Category Archives: CARTOONING

BIG FUNNY SHOW OPENS THIS FRIDAY (August 7th, 2009) IN MINNEAPOLIS!

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If you enjoy this site and you live near the Twin Cities, you won’t want to miss the BIG FUNNY show my friends and I have been putting together over the last number of months. It opens this weekend, and it is going to be spectacular.

The show premieres BIG FUNNY, an oversized 48-page newspaper of comics by 45 different artists, inspired by the funnies sections of yesteryear. The gallery show features original art from the publication, numerous antique comic strips (some over 100 years old… many which have been featured on this site… they all look better in person), a retrospective of unknown cartoonist William Ede, and an old cigarette vending machine rigged up to sell small boxes of little funny mini-comics. Hope to see you there!

THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY IS COUGHING blood and gasping on its deathbed. Newspapers lost their relevance a long time ago, and with internet media blossoming they can no longer compete. Readers and advertisers have moved on.

Unfortunately, newspapers are taking their beautiful bastard child, the newspaper comic strip, with them.

Today’s newspaper comics are much-maligned… and deservedly so. Today’s small strips, with mostly predictable, safe themes and bland characters are a pale shadow of what newspaper comics were in their wild and colorful youth.

110-or-so years from their birth, it’s been a good run. Let us not mourn the death of the

newspaper comics… rather, let us have a wake to celebrate what they once were, and to build something new.

The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, Big Time Attic, and Altered Esthetics gallery are collaborating to produce an oversized newspaper comics section like they would do it today if they still did it like they did it in the old days.

It will be called BIG FUNNY, and it will be both.

The paper will premiere at a show at Altered Esthetics in August, featuring some of the original art from the paper, along with historical comics pages from the dawn of the last century.

BIG FUNNY Website.

City Pages A-List Review

Optical Sloth review

Poopsheet Foundation review

Newsarama review

Drawn Review

Amy Crehore’s Little Hokum Rag review

Photo gallery of the little funny sideshow


Can’t make the gallery show? You can buy copies of BIG FUNNY here.

Opening Reception
August 7, 2009 7pm-11pm
ALTERED ESTHETICS
1224 Quincy St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

SHOW RUNS AUGUST 7-29, 2009

GALLERY HOURS:
TUESDAY & THURSDAY 1pm-7pm, SATURDAY 1pm-5pm

INTERESTING LINKS: Pocket Cartoon Course at Scary Terry’s World & Good Time to Donate to The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library: June 17th, 2009

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On his Scary Terry’s World blog, cartoonist Terry Beatty has posted a wonderful little instructional booklet from 1943 called Pocket Cartoon Course. If you can identify the artist who drew it, he would like to know. Go check it out!

Terry has apparently been digging through his collections and plans on sharing more cool old stuff… like this great Nell Brinkley cartoon, for example.

ALSO OF NOTE:

Allan Holtz at the Stripper’s Guide blog notes that now is a very good time to give to The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library, which, by all accounts, has the most fantastic collection of comic art in the world:

The Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library has been given a $1 million gift by Jeanne Schulz (widow of Charles) for the renovation of a desperately needed larger facility for their ever-expanding holdings. This is great news. Even better, though is that Jeanne has pledged up to another $2.5 million dollars in matching funds for other donations to the library. In other words, for every dollar you give, Jeanne will match it with a buck of her own. Everything you can afford to give will go twice as far!

Here is a video on the subject, with a glimpse at their incredible holdings:

What are you waiting for?

Read more about this opportunity on the Stripper’s Guide blog here.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Walt Kelly’s Brownies : May 5th, 2009

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STWALLSKULL'S HEY! KIDS! COMICS!

TODAY’S FEATURED ITEM:

Another great issue of Four Color from Cool-Mo-Dee… Walt Kelly’s Brownies. I posted a link to another issue of Brownies that Cool-Mo-Dee posted the other day as well. Walt Kelly is easily one of my top ten favorite cartoonists of all time… he is endlessly inventive, uproariously funny, and his drawings are always gorgeous. His skill at character development and dialogue is unsurpassed in comics.

