http://youtu.be/kkW3XQKBy1M
The 1937 cartoon “Pigs is Pigs” is disturbing in a way that the previously posted “Spooks” isn’t. As nightmarish as the prospect is of being turned into a skeleton, by a skeleton, it’s totally unreal. In contrast, eating oneself to death is an all-too-real possibility for millions of people.
The pig in “Pigs is Pigs” isn’t Porky, but he appears to make an appearance as the running piggy in the middle. Why does Mama Pig have a German accent?
The recent announcement of the eternally embracing skeleton couple brought to mind the 1929 Disney cartoon, “The Skeleton Dance”. But I’d better not post it, because Disney is notoriously intolerant. So I’ll do the next best thing.
“The Skeleton Dance” was animated by Mickey Mouse co-creator Ub Iwerks, who later briefly had his own cartoon studio. Iwerks created Flip the Frog, and while Flip was a forgettable character some of his cartoons are worth watching. “Spooks” from 1932 is one of them.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/jackkirby.flv 400 300]
Producer/writer Mark Evanier has announced the release of his upcoming book Kirby: King of Comics, a biography of comic book artist Jack Kirby. Jack created or co-created the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Captain America, and many other characters. The book should be out before the end of the year.
More good news is that Evanier will once again be writing, producing and voice directing a series of Garfield the Cat cartoons. And he’s losing lots of weight, thanks to successful gastric bypass surgery. The video above about Jack Kirby shows Evanier before the surgery. With so much going on in his life, Mark had a lot to lose by not losing!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/AzumangaDaioh.flv 400 300]
I’ve posted a bunch of video samples from wacky Azumanga Daioh. Here’s another one. Mr. Tadakichi is little Chiyo-chan’s dog, and Miss Sakaki has a totally bizarre fantasy about Chiyo-chan’s father, who she imagines is a freakish creature.
I’ve previously highlighted the Spider-Man reprint comics that are found in certain Sunday newspapers. They disappeared from my paper for a few weeks, but they’ve been back for the past four weeks.
Almost all of the art in these stories, now over 40 years old, was done by Steve Ditko. I don’t know about you, but I consider these figure drawings to be compelling and unique. Superb representations of the human form in space and motion, accentuated and made abstract by the best super-hero costume ever designed.
Hey, this is neat. Yesterday, Jimmy Johnson posted a comic strip that I own. I had it professionally framed and it hangs on the wall outside of my office. Click the thumbnail picture to see a larger image of it. Jimmy was kind enough to send this original to me 11 years ago, when Eric was only 3 years old. At the time it seemed it would be forever before he needed to start shaving, but that time is here! Eric, who turns 15 this month, received a Norelco electric razor for Christmas.
