frank's use of the phrase "circling the wagons" suggests he's been regularly reading the New York Times opinion page, where it has appeared several times in the past two weeks. One of the first rules of working with United Features syndicate properties, as told to me by a veteran salesman there: "Never, ever underestimate Frank and Ernest."

 

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with a new bundle of favorites. In the meantime, you're always welcome to share your own discoveries and recommendations in the comments and/or through the social media.

 

Happy trails,

 

Lucas

Catchin' up

 

Last month, GoComics began serializing Dan Thompson's series, "Rip Haywire and the Curse of Tangaroa," which reprises the 2011 graphic novel of the same name. A new installment in the saga will be posted on GoComics every Sunday. As Rip editor Reed Jackson advises, "take a peek inside the heart-stoppingly hilarious first few pages of this awesome-flavored, action-comedy blockbuster! No matter how freakishly large your seat is, we guarantee you'll be on the edge of it!

Also in recent GoComics creator news is Ruben "Tom The Dancing Bug" Bolling's video of cartoonists taking a stand against gun violence, which features original work by a score of top-flight cartoonists and narration by no less than Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore. 

 

 

Washington Post's "Comic Riffs" had the scoop in an interview with Bolling last week, which you can check out here.

 

That's about it for this little mini-post. In closing, enjoy this lovely slice of comic zen from the timeless Jim's Journal.

 

 

Take care,

 

Lucas

Timmy Fretwork + Record Store Day jamboree

 

Before there was Pastis' Timmy Failure, there was Richard Thompson's Timmy Fretwork, a ramblin' banjo man who occasionally visited the students of Blisshaven as the guest of Miss Bliss (who he was later engaged to). The artwork above is the 2004 introduction of Timmy Fretwork to readers of the Washington Post, and later, Cul de Sac. The character, who Richard says was based on five different people, was so memorable he inspired a song written by musician Rob McLaren.

 

Below is the Cul de Sac comic that first popularized the phrase that we all love and know in our hearts to be true.

 

Banjoing is pretty much the best. I haven't performed much, but I did get to play last year at a pig roast in an industrial part of Kansas City, trying my darndest to channel TF's considerable mojo.

 

Speaking of comics and music, a couple nights ago I went to see 22-year-old guitarist Daniel Bachmann (below) play as part of the Tompkins Square label's traveling road show.

 

Daniel's label is also selling this pack of 37 cards with illustrations by Shana Cleveland and information about "Obscure Giants of Acoustic Guitar." I haven't been this excited about picking up a pack of trading cards since the last pack of Donruss I bought back in 1989. Tompkins Square puts out some amazing music, from new releases to archival compilations and reissues, and you can listen to a few entire albums for free.

 

Tomorrow is also Record Store Day, and roughly 700 stores across the U.S. and elsewhere will be celebrating with special sales, in-store performances and festivities. In honor of vinyl's survival/resurgence, here are a few GoComics features of record to get you in the spirit, including one of the greatest Ziggy panels of all time.

 

The Flying McCoys

 

Garfield

'

 

Baldo

 

Calvin & Hobbes

 

The Elderberries

 

Ziggy

Have a great weekend, and tune in for more excellent comics next week on this here blog and every day on GoComics.com. So long for now,

 

— Lucas Wetzel

Kids, Bro...

Usually I post on Fridays, but I was busy planning a birthday party for my 1-year-old daughter this weekend, whose official birthday is today. I've only been a parent for a year (and am yet to be visited by the dreaded Boogie Curse) but I already feel like I can relate to this Monty from 2012.

Hope you all have a great start to the week!

 

— Lucas

A GoComics salute to Roger Ebert

As an editor at Universal Uclick, I get to read not only comics but also a variety of puzzles and text features, among them Roger Ebert's weekly film reviews. By the time they got to me, Roger's reviews had already been through the Chicago Sun-Times copy desk as well as another editor here, so my involvement was something of a formality. However, just reading his reviews a little bit ahead of publication — and subsequently seeing many of the films he either lauded or panned — made me feel like we had something of an ongoing dialogue about cinema. Seeing all the tributes to Roger's life and work pop up in the last 24 hours, it's clear many thousands of others felt the same way.

 

While I could go on expressing my admiration for Roger and the joy de vivre with which he approached his life's work, instead I'd like to pull a few classics from the GoComics vault to show how much of a cultural touchstone Roger Ebert had become. Before I do, I'd just like to issue one final salute to a man whom I never met, but whom many of my colleagues in the Andrews McMeel family had come to love and admire. Rest in peace, sir.

 

Heart of the City, Jan. 2, 2003

 

Adam @ Home, May 24, 1996

 

Doonesbury, June 11, 1998

 

Ziggy, August 2, 1990

 

The Argyle Sweater, October 17, 2008

 

Close to Home, Nov. 11, 2003

Goose eggs

This brilliant Brevity from 2009 sums up many Americans' aversion to the game of soccer (aka "football," as the rest of the globe calls it. The last Sporting Kansas City game I went to ended in a 0-0 tie, as did their game the following week. On Tuesday, the U.S. Men's National Team made it out of Azteca stadium in Mexico City with a 0-0 tie, which earned them one point and was viewed as something of a victory. Sounds strange, but that's just how this game is. And hey, at least there's no break in the action aside from halftime.

 

If more high-scoring affairs are more your thing, this is a great time of year. The first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tourney took place in Kansas City, and I got to attend a few of them. Most of us around here are cheering for KU and Wichita State, but a Florida Gulf Coast Final Four run would be pretty cool, too.

 

In closing, here's an Easter-themed Savage Chickens that I'll sticky note here to close out this post. Have a great holiday weekend!

 

Friday fun pack

One of my favorite Big Nate characteristics is his tendency to bop himself in the head with an empty plastic soda bottle in moments of stress. Big Nate creator Lincoln Peirce demonstrates how to draw this activity (as well as demonstrating the activity itself) in this fun video from our pals at Andrews McMeel.

 

 

In other book-related news, Mark Leiknes' "Cow and Boy" may no longer be in print newspapers, but a brand-new book collection of Cow and Boy strips is for sale on his site. Highly recommended!

 

 

 

Finally, I forgot to post this Marmaduke last week (from 3/6) though I meant to. Wait... did I say Marmaduke? I meant La Cucaracha. The lines get so blurred around here sometimes, as The Intern pointed out a few posts ago.

 

Have a great weekend!