Category: Cartooning

Cartoony Looney – 127

I was listening to an old Herman’s Hermits LP and this absolutely delightful song caught my ear.

Released in America on March 1, 1969, the single lasted only two weeks on the Billboard chart, languishing at #130! The lovely arrangement was by John Paul Jones. Yes, the Led Zeppelin Jones!

After a few listens I was inspired to draw this sketch of Wendell and Beckle dancing. I started drawing at the start of the song, and placed it on the scanner before the song finished. It looks spontaneous, because it was.

Tezuka Tales

Osamu Tezuka’s creation “Mighty Atom” became “Astro Boy” in America. Along with Bob Clampett’s “Beany & Cecil,” Astro was the TV cartoon that influenced me the most as a kid.

A Tezuka cartoon that didn’t appear in America was the astounding and disturbing “Dororo.” The story is as medieval as Astro is futuristic. The premise of Astro is dark, being the death of a little boy, and Dororo takes an even darker twist. It begins with the birth of a horribly deformed baby boy.

https://youtu.be/bbbHrOK6xfc

The complete original Dororo series on DVD currently costs $50 on Amazon, but Dororo was recently remade and it’s available on Amazon Prime.