‘Last of the Funnies’ Explores News-less Future
Last of the Funnies is a new novelette from Mike Cope, a Canadian cartoonist. The 80-page book has garnered some positive comment with Editor& Publisher noting, “One thing the book wrestles with is the issue of digital copyrights in a virtually paperless world. Cope also pays homage to characters, people, and organizations tied to comics — including The Yellow Kid, Rube Goldberg, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and the National Cartoonists Society.
"The Last of the Funnies concludes with an eight-page illustrated appendix featuring selected reference images from sources such as the NCS, Creators Syndicate, King Features Syndicate, and the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library.”
Daily Cartoonist describes it this way, “After a worldwide energy and economic crisis, newspapers have ceased production and nearly every form of art and entertainment is a digital simulation. In this seemingly impossible (but plausible) future, a crusty old cartoonist named Frost has a great gift to leave Giles, his only child. Frost is the creator of Li’l Nibs – the most celebrated comic strip about four little aliens who crash-landed on Earth during the crisis and aptly announced, ‘Weez Comez in Peez!’
“However, to Giles, the funnies have caused nothing but conflict in his life. He’s grown to resent Frost’s crudely hand-drawn creations. But as the young Virtual Art professor soon learns, things aren’t always as they appear.
“Like a cartoon wizard behind ink-stained curtains, Frost weaves a whimsical tale about the origins of the funnies, web comics, and a terrorizing menace that threatens to kidnap every artist’s childhood dreams!
“Whether Giles believes it or not, the fate of the funnies is in his hands . . .”
Sounds sort of like the short story (by Harry Harrison?) about the last comic book artist, in a world where machines have almost totally eliminated the profession – which, in itself, was like a highly-compressed version of the idea behind Leiber's novel, "The Silver Eggheads".Both stories are rather frightening.