The Cartoon!st - Jul-Aug 2016

JACK DAVIS, RICHARD THOMPSON REMEMBRANCES

ROBB ARMSTRONG’s

Long and Winding Road

At Last It Can Be Told

Welcome to the July-August issue of The Cartoon!st. Trust me, in ten years or so when you’re flipping through your copy and reminiscing about the good old days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, you’ll have completely forgotten that it didn’t come out until September!

In this column I have an important announcement to make, but before I get to that I want to correct an egregious error that I made in last issue’s column. You may recall that in my recap of the 2016 Reuben Awards weekend at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, I finished by thanking everyone short of the person who invented pillow mints! But in the process of editing I somehow dropped the paragraph that thanked John Glynn, Andy Sareyan, and all the fine folks at Universal Uclick/GoComics for hosting the fabulous Reuben Awards Banquet! The main event that the entire Reuben weekend is built around, and I didn’t

thank the sponsor! Unbelievable! It’s like buying a Mercedes-Benz and then prying that metal three quarters of a peace sign-looking emblem off the back of the car!

Well, now that I’ve got one Reuben weekend under my belt I can say with authority that without the support of our friends at Universal, the Reuben Awards would be only a shadow of the gala affair we all look forward to every year. Besides being such a generous Reuben sponsor, the people at Universal are also our dear friends and colleagues, and they deserve our praise and gratitude for everything they do for us.

And now, speaking of the Reuben Award weekend, let’s talk about 2017. I’m sure most of you know that we usually announce the next year’s Reuben city at the Saturday business meeting during the Reuben weekend (although somehow word always leaks out and the president spends the Friday night welcome party continually answering

the question “Is it true that next year we’ll be in [Insert name of super topsecret city here]?” ).

Well, this year a confluence of events prevented me from locking in the 2017 city before the 2016 Reuben weekend, and further happenstances transpired to keep me from making a decision even by press time of the May-June issue of The Cartoon!st, so the announcement is coming a bit later than usual. Historians will decide if I go down as the maverick NCS president who spat in the face of long-established traditions and forged a daring new path, or the president who procrastinated until the last minute, finally flipping a coin to make his decisions.

Either way, I’m happy to finally announce that the 71st Annual Reuben Awards will be held in Portland, Oregon! Plans are well underway for all aspects of the weekend and more announcements will be coming in the next issue of the newsletter, but I can answer a few follow-up questions that I know many of you already have, such as:

Q: Hey Bill, will the Reubens be on Memorial Day weekend as usual?

A: You bet, so mark your calendars

Coming through in a pinch — or more appropriately here, a strike — is a piece of art JumpStarted by Robb Armstrong, who has a new book out that mixes inspirational stories with comics and even drawing lessons. An excerpt from Fearless – A Cartoonist’s Guide to Life begins on Page 5.

NCS BOARD

Honorary Chairman

Mort Walker President

Bill Morrison 805-579-9827

First Vice President

Jason Chatfield

Second Vice President

“The Cartoon!st” is the official publication of the National Cartoonists Society, P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NCS. Entire contents ©2016 National Cartoonists Society, except where other copyrights are designated.

The Cartoon!st needs your news, opinions, drawings and photos. Address all materials to: Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419. Phone: 937-296-0502 home, 937-229-3934 days. Email: fpauer1@udayton.edu

Deadline for the next issue: September 25

Hilary Price 413-586-0223

Third Vice President

Darrin Bell 510-205-8592 Secretary

John Kovaleski 717-334-5926 Treasurer

John Hambrock 262-658-2676

Membership Chairman

Sean Parkes 480-626-2702

National Representative

Ed Steckley 413-478-4314

NCS COMMITTEES

The Cartoon!st

Frank Pauer 937-229-3934 fpauer1@udayton.edu

Ethics Steve McGarry mac@stevemcgarry.com

Education Rob Smith Jr. (rob@robsmithjr.com)

Greeting Card Contracts Carla Ventresca 615-480-7931

NCS FOUNDATION

President Steve McGarry 714-593-0514 mac@stevemcgarry.com

For questions about accounting, membership, database and dues renewals, contact: National Cartoonists Society P.O. Box 592927 Orlando, FL 32859-2927 407-994-6703 info@reuben.org

The National Cartoonists Society Web Site: www.reuben.org.

Please address correspondence to: Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419, or fpauer1@udayton.edu

JOHN REINER

REUBEN AWARDS WEEKEND MAY 26-28, 2017

and save the dates; May 26-28!

Q: How much will rooms cost at the hotel?

A: Cheaper than last year! Plus, Oregon has no sales tax, so your money will go a lot farther at the hotel and throughout the city!

Q: What makes Portland worthy of an NCS weekend?

A: Portland is a true cartoonists’ town. It’s often referred to as “Comic Book City” due to the plethora of comic artists and writers who live and work there! It’s also the home of no less that two comic book companies (Dark Horse and Oni Press) and animation studios such as Laika Entertainment (makers of Coraline,

Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, etc.), Happy Trails Animation, and Deep Sky Studios.

It’s also where our good friends at Wacom now reside, so you can be sure that they’ll be present at the convention as they were in Memphis with lots of new digital drawing gizmos for us to play with throughout the weekend!

Portland also boasts many unique attractions such as Powell’s City of Books, the largest independent new-and-usedbookstore in the world (They actually provide maps to help you navigate your way around the store!); The Tardis Room (a dive bar for all you Dr. Who fans!); The Freakybuttrue Peculiarium (What cartoonist wouldn’t love a one-of-a-kind

museum and shop dedicated to sci-fi art, historical oddities and urban legends?); and literally as many micro-breweries as Baskin-Robbins has ice cream flavors!

It’s also near several great natural attractions like the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood and the Willamette Valley wine region — it’s a terrific town to build a vacation around!

So start making your plans to attend the 2017 Reuben weekend and I’ll get back to finalizing plans on this end so I can give you more exciting information next issue!

Bill Morrison roswell2@earthlink.net

Members staff NCS booth at San Diego Comic-Con

It’s wild. It’s weird. It’s wonderful. It’s the world’s foremost pop culture event.

It’s the San Diego Comic-Con. And in July, continuing a two-decade tradition, the NCS was there to represent the cartooning profession and the NCS Foundation.

As always, our booth was abuzz with activity. On hand this year were Robb Armstrong, Brooke McEldowney, Wilfred Panganiban, Jeff Keane, Bill Morrison, Jason Chatfield, Maria Scrivan, Stephen Silver,  Steve, Luke and Joe McGarry, Greg Evans, R.C. Harvey and Nick Galifianakis. Some offered books, caricatures, sketches or greeting cards while others sold original art or gave signed prints for a donation to the NCS Foundation. Nick even stumbled upon a new career: watercolor pet portraits!

Stopping by the booth were Bill Amend, Tom Richmond, Sergio Aragones, David Silverman and — in one of the surprises so typical of the Con —- Jim Davis!

An official NCS Star Wars tee was created just for Comic-Con, along with a selection of special posters with all proceeds

going to the Foundation.

Adding pizazz to our booth this year was a giant TV that displayed our cartoonists at work on a Cintiq, provided via our new partnership with Wacom.

Mostly it was five crazy days of hanging out with cartoonists and fans amid a massive costume party — there’s nothing quite like it.

