Category: Cartooning

Stripped Down

Oh, the irony of Gannett/USA Today celebrating the history of comic strips, as seen in today’s editions.

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/09/24/the-gannett-history-of-comic-strips/

It’s ironic because the occasion of their celebration is the gutting of their comics selection across all papers, paring it down to just 34 strips. Arlo & Janis is not one of them! Grrr…

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2023/09/24/the-gannett-34/

The Washington Post has dropped two of the strips I enjoyed following with the WP app on my Fire tablet, Snuffy Smith and The Phantom. What all of this means is, everybody who loves “the funnies” should be a paying subscriber to Go Comics and Comics Kingdom.

https://www.gocomics.com/

https://comicskingdom.com/

Houseroy History

This is some deep “inside baseball,” except it’s about comic books. Funky Flashman is Jack Kirby’s bitter parody of Stan Lee, and Funky’s flunky is Houseroy. He’s a dig at Roy Thomas, who is depicted as being Smithers to Stan’s Mr. Burns, without the gay overtones.

Funky Flashman and Houseroy, with JACK’s characteristically idiosyncratic DIALOGUE putting the emphasis on the WRONG word.

My feeling is that Jack misrepresented Roy, who was pivotal to Marvel’s success during the second half of the 60’s, into the first half of the 70’s while Kirby was at DC. Roy talks about Funky and Houseroy, 50 minutes into this 2-hour interview.

I’m still shaking my head in disbelief from the time five years ago, when Roy and my buddy Bismo teamed up for this bit of fun craziness.

Jimmy regarding Jimmy

This week’s Arlo & Janis storyline is about Arlo being a Parrot Head.

https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2023/09/18

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArloandJanisFans/permalink/10159834026155334/

Jimmy Johnson – I hope you have been enjoying “Arlo & Janis” this week, featuring memories of Jimmy Buffett. Not everyone is a Buffett fan although you might not think it at the moment. Since his death, the outpouring of admiration, of appreciation and of personal sadness has been, frankly, astonishing. Given all this, I debated whether an entire week of A&J almost a month after his passing would be relevant, but I felt as if I owe it to Jimmy Buffett.

Like Arlo in the strip, I am a fan of Mr. Buffett, a longtime fan. I particularly enjoyed his earlier work, not coincidentally because it coincided with my “salad days.” Because of this, I repeatedly mentioned him in “Arlo & Janis,” and fellow Buffett fans noticed. Fortunately for me, the mentions were a benign dog whistle heard by fellow travelers who might never have known of my work otherwise. I know for a fact Mr. Buffett garnered me attention and fans in years when I needed them most.

I always have been attracted to the stories of people who led singular lives: Marquis de LaFayette, Bill Mauldin, Julia Child. I think Jimmy Buffett was one of those people. So much more than a beach bum, Mr. Buffett was optimistic, whimsical, intelligent, adventurous, thoughtful. He was ambitious. He literally made a fortune singing for a cult of fans, whom he made very happy. As a fellow Alabamian who also came from materially unprepossessing circumstances, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all. I think a lot of people now sense there was much more to the man than “a silly beach song,” as he has described it. I think that is why he has left an unexpectedly large hole.

Black Soap

An outstanding example of the masterful classic illustrative style of cartooning that I appreciate so much, as seen in the best soap opera strips. The challenge of how to make drawings of people sitting and talking look visually interesting. The inking seems to have been mostly done in pen, then a brush was used to touch up and add black areas.

Alex Kotzky, Apt. 3-G, 9/20/70

Note to MIH: Neal Adams was a pen inker. He tried using a brush for line work, but never got the hang of it and gave up.