In spite of his popularity, very little of his non-Pogo work has been reprinted. I’m optimistic this might change soon for some reason… partially because there are two thick books of children’s comics coming out soon that will inevitably dazzle people’s eyes right out of their sockets.

One is edited is edited by Craig Yoe and is called Golden Treasury of Krazy Kool Klassic Kids’ Komics and one is edited by Art Spiegeman and Francoise Mouly called The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics.

The books are going to feature a LOT of wonderful neglected childrens’ comics by a LOT of great cartoonists… in addition to Walt Kelly: Carl Barks, John Stanley, Sheldon Mayer, Basil Wolverton, George Carlson, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Dr. Seuss, Syd Hoff, Jules Feiffer, Dan DeCarlo, and presumably a lot more. Since Kelly is one of the best, and has an enormous body of work for children that has never been reprinted, I hope it inspires a complete reprinting of this work over the coming years.

Note that in addition to having an eagerly-awaited complete Pogo reprinting in the works, Fantagraphics books has also been reprinting Kelly’s wonderful Our Gang comics (3 volumes released so far and a fourth on the way). This is currently the only Kelly work other than Pogo in print. Let’s hope that changes soon.

Click the Brownies cover above to go download the comic book. Kelly also had some of the most consistently beautifully colored covers on his comic books.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Dumbo’s Sky Voyage at Cool-Mo-Dee : May 4th, 2009

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Dumbo’s Sky Voyage is not the best comic on the list below… heck, it isn’t even close to being the best issue of Dell’s Four Color series on the list below (I mean, Carl Barks classic tales Lost in the Andes and Voodoo Hoodoo are down there! It doesn’t get any better than that! Why am I talking about Dumbo?).

I speak to you about it solely because I read my copy of it to my daughter the other week.

Even bad issues of Four Color (and this is a pretty bad one) are pretty entertaining. Dumbo is one of my favorite Disney cartoons, but this doesn’t preserve much of its charm. Dumbo talks in this comic (he’s silent in the movie), and his entertaining sidekick Timothy the Mouse is nowhere to be seen. Strangely, although Timothy and all other characters from Dumbo are completely absent, Doc from the Seven Dwarfs shows up (tangent: why is it dwarfs instead of dwarves when these imps are mentioned, anyhow?)… all Disney characters apparently living in the same shared Disneyverse. Needless to say, continuity was never a concern in the old Disney comics (at least not until Don Rosa’s excellent take on the Disney ducks). I think there was at least one other random Disney character that showed up somewhere in it… damned if I can remember at this point, and it takes too long to download and find out. My memory is lousy anyhow, and this is not a memorable comic. Kind of fun, though, and I’m a sucker for about any issue of Four Color. So, I liked it. But I can’t really recommend it! Maybe you just like old Dell comics like I do… you can download it by clicking the image above.

Don’t miss those Carl Barks comics, though! Square eggs!!!

Donald Duck in Lost in the Andes
Donald Duck in Voodoo Hoodoo

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Dynamic Boy at Pappy’s : April 24th, 2009

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TODAY’S FEATURED ITEM:

I could recommend a lot of good stuff from the below list (like Walt Kelly’s wonderful take on Disney’s Three Caballeros)… but today I will instead I will call your attention to this glorious train-wreck of a “Dynamic Boy” story at Pappy’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine. Clearly, I should not be trusted.

BIG FUNNY DEADLINE IN TWO LITTLE WEEKS! (May 1st)

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Things are moving fast… we are now two weeks from the BIG FUNNY deadline (May 1st). From the estimates we have received, it looks very likely that we will be able to do the whole publication in full color… so I hope participants will all strongly consider taking advantage of it!

Unless you make posters, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to get printed at such a huge size and in color… I can’t wait to be dazzled by what people do with it. It will be quite a unique publication… please do let all your cartoonist/poster artist/printmaker/designer/illustrator friends know about it, and encourage them to participate.

Specs and other information for the project can be found here on the BIG FUNNY website. There is also a text-only version of the information here.