San Diego ComicCon is so popular that it’s nearly impossible to score a ticket. Fortunately, one of the benefits of NCS membership is that you’re entitled to a free Attending Professional Badge! Your NCS membership card is all you need to prove your professional credentials — no other work should need to be submitted. Please visit www.comic-con.org/cci/professionals for details and deadlines.

SDCC 2017 will be next July 20-23. We recommend planning early to meet application deadlines — and especially for hotel space, which gets insanely hard to find and afford.

We hope to see more NCSers at the San Diego Comic-Con 2017! (Weird costume not mandatory.`)

—Greg Evans and Karen Evans

Garfield’s Jim Davis is bookended by Greg Evans and Maria Scrivan.

Nick Galifianakis and Maria Scrivan

Jason Chatfield and Stephen Silver

A photobombing Karen Evans with her dad Greg and Luke McGarry

David Silverman

Fearless – A Cartoonist’s Guide to Life is a new illustrated memoir from Robb Armstrong, creator of JumpStart. Apart from the usual struggles in becoming a syndicated cartoonist, Robb faced challenges that could have turned a life with little hope into an inspirational story of talent and perseverance.

Born and raised in a rough neighborhood in West Philadelphia, Robb was one of five fatherless kids living in a cramped apartment where the electric bill didn’t always get paid. When he was six, his older brother was killed in a gruesome subway accident. Soon after, his remaining brother was severely beaten by the police for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then, his mother died of cancer.

Life is not so different from the comics — the challenges, tragedies and triumphs. Weaving together personal stories with simple drawing tutorials and original illustrations, Fearless is both a compelling read and an inspirational lesson on how to live well, through the good times and the bad.

In this excerpt from Fearless, Robb travels the long, slow, painful road to JumpStart.

The long and winding road, with a few side trips

was working at an ad agency and had an apartment and all the material things I was supposed to have. But I also still had a burning desire to be a cartoonist. That was the special passion in my life. So I once more reinvented my comic strip.

Since I could not seem to convert [a college comic strip] Hector to a wider commercial success, I tried other things. I made him a wise-cracking cab driver for a time, then a struggling freelance photographer, but these ideas went nowhere.

Robb ARmstRong I

At one point in 1987, United Feature Syndicate had suggested bringing back the dad who was a cop, but with a white partner. This is, of course, very much like the current JumpStart. I worked on the idea, spending long hours sitting with [friend] Jimmy West’s retired-cop father, talking and listening to him. Then I created a strip called Cherry Top (a nickname for police squad cars). I can’t say that United Feature ever liked what I created, but their criticism became less and less severe.

Cherry Top featured an older Black cop as the main character. By then I was closing in and getting personal notes from syndicates. One thing they said was, “You’re a young guy. Why write

about old people?” I decided to go back to what I had done in college, write about myself, people like myself. I set Cherry Top aside and created Off Duty, a strip about a younger cop and his nurse wife. In stages, I wrote about a cop, then added his life, marriage, wife, then kids.

I was now meeting the better demographic — two young professionals at work and at home — and their respective jobs required specific and easily recognized clothing. No need to explain what a nurse does. Or a cop. They have uniforms. But I still wasn’t getting offers.

Once again, I found myself wondering if racial bias was raising its ugly head. Well, this much I do know: both individual newspapers and the big syndicates had the attitude that one Black cartoonist at a time was all that a newspaper could carry. Even later, when I was finally syndicated, the syndicate had to struggle to get me into some papers. Editors wouldn’t even look at the strips or content. They just shrugged and said, “We’ve already got a Black guy.”

They actually said that to me. And they still do. I’m now on the other side of the line but now they tell other Black comic strip writers,

“We’ve already got JumpStart, why do we need another strip about some Black family?”

I doubt that it was (or still is) intentional or overt racism. Comic strips take up a lot of “real estate” on the page, and editors make tough decisions as to what to use. But, underlying all that was the unspoken belief that white readers didn’t read strips full of Black characters. One was enough to meet the “diversity” requirement, and that was that. I didn’t think that was true then, and nobody thinks that’s true now.

I soon became frustrated with coldmailing samples and getting nowhere. So in 1987, I walked into the Philadelphia Daily News. I had met Richard Aregood, then the assistant managing editor, back when I was at [The] Shipley [School], when I had interned with Signe Wilkinson. He sat me down and looked at my samples. “This work is good,” he said. “But you can’t make money selling one comic to one newspaper. You have to syndicate. I know a Black cartoonist who can help you.” He gave me Morrie Turner’s phone number.

This was a surreal moment. Turner was the first African-American to have a comic strip (he created Wee Pals) adapted into a television show (Kid Power). He was a childhood hero of mine. And I had his phone number! I went home in disbelief. I was just an art director at an ad agency, not some established cartoonist.

I immediately abused the phone

number privilege by calling Morrie at 6 a.m. his time and waking him up. He was in Sacramento, and, as hard as this might be to believe, I didn’t know anything about time zones. Luckily for me, he didn’t hang up on me. I told him that I was trying to become a cartoonist. The only thing he said was, “Let me call you back.” And he did. He knew what this meant to me; he was just that kind of guy. He asked me to send him some of my “stuff,” as he called it. When he talked, he sounded like a jazz musician: “yeah, man” and “it’s cool” and talk like that.

He called me back after reading my stuff. “This is hot, man. This is hot!” he said. “You don’t mind if I show this around, do you?”

Mind? Mind? Morrie Turner thought my Cherry Top strip was hot. Morrie Turner wanted to “show this around.” I was ecstatic.

He got results quickly. I got a call from Mark Cohen, a well-known comic-strip collector. I had actually met Mark before, through the ad agency. He liked my stuff too and invited me to Ohio, where he was putting together a syndicate for Black

cartoonists.

I flew to Dayton, where we all met in a hotel and put together a plan. It was a heady experience for me, to be included in this group.

We were seven or eight Black cartoonists. I can’t remember all of them now, but I recognized one or two from the comics page in Ebony magazine. I also recognized Buck Brown. He had created a character for Playboy magazine called Granny, X-rated and horny, really “blue” semi-porn stuff for a cartoonist. The art in that comic was stunning. Real “art.” Small paintings that looked like each one took a week to complete. I had always thought Buck Brown was a white man because Granny was white. He laughed it off, saying, “Everybody thinks I’m white. I couldn’t care less. The money is green.” (Robert “Buck” Brown died in 2007.)

But then my hero Morrie Turner called me some days after I returned to Philadelphia. “Look, man,” he said. “You don’t want to be part of what we’re doing, man. It’s better for you not to be.”

“I’m getting kicked out of the group?” I said.

“Your work’s not like ours,” Morrie

Robb with, from left, Mark Cohen’s widow Rose Marie McDaniel and Morrie Turner, creator of Wee Pals

said. “It’s better than ours. You should be a regular syndicated cartoonist.”

This may seem like it was more rejection. But I wasn’t that surprised. Or disappointed. It’s true that I was “peacocking” around, telling everyone that I knew those famous cartoonists. I was star-struck by them. But when Morrie said that to me, I agreed.

