Tagged: Cartoon

George Carlin: Death and Coincidence

George Carlin: Death and Coincidence

This editorial cartoon was published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, before word of George Carlin’s death.

I know this is a somewhat different definition of the word "comic" than we usually address here on ComicMix, but Carlin did much – perhaps more than anybody else – to mold and shape our attitudes over the past 40 years. He will be greatly missed.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to the Chicago Tribune’s Charlie Meyerson. His paper also published this cartoon before news of Carlin’s death.

And no, I won’t say "passing." Carlin hated such euphemisms. 

Behind the New Yorker’s Jack Kirby Cartoon Ripoff

You’ve likely heard a bit about a recent cartoon in the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest (seen at right) that was a pretty direct ripoff of an old Jack Kirby cover. The New York Post, among others, called it plagiarism.

This doesn’t delve too much into that debate, but Patrick House, the man who won that caption contest, gives an explainer at Slate.com about the formula he used to win, and what it says about the New Yorker.

His winning caption, by the way, was: "O.K. I’m at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?"

He also touched on the differences between this cartoon and the Kirby original:

And what better archetype of urban ennui could there be than a man in a cardigan holding a drink, yapping on his cell phone while blissfully unaware of looming dangers? A very similar cartoon by Jack Kirby from 1962 — similar enough to lead the New York Post to shout plagiarism — has the person inside the window frightened and cowering, sans drink, glasses, or phone. But that was 50 years ago, and drudge and complacency have settled on the urban landscape sometime between now and then. You must look for these themes in your cartoon and pounce.

Happy Birthday: Hergé

Happy Birthday: Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi was born in Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium in 1907. He was still in school during World War I, when Brussels was occupied by the Germans, and doodled images of the invaders in his notebooks.

In 1920 he attended the collège Saint-Boniface and joined the Boy Scouts troop there. His first published drawings were in the school’s Scout paper and in the monthly Boy Scouts magazine Le Boy-Scout Belge. In 1924 he began signing his illustrations “Hergé,” the French pronunciation of his first and last initials reversed. He would keep the pseudonym for the rest of his life.

After finishing school, Hergé worked at the Catholic newspaper Le XXe Siècle. In 1926 he published his first cartoon series, Totor, in Le Boy-Scout Belge. In 1928 Hergé was given responsibility for Le XXe Siècle’s weekly children’s supplement, Le Petit Vingtième.

In 1929 he debuted a new strip of his own creation there, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. Tintin became an immediate success, and Hergé produced new Tintin adventures right up to his death in 1983—the 24th and last one, Tintin and Alph-Art, was published unfinished.

Hergé received many awards during his lifetime, including the Harvey, the Eisner, the Adamson, and the Grand Prix Saint Michel. He was posthumously inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003.

 

When Superheroes Get Old

When Superheroes Get Old

Geriatric superheroes appear to be all the rage these days, as a number of sites are linking to Italian artist Donald Soffritti’s illustrations of Superman, Spider-Man and a variety of other super-types in their Golden Years. Soffritti’s work is great, and I can’t help but giggle every time I look at his take on DC speedster The Flash.

(And please, for everyone’s sake, don’t tell DC/Warner Bros. about this stuff.)

(via ComicNerd.com)

 

Along the same lines, BoingBoing points us to a similar piece that fast-forwards the age of popular cartoon characters, including Popeye, Felix the Cat and Dennis the Menace (my personal favorite).

 

Happy Birthday: Brad Anderson

Happy Birthday: Brad Anderson

Born in Jamestown, New York in 1924, Brad Anderson started cartooning as a child. He attended Brocton Central School for high school, and while there sold his first cartoons (to an aviation magazine).

Anderson served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then attended Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts. After graduating college, Anderson focused on advertising for a few years, but in 1953 decided to turn his full attention back to cartoons.

A year later, he created the cartoon strip Marmaduke. He still draws the strip today. In 1976, Anderson received the National Cartoonist Society Award for Best Panel, and in 1999 Syracuse University honored him with the George Arents Pioneer Medal.

Editorial Cartoon Investigated as ‘Hate Literature’

Editorial Cartoon Investigated as ‘Hate Literature’

Nova Scotia newspaper The Chronicle Herald has vowed to defend an April 18 editorial cartoon by award-winning cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon after police received a complaint that the cartoon could qualify as "hate literature."

The cartoon (pictured here) depicted the wife of Qayyum Abdul Jamal, who was arrested in 2006 on terrorism-related charges that involved an alleged plot to bomb targets in Toronto and Ottawa. Jamal’s wife, Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, told The Herald that she intended to sue the federal government after the charges against her husband were stayed.

According to various reports, the cartoon was reported as potential "hate literature" to local police, but law enforcement officials are still determining whether a crime actually took place.

According to Dan Leger, director of news content for The Herald, "We will vigorously defend (the cartoon) and it would be an abuse of process for them to even contemplate initiating any type of action against the newspaper."

 

(via Journalista, ComicsReporter and just about everywhere, really)

Happy Birthday: Howie Schneider

Happy Birthday: Howie Schneider

Born in the Bronx, NY in 1930, Howie Schneider is best remembered for Eek & Meek, the comic about two mice (later two men) he created for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) in 1965 and ran for 35 years.

Schneider also published several cartoon books, wrote a daily cartoon called Unschucked for the Provincetown Banner after he moved there in the mid-1970s, and in 2003 launched a new daily syndicated strip, The Sunshine Club. Schneider served on the Newspaper Features Council board for 20 years, and on the National Cartoonists Society board for eight.

He won the New England Press Association award for Best Editorial Cartoon twice. Schneider died in 2007 from complications after heart surgery.

On this day in history: Sting gets animated

On this day in history: Sting gets animated

Sixteen years ago, a musical icon made his cartoon-self debut on "The Simpsons" when sexy yogi and former "police"man Sting appeared on an episode called "Radio Bart."

In it, Bart’s practical joke turns ugly when all believe a little boy is trapped in a well. Sting helps fund raise for the cause by releasing a song called, "We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well."

Aw, Sting, waddaguy.

Here’s the song. We couldn’t actually get the clip from The Simpsons, because Fox has been exceptionally snarky with YouTube of late– so you’ll have to make do with this version, recast with Inayashu characters.

 

Keith Olbermann reads the comics on Countdown

Keith Olbermann reads the comics on Countdown

Last Friday, Keith Olbermann pulled a Fiorello LaGuardia and read a cartoon from this week’s Village Voice on his MSNBC show, Countdown. The cartoon, "Bill O’Reilly’s Very Useful Advice For Young People (As Channeled By Vile Left-Wing Smear Merchant Tom Tomorrow)" can be seen here, and the reading– well, just watch:

Remember kiddies, that’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, and if you watch it, you’ll go to Hell too because you hate America. On the other hand, if you’re going through Daily Show and Colbert Report withdrawal as the writers strike drags on, give it a shot.

BIG BROADCAST: A Girl and Her Dinosaur

BIG BROADCAST: A Girl and Her Dinosaur

The Big ComicMix Broadcast starts our Second One Hundred with an exclusive preview of another Phase Two Project cooking up FREE from ComicMix. You take a cute girl, toss in a cartoon dinosaur and stir up a lot of wacky adventures and out pops Andrew Pepoy’s The Adventures of Simon & Ajax!

Plus Superman has the Deadline Doom, the Top Ten Comics & Graphic Novels are revealed and we play a game of "Where Did I Hear That Before"??

Simone likes people who PRESS THE BUTTON