I urge you to carefully read ALL of the information there before digging in, as the specs are particular… and we would really hate to have to reject people’s work because people didn’t follow the specs.

Here is a description of the project in the words of local hero Kevin Cannon at the Big Time Attic blog:

So I was over at the watercooler today, and a co-worker leans over his cubicle wall and says, “Hey Kev, what’s this ‘BIG FUNNY’ all the kids are talking about?” So I say, “Well, Doug, check the BTA blog in a few minutes and I’ll tell you!”

So here’s the scoop:

Minneapolis cartoonists have a tradition of curating a yearly show at the Altered Esthetics gallery in Nordeast Minneapolis. Last year we mounted Lutefisk Sushi: Volume C, which was a huge hit, had a ton of great contributors, and had an absolutely packed opening night party.

This August we’re doing something a little different: Big Funny, a nod to the glorious & wacky full page (and often full color) newspaper comics of the turn of the century). Where Lutefisk Sushi asked participants to create mini-comics and gathered them all up in a BOX, Big Funny is asking people to draw a 15.5″w x 20″h comic strip (color or bw) which will then be printed in a big fat NEWSPAPER.

The Big Funny gallery show this August will have original art from the Big Funny newspaper, as well as vintage turn o’ the century comics (thanks to collector extraordinaire Steve Stwalley). You’ll also be able to get your hands on the Big Funny newspaper — right now we’re thinking it’ll be 48 pages.

Interested in having your cartoon grace one of those pages? Here’s a quick guide to get you started:

1. Read through www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny. That should answer most of your questions.
2. Create your comic. Keep these specs in mind:
* Art should be 15.5″ (wide) x 20″ (high)
* If you’re doing color, make it 300 dpi
* If you’re doing black and white, make it at 1200 dpi
* You can submit more than one cartoon
* All submissions must be DIGITAL
* [This is a truncated list to get you started — PLEASE read the info on the Big Funny website!]

3. Content: This show is a nod to the old-timey comics, but your comic can be any style, theme, etc. Just try to be funny (it is called Big Funny, after all)
4. Deadline is MAY 1, 2009

Unlike Lutefisk Sushi, this is a juried show, which means that some comics won’t make it in the show. This has less to do with us being art snobs, and more to do with the complicated nature of putting a physical newspaper together on time and on budget.

We’ve already got a few submissions in (which, for a month before the deadline, is pretty outstanding), and they look great, so keep ’em coming!

If you have any questions, please read the Big Funny website. If you still have questions, please leave them in the comments section, and we’ll answer them there.

Here’s a BIG FUNNY chicklet for your website or blog:

INTERESTING LINKS: Skip Williamson’s Comics and Stories : April 16th, 2009

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TODAY’S INTERESTING LINK:

Underground cartoonist Skip Williamson (best known for Snappy Sammy Smoot) has one hell of an interesting blog at Salon.com (you can subscribe here). I believe the stories from it are at least partially from an autobiography he wrote or is in the process of writing, although that may not be the case. Note that Williamson has another blog called My Bitter Agenda here as well.

BIG FUNNY Deadline in One Little Month

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Things are moving fast… we are now a month from the BIG FUNNY deadline (May 1st). From the estimates we have received, it looks very likely that we will be able to do the whole publication in full color… so I hope participants will all strongly consider taking advantage of it!

Unless you make posters, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to get printed at such a huge size and in color… I can’t wait to be dazzled by what people do with it. It will be quite a unique publication… please do let all your cartoonist/poster artist/printmaker/designer/illustrator friends know about it, and encourage them to participate.

Specs and other information for the project can be found here on the BIG FUNNY website. There is also a text-only version of the information here.

I urge you to carefully read ALL of the information there before digging in, as the specs are particular… and we would really hate to have to reject people’s work because people didn’t follow the specs.

Here is a description of the project in the words of Kevin Cannon at the Big Time Attic blog:

So I was over at the watercooler today, and a co-worker leans over his cubicle wall and says, “Hey Kev, what’s this ‘BIG FUNNY’ all the kids are talking about?” So I say, “Well, Doug, check the BTA blog in a few minutes and I’ll tell you!”