By this time, in late 1987, I was starting to feel more confident. Even people I worked with in the advertising business were saying that I should be nationally syndicated. I was feeling it. It was coming. I was no longer the doe-eyed kid, and I felt ready. So much so, in fact, that on a visit back to Shipley to give a talk to the kids, I actually introduced myself by saying, “I’m soon to be a nationally syndicated cartoonist.”

Then Mark Cohen, the collector who had first asked me to join his group, called. “You have an ability, a gift,” he said. “I want to send your stuff to United Feature Syndicate.” I had already sent them my samples, but I kept my mouth shut. He had more authority than I did, and so maybe they would look twice at my work.

So he did. And they did. And Sarah Gillespie, an editor for United Feature back then, called. She was not as gung-ho as Mark Cohen had been, but she worked with me. She really chopped it up. We faxed back and forth almost every day (as this was before e-mail). Eventually Off Duty got me a development deal. They

would pay me, and I would stop sending the strip to anyone else. In six months to a year, and if they liked what they saw, they would syndicate it.

I was happy to get that first check. It was the first money I’d made from drawing comics since I was a teenager doing odd drawings for the Philadelphia Tribune. And, just as then, the paycheck validated my dream. Now the trick was to deliver, to make United Feature decide they wanted me to continue. I set to work to do just that.

In just two or three months, they called me and asked me to find a lawyer and come to New York City. Lucky for me, [family-andlongtime-friend] Isaac Clothier was not just a surrogate father figure, but he was also a partner at a prestigious law firm in Philadelphia. I could never have afforded him under normal circumstances. Isaac came with me, and we signed a contract with United Feature Syndicate.

United Feature didn’t like the name Off Duty, though. They wanted more emphasis on the young Black couple and less on the cop aspect. They eventually came up with the name of JumpStart. I asked them

what it meant and was told that it didn’t mean anything but that it was upbeat.

“I don’t like it,” I said.

“You don’t have to like it. The salesmen have to like it. The newspapers have to like it. Charles Schulz didn’t like Peanuts and always wanted to call his strip L’il Folks. We’re the ones who came up with Peanuts.”

Well, if they can order Charles Schulz to change his strip’s name, I guess they could do the same to me, too. And over time, the name grew on me; I like it now. The strip was launched on October 2, 1989. I was still working for an ad agency, but I was planning on being rich. I was not aware of how long it would take to be accepted as a cartoonist. But at twenty-seven years old, I was, at that time, the youngest syndicated cartoonist in the country. My dream, dating from that cool little red book [with “artist” as a career option] mom had given me twenty-four years earlier, had become a reality.

Fearless – A Cartoonist’s Guide to Life is available through the usual book outlets.

Jack Davis 1924-2016

Our friend, Jack Davis...

A few years back, several Southeast Chapter members, along with NCS President Tom Richmond, gathered for a panel honoring our fabled chapter member, Jack Davis, in Saint Simon’s, Georgia, the artist’s hometown. The highlight of the event was Jack’s first gallery presentation in the area — a dazzling retrospective of over fifty years of work.

What struck each member of our group most about the occasion was the general lack of awareness by the community that a legend lived among them. From EC Comics to MAD Magazine to record albums to movie posters to Time and TV Guide covers, the local gentry seemed surprised as much as impressed. As a personal friend and collaborator for MAD and numerous freelance projects for over five decades, I was not surprised by their reaction. Since meeting Jack for the first time, I never saw a change in his personal nature despite his phenomenal rise to the top of the humorous illustration profession. Jack remained the warm, modest, decent man that all who met him knew him to be.

From his early beginnings as a comic book artist, this tall, distinguished “Southern gentleman” was the antithesis of everything he captured on paper. Always fighting an internal war with the EC horror stories that brought him his initial commercial success, Jack found his niche

when MAD’s creator Harvey Kurtzman offered him the opportunity to illustrate one of his favorite subjects — a western. His rendition of “The Lone Stranger” is considered Jack’s launching pad into MAD’s “classic period,” as well as the start of the luminous career that followed.

As an artist, there is little to be said about Jack’s work that NCS members don’t already know. Indeed, his name is forever among a select number of dignitaries that appear atop any “favorite artist” list, as his prestigious Reuben and Lifetime Achievement Awards attest.

Often imitated, what overly influenced followers fail to grasp is that it wasn’t Davis’ fluid brushwork and pen-and-ink virtuosity that served as the core of his success and popularity. It was his inherent ability to create outrageously funny art effortlessly. Like the great athletes he famously portrayed throughout his career, Jack was a natural talent, and that can neither be learned nor taught.

As a person, there is little to be said about Jack that all who knew him don’t already know. Generous and encouraging to fellow cartoonists and students alike, and endowed with an endearing touch of rascal that delighted his cohorts, it was Jack’s devotion to his beloved Dena and children — Jack, Jr., Katie — and grandchildren that surpassed all he achieved as one of America’s most beloved humorous artists.

We will miss you, friend Jack ...

b y n ick m eglin

Richard Thompson 1957-2016

My friend Richard Thompson never sought fame, but it sure chased him.

It never occurred to Richard to submit cartoons to The New Yorker. Instead, The New Yorker tracked him down and asked him to work for them. When they received his first rough sketch they told him not to bother finishing it, they liked the sketch just fine (see Perot, next page).

Richard didn’t seek syndication as normal cartoonists do. Instead, newspapers pursued him. Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post recalls inviting Richard to lunch: “I told him I thought he should be doing a weekly cartoon for [The Washington Post]. There would be no strings, there would be no editing and we’d pay him a substantial amount of money to do it. Richard said, ‘Great that sounds wonderful.’ Then I didn’t hear from him for a year.”

Again and again, people offered Richard prestigious opportunities but he couldn’t be distracted from his art. When famed political cartoonist Herblock retired, Richard was invited to fill the high profile position, but wasn’t interested. The Society of Illustrators notified Richard that one of his pictures had been selected as an outstanding illustration of the year and asked him to exhibit it at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, but he never got around to it.

I never met a cartoonist who cared less about self-promotion. Some of us wondered whether he was in a witness protection program.

All Richard cared about was his art. He loved to draw and sat at his drawing board experimenting with brushes and pen nibs, exotic inks and strange pigments. Yet, by sheer quality alone, his work levitated to the attention of the top artists in his field. Pat Oliphant called him “Michelangelo with a sense of humor.” Arnold Roth called him a “genius.” Peter de Seve said he “sits right at the top of my list of favorite artists.” Carter Goodrich called his art “a holy experience.” Ed Sorel, upon meeting Richard for the first time, actually kissed his hand.

Superstars of cartooning, recognizing that Richard was the real deal, traveled great distances to visit the gentle, whimsical cartoonist in his little house on a leafy street in Arlington, Virginia. Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)

who’d spent decades hiding from his public, emerged to thank Richard for “giving me a reason to read the comics again.” Academy award winning Pixar director Pete Docter (Inside Out) also visited Richard, saying, “I’m torn between amazement and bitter jealousy.”

Once inside Richard’s house, they marveled at his treasure trove of drawings and paintings stashed behind bookshelves, under the cat box, or face down on the floor of the basement closet. His band of friends and admirers would sit around Richard’s cluttered kitchen table, laughing, sketching, comparing notes on art and telling funny stories. On one of my early visits I witnessed artist Nick Galifianakis and Richard’s wife Amy spontaneously break into the Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd love aria from the cartoon, What’s Opera Doc? Richard’s table was always overflowing with what friends called Richard’s “orange food:” a disgusting assortment of Cheetos, orange soda, corn nuts and cold pizza.

