Here is an outstanding piece of original art that’s coming up for bids on Heritage Auctions. It was drawn by Frank Frazetta on Craftint Duo-Tone paper.
This is how the art appears as hand-colored by Frazetta for Russ Cochran’s Famous Funnies Portfolio (1975).
Books are seen in many if not most of the scenes in Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse. I spotted some that I have here at home, along with an album box set that’s seen in Bill Griffith’s studio.
Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Bill Griffith — the three leading names in what used to be called Underground Cartooning — each had a difficult childhood in dysfunctional families, with Griffith’s being the closest to normal.
I can state this with some confidence, because they have been unflinchingly autobiographical in their work. It’s perhaps no surprise that Griffith achieved the most conventional level of success, in the form of a syndicated comic strip.
I’m starting to watch last night’s American Masters. In an early scene, Robert Crumb appears with his wife Aline, who died in November, 2022.
This song seems appropriate here.
Art Spiegelman is featured tonight on PBS American Masters.
Bill Griffith makes an appearance in the documentary. In what is perhaps not coincidental timing, Robert Crumb is featured in this week’s issue of The New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/21/r-crumb-looks-back
Not to be missed on PBS American Masters, April 15.
Let’s return to the subject of Beatles cartoons. I most recently talked about them in this post, which has one of my best punniest titles.
All of the Beatles cartoons were produced by Al Brodax. As a kid I watched his syndicated King Features Syndicate cartoons. Brodax cleverly embedded his name into the Snuffy Smith cartoon, ‘Jughaid the Magician’.
Andrew at Parlogram Auctions has this comprehensive history of the Beatles cartoon series on ABC-TV.
Brodax went on to produce the vastly superior and well-received Yellow Submarine animation feature; which, until yesterday, I had thought was the last of the Beatles Toons. But no, Brodax took one more swing at the Beatles. His never completed Strawberry Fields project has a strong Ralph Bakshi vibe.
I learned about this extremely curious artifact from a member of the Cartoon Research group on Facebook. There’s more information on the Cinema Crazed site.