So here’s the scoop:

Minneapolis cartoonists have a tradition of curating a yearly show at the Altered Esthetics gallery in Nordeast Minneapolis. Last year we mounted Lutefisk Sushi: Volume C, which was a huge hit, had a ton of great contributors, and had an absolutely packed opening night party.

This August we’re doing something a little different: Big Funny, a nod to the glorious & wacky full page (and often full color) newspaper comics of the turn of the century). Where Lutefisk Sushi asked participants to create mini-comics and gathered them all up in a BOX, Big Funny is asking people to draw a 15.5″w x 20″h comic strip (color or bw) which will then be printed in a big fat NEWSPAPER.

The Big Funny gallery show this August will have original art from the Big Funny newspaper, as well as vintage turn o’ the century comics (thanks to collector extraordinaire Steve Stwalley). You’ll also be able to get your hands on the Big Funny newspaper — right now we’re thinking it’ll be 48 pages.

Interested in having your cartoon grace one of those pages? Here’s a quick guide to get you started:

1. Read through www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny. That should answer most of your questions.
2. Create your comic. Keep these specs in mind:
* Art should be 15.5″ (wide) x 20″ (high)
* If you’re doing color, make it 300 dpi
* If you’re doing black and white, make it at 1200 dpi
* You can submit more than one cartoon
* All submissions must be DIGITAL
* [This is a truncated list to get you started — PLEASE read the info on the Big Funny website!]

3. Content: This show is a nod to the old-timey comics, but your comic can be any style, theme, etc. Just try to be funny (it is called Big Funny, after all)
4. Deadline is MAY 1, 2009

Unlike Lutefisk Sushi, this is a juried show, which means that some comics won’t make it in the show. This has less to do with us being art snobs, and more to do with the complicated nature of putting a physical newspaper together on time and on budget.

We’ve already got a few submissions in (which, for a month before the deadline, is pretty outstanding), and they look great, so keep ’em coming!

If you have any questions, please read the Big Funny website. If you still have questions, please leave them in the comments section, and we’ll answer them there.

Here’s a BIG FUNNY chicklet for your website or blog:

INTERESTING LINKS: Jack Kent’s King Aroo to be Reprinted by IDW : March 5th, 2009

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On a thread on comic strip reprints that people wish would happen on The Comics Journal Message Board it was noted that in their Terry and the Pirates V.6 reprint, IDW mentioned they will be doing a reprint of Jack Kent’s wonderful strip King Aroo as part of their increasingly impressive Library of American Comic Strips (along with Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby and Neal Adams’ Ben Casey). This is the first time I have heard this mentioned anywhere. Here are some examples of King Aroo from Cool-Mo-Dee and Cartoon Snap, if you aren’t familiar with it.

HEY! KIDS! COMICS! : Header Strips and More Courtesy of Hogan’s Alley : March 3rd, 2009

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Hogan’s Alley has a wonderful gallery of full-color topper strips courtesy of Bill Blackbeard as a supplement to the latest issue of their always wonderful magazine (#16)…. there are some other great supplements at the link as well, as usual. Topper or header strips, for those who don’t know, are secondary comic strips that used to be published in conjunction with the main strip back when cartoonists were afforded an entire page of a Sunday newspaper to practice their craft on.

Most of these wonderful strips are largely forgotten today, and many are quite wonderful… examples of some of my favorite header strips are featured… Otto Messmer’s Laura (a header of Felix… which they have attributed mistakenly, although understandably, to Felix credit-stealer Pat Sullivan) and Segar’s Sappo (a header of Thimble Theatre) notably. Cliff Sterrett, Billy DeBeck, Rube Goldberg and many other greats are featured as well. There are no examples of Sterrett’s wonderful silent Dot and Dash topper, unfortunately (another of my favorites), but multiple examples of his variously titled marriage-lament topper strips (all headers of Polly and Her Pals).