Richard was finally persuaded to syndicate his comic strip, the wonderful Cul de Sac, in 2007. It was an instant success and a scant four years later he won the Reuben award for the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. In a just world, he would’ve been able to continue his strip for another 20 years, but tragically he was stricken with Parkinson’s disease and decided to end Cul de Sac in 2012. He could’ve continued to make a healthy income by employing ghost artists and ghost writers to carry on, but Richard didn’t believe in that. Last month he passed away at the far too young age of 58.

My friend Richard Thompson never sought fame. He said, “what I enjoy is to point out things and say, ‘Look, that’s kinda funny.’” But his friends were determined to share his remarkable vision with the world. In 2014, documentary film makers made an award-winning movie, “The Art of Richard Thompson,” (https://youtu.be/t8-tqh4N_EE) about his life and work. His art has now been collected in over a dozen books. And in 2013, a number of artists and friends assembled a substantial art book, The Art of Richard Thompson, in tribute to the wide range of his talents as a cartoonist, illustrator and humorist. And the circle continues to widen.

Ave atque vale, Richard.

Between the Lines

By Jerry Dumas

Iwas once in the office of the features editor of Helsinki, Finland’s leading newspaper. She opened a drawer and showed me American comic strips they normally bought and published. The clipped strips in her drawer could not be used because they were untranslatable. Anything with puns were particularly unusable.

“We are a well-read people,” she said. “But think about us when you think up your gags. We don’t mind big words. And we are willing to learn.”

In my home town there was once a bookstore devoted strictly to children. It was in a sunny location and was run by two genial, knowledgeable women.

Houghton-Mifflin had recently published my children’s novel, Rabbits Rafferty, with 20 black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings by the great artist Wallace Tripp. One day the women mentioned a girl, about 10 years old, who came into the store without fail every Saturday morning, and deposited 25 cents toward the book’s purchase. Apparently she hadn’t enough money to buy a copy outright, but used part of her allowance each week to buy it on her own, private installment plan.

I was charmed and saddened by the story of that young girl, and I like to think I resolved the situation by saying something on the order of, “For heaven’s sake! Present the girl a copy next time she comes in, give her back her money and charge it to me.” That’s what I like to think, but I truly don’t remember. We creative types have a way of reshaping the past to suit ourselves.

Later, Rafferty became a newspaper feature syndicated to papers around the world. Each day the further adventures of Rafferty were set in type, with drawings by another great animal artist, Mel Crawford, accompanying the text.

One day I received a letter from Ben Srere, the president of King Features, a division of Hearst, as they like to say. It was a nice letter, but he urged me to write the stories more simply, using smaller words. He was of the opinion that 8 to 12 year olds would have trouble reading the words I’d chosen to use.

By way of answer I sent him a list of words taken from books we had around

the house. Just looking at a few pages of each was enough. Here they are:

clattering peevish intrusion ponderously perambulator ventured frugal unfortunately implored exert anxious distracted unruly rummaged infested fusty critically consequence indigestible disarranged persuaded regretted shrill

BEATRIX POTTER, THE TALES OF PETER RABBIT, AND OTHER FAVORITE STORIES

Technical disabled insignificant wisdom shabbiness disinfected threadbare

MARGERY WILLIAMS, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

jubilee swathes cautiously compunctions untenable conspiracy loathed hysterics unremitting summoning vaguely metatarsus

E. B. WHITE, CHARLOTTE’S WEB

ignition meddlesome reputation champagne deprive intolerable withstand destination inconclusive THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

cache assuaged exceptional dispersed culinary circulated villainous murmured apparent instinctively benign prominent oblivion disarray heritage commodious assessed loomed translucent reprimand illusion festooned nefarious apoplexy anathema

MARGERY SHARP, the “MISS BIANCA” series (about a white mouse)

Ben Srere’s reply: “I get your point. If children are going to build their vocabularies, big words ought to help.”

And that was the end of that.

■ ■ ■

Besides his comic strip work for more than 50 years (Sam’s Strip, Sam and Silo, Hi and Lois, Beetle Bailey, and others), Jerry has had two books published by Houghton, and contributed to Smithsonian, The New York Times and The New Yorker.

WALLACE TRIPP, from Rabbits Rafferty

“Just remember, boys, they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like you do … the only difference is they got four legs.”

Fred Wagner, 1942-2016

Fred Wagner, known for his long stints on Grin and Bear It and Animal Crackers , died June 27 of pancreatic cancer. He was 74.

Born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., he was influenced by his father, who painted posters for a movie theater. Wagner attended the Memphis Academy of Art, and then spent five years as a sculptor in Memphis.

He eventually began working for the Orlando Sentinel in their electronic information and art departments.

From 1986-1994, Wagner drew Catfish for Tribune Media Services, taking the strip over from creator Roger Bollen. In 1994, he began to produce Animal Crackers , another Bollen property. He also produced, with Ralph Dunagin, Grin and Bear It , the long-running panel created by George Lichty in 1932.

Wagner departed from the panel as it ended syndication in May, 2015, and was preparing to hand over Animal Crackers to artist Michael Osbun this month.

Wagner’s retirement plans had included a pursuit of a lifelong passion of watercolor and oil painting.

Shaw McCutcheon, 1921-2016

Editorial cartoonist Shaw McCutcheon, who worked for The (Spokane, Washington) Spokesman-Review for 36 years before retiring in 1986, died July 6 in Spokane. He was 94.

Born in Chicago in 1921, McCutcheon was the son of legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, John T. McCutcheon. Shaw McCutcheon received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvard, but while serving in World War II, he took an interest in politics and cartooning. McCutcheon studied political science for two years at the University of Chicago and then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for another two years.

At the urging of Chicago Tribune cartoonist Carey Orr (who succeeded McCutcheon’s father), McCutcheon applied for a cartoonist job with the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. His first cartoon appeared in the summer of 1950. In the 1970s, McCutcheon also began writing editorials for the paper, often on issues regarding economics and national defense. It’s estimated that he drew more than 9,000 cartoons and wrote some 1,000 editorials during his career at the paper.

Michael Crawford, 1945-2016

Michael Crawford, who sold more than 600 cartoons and drawings to The New Yorker after William Shawn, died of cancer July 12 in his Kingston, N.Y., home. He was 70.

Crawford was born in Oswego, N.Y., on Oct. 21, 1945. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in English, Crawford spent a year at the university’s law school, and then took a circuitous route to a career in cartooning. Jobs included everything from working for a Washington pollster to playing baseball to “writing English papers for cash for people in college” and “an ill-advised ‘teaching’ stint at a derelict Vermont ‘academy’ for Led Zeppelin zealots,” he once told an interviewer.

“You always rush out and high-five me when I homer. How about a hug when I whiff?”

Living in the Boston area, he began to pursue a career in art and began selling his cartoons at area art fairs. He began sending work to The New Yorker in the mid-1970s.

“Eventually, started peppering The New Yorker with gags around 1975 and Whoosh! Before you knew it, it was 1981 and I had my first New Yorker check (for a grand 400 clams I think it was),” Mr. Crawford recalled in an interview with cartoonist Michael Maslin.

Crawford was also an accomplished painter, with his best-known work featuring scenes with gangsters.

“The distinguished visitor from the Soviet Union is recorded as voting in the negative.”

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus set for Oct. 13-16

The second annual Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), a citywide festival whose mission is to celebrate the diversity of the cartoon arts and their creators across genres and forms and to highlight Columbus, Ohio, and its comics community for the world, is set for this Oct. 13-16.

The city-wide festival, after a well-received two-day show in 2015, will offer nearly 75 hours of creator-driven panels, presentations, spotlights and discussions.

Highlights include an evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau, in conversation with author Glen David Gold; an appearance in support of a film presentation by Mark Osborne (Kung-Fu Panda, The Little Prince); a freewheeling discussion between cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Jeff Smith; a conversation between award-winning cartoonists Seth and Ben Katchor on the 25th anniversary of seminal work by each artist; and an evening presentation by Academy Award-winning animator and historian John Canemaker on the work of the great Winsor McCay.

As a city-wide festival, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus will feature programming all over Columbus during the weekend.

A primary hub for Thursday and Friday events — and for Wednesday’s sole offering — will be Ohio State University’s The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, The Wexner

Center for the Arts and Hale Hall.

Events on Thursday and Friday will include a special academic conference on canon, the return of the popular peer-to-peer “talk and teach” classes, a conversation with the multi- talented editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes, a state of the industry panel, two social receptions, two comics-art shows and the Trudeau and Canemaker events.

For Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-16, events move downtown to the Columbus Metropolitan Library downtown branch, the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) and the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD).

In support of the two-day Expo and Marketplace in the library, CXC will offer multiple programming tracks featuring spotlights on special guests like Sergio Aragonés, Carol Tyler and Stan Sakai, as well as themed presentations on all-ages comics and the new comic book mainstream. Four hours of classes from instructors supplied by Pittsburgh’s Comics Workbook will be offered as well.

Both CMA and CCAD plan gallery shows, while CCAD will host alt-comics icon Charles Burns for a special presentation on Saturday night.

“We’re hoping CXC can become known for the quality of its programming, and this year seems like a major step in that direction,” said Festival President Jeff Smith.

A full schedule with dates, times and venues is available at www.cartooncrossroadscolumbus.com.

At the Museums

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum presents “Good Grief! Children and Comics,” which examines the history, role and tensions of child characters in strips and comic books. The exhibit spans the history of American comics, and includes several well-known titles including Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes .

Also, in 2014 Locust Moon published Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream , a fullcolor anthology featuring work by 100 artists. Each was asked to create a new version of Winsor McCay’s famous strip, resulting in a diverse collection of homages. The exhibit presents original artwork from the book, and features, among others Peter Bagge, David Mack, Paul Pope and Carla Speed McNeil. The exhibit

will also include McCay originals from Ireland collection. Both exhibits run through Oct. 23.

Ongoing at The New-York Historical Society is “The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems,” which brings together original art, sketches, and inspirational drawings from Willems’ most popular series, plus stand-alone classics. Since the publication of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! in 2003, Willems has amassed an impressive list of New York Times best-selling adventures that have garnered him three Caldecott Honors, two Geisel Medals, five Geisel Honors, and an inaugural spot in the Picture Book Hall of Fame. Previous to his publishing career, Willems won six Emmy Awards for his writing on PBS’s Sesame Street, created the Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City, and was the head writer for Codename: Kids Next Door. “The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems,” runs through Sept. 25. The Pensacola Museum of Art is

hosting “Mary Petty: The Life and Art of Mary Petty,” an exhibit of original work by the noted New Yorker cartoonist. An illustrator of books and magazines, Petty was known for her satirical depiction of New York City’s Victorian era society. The exhibit runs through Oct. 8. Steps away from Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the Driehaus Museum presents “With a Wink and a Nod: Cartoonists of the Gilded Age,” an exhibit that features 74 rare original drawings created for Puck magazine, as well as published cartoons and vintage magazines. Puck, the first successful humor magazine in the U.S. of colorful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day, was published from 1871 until 1918. The exhibit offers an immersive experience of the culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though Jan. 8; see www. driehausmuseum.org for more information.

New Jersey

Dan Nakrosis Report by Tom Stemmle

On June 29, our Chapter traveled to Hightstown, N.J., to dine at The Tavern on the Lake. The lake is Peddie Lake, in close proximity to the famous Peddie Preparatory School of Hightstown. Thus, it became the perfect setting for the theme of the meeting: books!

Showcasing and/or talking about their new publications were chapter member Laurie Triefeldt, whose new coloring book, Elegant Tea Party, is available now from Amazon. The book, which showcases Laurie’s amazing decorative design skill, and Boudoir Coloring Book, which is due in November, were both in “The Last Panel” of the May-June 2016 Reuben edition of The Cartoon!st

Chapter friend, comic book collector and publisher George Khoury has written what he calls his “love letter” to his Golden Age of Comics that spanned from 1976 to 1986. From TwoMorrows Publishing, due in September, is Comic Book Fever , which includes artists’ coolest stories, the best ads, along with interviews, articles and images. This era includes greats such as Neal Adams, John Romita and Jack Kirby, to name a very few. George’s book can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Reuben winner Patrick McDonnell, whose King Features strip Mutts is celebrating its 22nd year, has published his first “bed-time story book,” Thank You and Goodnight . This delightful story is what Patrick refers to as his homage to classic bedtime stories and their creators. This beautifully illustrated book, from the Hachette Book Group, is drawn and water-colored in the fun and unique McDonnell style that has resulted in his achieving Caldecott Honor status. Available in October, the book can be preordered from Amazon now.

Doug Goudsward, a chapter friend, has written a satirical, tongue-in-cheek book regarding political campaigns titled The Faking of a President . The book, which Doug also illustrated, is touted as “the first ever, complete Presidential Campaign Play Book

as compiled by an actual Beltway Insider.” It is available from Amazon.

Attendees for the evening’s festivities included: Tom McWeeney, Laurie Triefeldt, Doug Goudsward, Chairman Dan Nakrosis, Tom Stemmle, Patrick McDonnell, Jay Wecht, Marie Stemmle, Karen O’Connell, Marc McKenzie and George Khoury.

On July 9, the annual Tom and Marie Picnic was held at the home of the Stemmles, but instead of an outdoor affair it was brought inside due to threatening weather. More than two dozen attendees were treated to typical picnic food straight from the patio barbeque. This included, for the first time — and probably in New Jersey — signature NCS National Rep Ed Steckley boiled-in-Pabst-then-cooked-onthe-grill brats! They were great, but Tums were available to insure intestinal calm. A huge indoor buffet with beer, wine, soda and many dishes brought by visitors rounded out the food offerings.

A big tip of the chef’s hat and a wiggle of the apron strings goes to expert barbeque

griller Bill Janocha, who, once again, insisted on taking over the cooking chores, aided with the equally expert Rein Triefeldt. We also thank those who traveled from the far reaches of Long Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. A special nod to Bob and Gloria Rich who attended from New London, Conn. — it was a pleasure having you as weekend guests!

Highlight of the picnic was the surprise presentation of the coveted “Tim Rosenthal Award for Volunteerism” to Marie Stemmle. Chairman Dan Nakrosis presented it as a thank you for her years of service to the chapter in the area of making our home available and cooking and baking for many events, including chapter judging, winter parties and our annual picnic. It couldn’t go to a more deserving individual!

Dan Nakrosis gave a second, and appropriate, award to chapter friend Jay Wecht. Jay received the “Tom Gill Appreciation Award” for his long service to the chapter in various areas, especially in creating flyers for meeting notices, bringing updates and books, artwork and more to meetings — and last but not least in helping with tabulating an entire table of food onto one bill! Jay is a teacher who uses cartoons as a teaching tool. He attended The Kubert School, but decided teaching might be a saner and safer way as a career choice! Congratulations, Jay!

Attending were cartoonists, spouses, plus friends and neighbors of the Stemmles. They were: Bob and Gloria Rich, Doug Goudsward, Gene and Stephanie Storch, Jay Wecht, Fran Spinda, Martha Klink, Richie and Annette Crocono, George Khoury, Rein Triefeldt, Nancy Furka, Bill Janocha, Ed Steckley, Tom Stemmle, Bob and Helene Parsons, Laurie Triefeldt, Marc McKenzie, Athena Nakrosis and Dan Nakrosis. Also in attendance but not in the picture, were Andy and Chris Eng, Mike Furka and Marie Stemmle.

Thanks to all who visited!

Southeastern

John Sheppard shepart@aol.com

Several members of the Southeastern Chapter, including Greg Cravens, John Read and Jack Chapman, returned to St. Jude’s Children Hospital in Memphis on Aug. 10. It

NCS members living in an area served by a regional chapter should contact the chairman, or contact national representative Ed Steckley at 413-478-4314.. Chairmen, please send news, photos, artwork and information about your chapter to The Cartoon!st, in care of Frank Pauer, 53 Beverly Place, Dayton, OH 45419, or fpauer1@udayton.edu. Deadline for the next issue is September 25.

Gathering at the Tavern on the Lake included Tom McWeeney, Laurie Triefeldt, Doug Goudsward, Chairman Dan Nakrosis, Tom Stemmle, Patrick McDonnell, Jay Wecht,Marie Stemmle, Karen O’Connell, Marc McKenzie and George Khoury.

Indoor picnickers gathered at the dining room table during the chapter’s annual Tom and Marie Picnic.

was a mini Cartooning for Kids event, and the guys drew cartoons and caricatures for the patients and their families.

Also, several SECNCS members led by Greg Cravens (this guy is everywhere) visited Lebonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis for Superhero day.

The Charlotte group, led by Andy Smith, and three other artists have a new comic book venture called Ominous Press. It’s a new publishing company with three inaugural titles: Demi-God, Promethius and Giantkillers . A world-premiere preview book is out with short stories and background info on the new universe. In addition to drawing Demi-God , Andy is the company’s art director.

Charlotte’s HeroesCon had a good turnout of SECNCS folks. The chapter staffed a table, as did John Rose ( Snuffy Smith ), Marcus Hamilton ( Dennis the Menace ), Greg Cravens (here he is again , with The Buckets and Hubris ). And once again, Chris Sparks led the annual Drink & Draw to raise funds for Team Cul de Sac/Parkinsons research.

Philadelphia

Dave Blazek looseparts@verizon.net

The Philly NCS Chapter saw its summer kick

up a notch with the visit of Tom Racine to our historic city. Tom was in from San Diego on business and the Philly Chapter, seizing any opportunity to gather for food and beverage, organized a quick Ink & Drink night in Old City Philadelphia.

Mark Tatulli, Nick Galifianakis, Tom Stiglich, Debby Schafer, Terry LaBan and Dave Blazek threw a burlap sack over Tom’s head and hustled him off to the Revolu -

Southern California/Los Angeles

Matt Diffee mattdiffee@gmail.com

Report by Chad Frye

When the NCS LA is not gathering on Los Angeles street corners in our finest plaid to sing our theme song for passersby, you can often find us at DeSano Pizza Bakery in the Silver Lake district where we meet once a month for a rowdy time of comaraderie. On Aug. 7 we met to hear from fellow member Pete Michels, who is currently directing episodes of Disney’s Future-Worm! animated television show.

We wish to extend a hearty “Hey ho hey!” to our own Wil Panganiban for his recently successful Kickstarter campaign to publish a collection of his Frank & Steinway comic strip.

We have lots of neat things coming up, such as our next monthly meeting on Sept. 25 featuring NCS Membership Chairman Sean Parkes as our guest speaker, as well as having one of our super-secret, hushhush-say-no-more chapter induction ceremonies for new members (which may or may not involve chanting in the name of Winsor & Newton, and burnt sacrifices of Strathmore). We also are planning our own fundraising auction in October to benefit the chapter, and we are making exciting plans for

tion House for an assortment of libations. And despite the World’s Angriest Waiter, a good time was had by all as we discussed everyone’s current projects, talked about the history that happened right beneath our feetsies, and quite possibly maybe did some sort of chapter business I’m sure none of us can recall.

Let this be a shining example of how we welcome friends in Philadelphia ... especially those with expense accounts.

Great Lakes

Polly Keener pollytoon@aol.com

As I write this, things in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio have settled down a bit after the huge million-person celebration of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA championship followed by the Republican National Convention.

Members and friends of the Great Lakes Chapter also head to Cleveland for an Aug. 27 meeting. We’ll get a special tour of the Cleveland main library and its collections, followed by lunch at a Hyatt Regency restaurant in the century-old Cleveland Arcade. The library has just received a huge Superman collection, which is mostly in storage until 2017, but we hope that the special collections manager might give us a sneak preview. There is also a current Ohio cartoonists exhibit and Shakespeare

See Chapter Notes, Page 18

our chapter Holiday Party Spectacular to take place in early December, featuring — fingers crossed — the Rockettes!

Some of us recently participated in drawing for kids at a Ronald McDonald House, and we are excited for more like-minded opportunities. On Sept. 24, we will be participating in a fundraiser walk-a-thon for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where, ironically, we plan to sit. (We have found that walking is not very conductive to drawing for the kids.)

We would also like to announce that this November we will be having the first Cartoonist Cup golf tournament. Only cartoonists can play, and each player will be responsible for designing their own custom golf balls in order to join us as we play a round at a local par-3 course.

As always, if you are planning to be in Los Angeles, we welcome NCS members from all chapters to join us, even the ones from Manhattan.

Philadelphia chapter members gather to fete guest Tom Racine (above, at far right).

From the chapter’s Aug. 7 meeting are Chari Pere, Chad Frye, Bill Morrison, Pete Michels and Sally Lazarus.

Left, NCS LA mascot Cornelius the Bear as depicted by Pete Michels.

Long Island

Adrian Sinnott 631-547-0778

The Bunny Bash was a very special event this year. We had lots of surprises, special guests — and cake! The BTG is very lucky to count some all time great cartoonists among its members. One known throughout the world is the incomparable, George Booth. To help celebrate George’s 90th birthday, Sarah, his daughter, asked if we could surprise him at the Bunny Bash. So, with suitable pomp and circumstance we all cheered George on to his next 90 years of brilliant cartooning. Just in case anyone had room after the usual wonderful fare, there was a huge birthday cake for George. The customary BTG birthday card was signed by one and all. George got a very special “Hippo Birdie Two Ewe!” from Sandra Boynton.

Not to be outdone, we had not one but two 90th birthdays within a month. The amazing Sandy Kossin celebrated his 90th at the beginning of June and we celebrated with him at the May meeting. The May meeting can be a little quiet due to the Reubens so we took the opportunity of the Bunny Bash to give him the BTG birthday he so deserved.

In continuing our customary Berndt Toast Gang “Toastie” awards, we did a little catching up this year. That meant we had a total of seven awards to the long suffering spouses of cartoonists to present: Alda Cumings, widow of the late, great Art Cumings; Shirley Giella, wife of “Jumping Joe” Giella (as Al Scaduto would of put it); Sally Mitchell-Lazarus, no need to explain; Josephine Kossin, Sandy’s lovely wife; Kayre Morrison (how can you not give an award to someone whose husband takes on running the NCS?); Dione Booth (when your husband is still cartooning after 90 years, the award should be gold-plated); and Marie Stemmle (who finally convinced her cartooning hubby to retire from running the New Jersey chapter only to have him take up the second in command position).

And, in a very special event for both the BTG and the NCS, President Bill Morrison attended the Bash to make the presentation of the Gold Key Lifetime Achievement award to the incredible Bob Lubbers. Bob’s career is one to be envied by any cartoonist. His ability to vary his style and adapt to the project was unsurpassed. Bob’s work included Al Capp’s Lil’ Abner, The Saint, Secret Agent X-9 and his own, Robin Malone. Bob and his family made the trip out to Bunny’s and it was a thrill for everyone, old and new friends, to have a chance to meet such an iconic figure. Bob was in great spirits and, touching 95, he was thrilled to be inducted into the NCS

Hall of Fame. The BTG would like to thank Bob’s family, Bill Morrison, the NCS and Bill Janocha for organizing the award.

And lastly, while we were all enjoying the birthday cake, Joe Vissichelli, caricaturist, official Bunny Bash photographer and occasional substitute commander-in-chief gathered the group together to surprise me with a “Flessel” award. Named for the infallible Creig Flessel (as Frank Springer and the guys of the BTG called him), it’s a BTG

award for service to the group. It is a privilege to have known and know the members of the BTG as an eclectic group of talented people as you could ever assemble in one room. So, rather than a service, it’s been a pleasure. And I can never thank them enough for their support and friendship. As the Berndt Toast Gang celebrates its 50th anniversary, we’re looking forward to many more celebrations of the talent and genius of its members.

Revelers gather on the lawn for a group Bunny Bash photo.

Bob Lubbers accepts the NCS Gold Key Lifetime Acheivement Award.

Under watchful eyes, George Booth blows out the candles on his 90th birthday cake.

Chapter chair Adrian Sinnott with his “Flessel” award.

Mort and Barbara Drucker with friends

Sy and SImmy Barry with Carmen D'Adamo Adrian Sinnott with Andy and Christine Eng

Joe Vissichelli Pauline Goldberg and Sandra Boynton

exhibit but, best of all, we look forward to celebrating 50 years of The Born Loser , created by Art Sansom and, for many years, continued by his son, Chip. But more about that in the next issue.

GLC Vice-Chairman Earl Musick, in addition to his cartoon work, has been booked to do either stand-up comedy or draw caricatures every week until Christmas in a different city. He loves the work but missed the time with his wife, Debbie, and sons, Mark and Matthew. The travails of being a celebrity in demand. …

Ron Hill, who will be signing his books in downtown Cleveland, sends word of another Cleveland Public Library event on Sept. 22, about Wonder Women. See www.cleveland. com/metro/index.ssf/2016/07/wonder_women_and_other_wonderf.html.

On June 23, Mark Szorady attended a talk given by Cleveland-area TV personality Neil Zurcher at the Chagrin Falls Library. Zurcher even mentioned Mark on his “one tank trips” blog at onetanktrips.com. and was photographed with Mark.

Michael Shaw, GLC’s New Yorker cartoonist, sends word that he will be moving to Wyoming — Wyoming, Ohio, that is. Paul Combs sends along a note that his third book, Drawing Lines: The Art of Making a Difference will be out in October from PennWell Publishing. In addition to being an award-winning illustrator and syndicated cartoonist, Paul is a veteran firefighter, EMT, Hazardous Materials Technician, Instructor for State of Ohio Fire Training Academies, USO volunteer — and a lot of people think he greatly resembles Superman, too.

Chris Payne has a new position as Director of MFA in Illustration Low Residency Program at the Hartford Art School, following Murray Tinkleman who started the program. It is the only program of its kind in the U.S.

If you’re in Columbus, be sure to visit the “Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream” and the “Good Grief! Children and Comics” exhibits at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. The exhibits are up until Oct. 23.

And then … plan to visit the library for a Mike Peters event and join the Great Lakes Chapter for dinner on Nov. 12. We’re working out details now. Call Polly Keener at 330-8364448 for details — but preferably after Oct. 15, when she will be the “MOB” (mother of the bride) at daughter Whitney’s wedding.

Florida Mark Simon marksimonbooks@yahoo.com

The Florida Chapter held our first major

event in over 3 years — “The Art of Florida Cartoonists.” Hosting the event gave us a few opportunities to get together beforehand. On Saturday, July 2, the artists dropped off their art for the show at Mark Simon’s house. It turned into a party that lasted late into the night. The pile of amazing art on display was spectacular.

On July 15, Chapter members met at the gallery of Gods & Monsters, the second largest comic shop in the country located in Orlando, to hang the show. Our cartoonist art gallery show is the biggest in the shop’s history. We have 87 pieces on display from more than 30 artists, plus other pieces ready to be sold to fans. The hanging crew included, from left, Heather Worley, Eddie Pittman, Mason Mastroianni and Mark Simon.

The next day, our chapter hosted a day-long event at Gods & Monsters. We profiled cartoonists who live in, worked in or trained in Florida, and celebrated their cartoon and fine art.

The day started with book and print signings. Nine artists took over the front of the store including Mark Simon ( Woody Woodpecker movie), Alex Saviuk ( SpiderMan strip), RC Aradio ( Heavy Metal magazine), Mason Mastroianni ( B.C. and Wizard of Id ), Mike Conrad (comics and concept art), Dee Deloy (caricatures), Eddie Pittman ( Phineas and Ferb and Red’s Planet ), Patricia Martin-Dodrill (caricatures), and Eric Sweetman (illustration).

Wacom was also a sponsor of our event.

Bill Lindsay from Wacom had demos all day of their Cintiqs and new Bamboo unit, plus they held a give-away of a new Bamboo unit.

We also opened a month-long exhibit of cartoon and fine art by all of our Florida cartoonists. The sales of many of the pieces have been donated by the artists to help fund our chapter.

We ended the day in front of a packed house with an incredible panel of Florida cartoonists moderated by Mark Simon. The rest of the panel included, from left, Mark Simon, Aaron Blaise (director of Disney’s Brother Bear ), Ethan Long (author of more than 85 children’s books), Eddie Pittman, John Hurst (story artist on Ice Age and Peanuts movies), RC Aradio, Mason Mastroianni and Alex Saviuk.

After the panel ended, fans and artists hung out together in the bar in the back of the comic shop until after midnight. Some fans had driven more than five hours to attend, and left feeling it had been worth the trip.

Our chapter will now sleep until the next event.

Manhattan Ed Steckley

ed@edsteckley.com

Summer’s winding down here in NYC, and things are getting back in gear from a slow summer!

Beginning in August, our monthly happy

Left, some of the 87 pieces of art that covered every surface at Mark Simon’s Florida home, before being hung in the Gods & Monsters gallery by, from left, Heather Worley, Eddie Pittman, Mason Mastroianni and Mark Simon.

A panel of Florida cartoonists spoke to a packed house at Gods & Monsters with, from left, Mark Simon, Aaron Blaise, Ethan Long, Eddie Pittman, John Hurst, RC Aradio, Mason Mastroianni and Alex Saviuk. Right, nine cartoonists met fans for a book and print signing earlier during the day-long event.

hours are back in full swing, generally the last Monday of the month at our usual spot in Midtown Manhattan, Hurley’s Saloon. If you find yourself strolling through the city and think you might wanna stop up, by all means, just let us know!

In addition to our monthly to-dos, we’ll also be behind the table at New York ComicCon, Oct. 6-9. All NCS members are welcome to do some time and sell their wares behind the table; just email Ed to get put on the schedule.

After NYCC, later in October we’ll have a very special meet up: we’re getting together to honor EC comics and MAD Magazine stalwart, Brooklyn’s own Angelo Torres! This one’s sure to sell out, so if you’re interested, drop us a line and get on the list. Then we’ll all raise a glass to Angelo and celebrate his life and contribution to comics.

Finally, once again, our holiday bash just gets bigger and bigger. Come on over on Saturday, Dec. 17 for the 4th annual ManhattanNCS holiday extravaganza. Special guests, fun, booze and food abound at the Society of Illustrators in Manhattan. Tickets for this one go on sale soon, so stay tuned!

North Central

Paul Fell pfell@nebr.rr.com

Report by Mike Edholm

Not since the days of the cattle drives to the stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska, has so much hoopla occurred in a day in the “River City” as the arrival of MAD Magazine’s art director Sam Viviano, contributing cartoonist/illustrator Tom Richmond, and contributing writer Desmond Devlin. It should be noted that fellow contributing writer Dick DeBartolo was also in attendance, but given Dick’s magical powers he appeared in two places at once — with a little help from Skype.

Programing was held at the KANEKO, an amazing non-profit public arts, education and performance cultural organization in Omaha.

Friday night, Aug. 12, found the KANEKO filled with MAD fans, listening, watching and participating in a two-hour presentation called “ MAD About Storytelling.” The program detailed how the artists and writers at MAD approach storytelling in its legendary movie parodies, gag cartoons and satire. Featured in the presentation were a number of classic MAD Magazine parodies from decades past right up to the present by MAD’s contributors, known affectionately as the “Usual Gang of Idiots.”

All in attendance were thrilled to meet these fun loving and creative fellows — to the delight of the speakers, one guest announced that she had been an intern at MAD Magazine.

Established in 1998 by international artist Jun Kaneko and his wife Ree, KANEKO is headquartered in three turn-of-the-century warehouses in the Old Market District of Omaha. It prides itself as an institution with a vision to celebrate creativity, and is committed to fostering it as its overriding mission with four major programming themes: design, ideas, performance, and innovation. More information about the KANEKO can be found at http://thekaneko.org/.

New England Mark Parisi

MarkParisi@aol.com

Saturday, Oct. 8, the New England Chapter is having a Pre-Holiday Party starring the talented and charming Terri Libenson.

Terri will talk about her awesome pajamas and read secrets from her diary. At least, that’s what I think she said. If there’s time, she’ll also talk about her hilarious comic strip (the name escapes me at the moment), her successful greeting cards, and her new HarperCollins illus -

trated book series, “Invisible Emmie.” If we’re lucky, Terri will also lead a discussion on the decentralized nature and potential profitability of bitcoins. It’s this kind of unpredictability that will make the event so exciting.

But you can predict giveaways, appetizers, mingling, a meal, drinks (on you), a good time, a great presentation and some follow-up mingling.

The new party location is The Dockside, just outside Boston. If you’re interested in attending, please contact me at MarkParisi@aol.com Feel free to make fun of my aol address.

On stage at KANEKO were MADmen Dick DeBartolo (via Skype), Sam Viviano, Desmond Devlin and Tom Richmond.

Sam and Desmond madly sign away

Sam with KANEKO founder Jun Kaneko. RIght, panelists and chapter members gather for dinner.

Donna Mae Wold, the “little red-haired girl” who Charlie Brown long pined for in Peanuts, died Aug. 9 of heart failure and complications from diabetes. She was 87. A former co-worker at Art Instruction, Inc. — the correspondence school where Schulz once worked — Wold (born Donna Mae Johnson) worked in the accounting department. Johnson and Schulz eventually became romantically involved and dated for three years, but in 1950 when Schulz proposed to her, she turned him down, saying she was already engaged. … Jerry Dowling’s fifth book of celebrity caricatures, Drawing the Grand Ole Country –The Way It Was! is now in print and for sale. There are more than 300 pieces of art, 80 percent of which are newly drawn. For a page-bypage preview or to buy a copy, check out jerryjdowling.com

Norm Feuti — he of the strips Retail and Gil — has entered the 7-to-10-year-old market with The King of Kazoo, Norm’s first graphic novel. The fast-paced story centers around something that’s stirring at the top of Mount Kazoo. King Cornelius and his intrepid daughter, Bing, explore a mysterious cave at the top of Mount Kazoo, where they discover Quaf, an alchemist who is planning a dangerous and forbidden experiment — a crazy undertaking that could threaten the entire kingdom. Wrote one reviewer, “Kazoo is a straight-up, kid-friendly, rollicking adventure complete with magic, big-headed kings, robots, volcanoes, and trident-wielding frog people. Everything, in short, you want in a book.” It’s from Graphix books, an imprint of Scholastic. …

… If you’re in the Philadelphia area, you may want to attend an author event with Edward Sorel and Jules Feiffer at the Parkway Central Library. Sorel — the noted illustrator, caricaturist, and cartoonist who has illustrated 41 covers for The New Yorker and has published features in a score of other publications — has a new book out: Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936. Feiffer — the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of dozens of collections of cartoons, graphic novels, plays, and screenplays — has just released Cousin Joseph, a prequel to his New York Times bestselling Depression-era noir graphic novel Kill My Mother. The pair will appear at the library Thursday, Oct. 20; see www. freelibrary.org for details … Richard Pietrzyk has penned “How Chester Gould Created Characters,” a short essay on the NCS Chicago Chapter’s website about Dick Tracy’s legendary creator. Richard writes about some of the motivation behind Gould’s creations, and includes references to Flattop, the Brow, Pruneface (right) and the Mole, among others. He also writes that the artist also “created a type of villain, abstract in design — abstract in that the focus of the design was not the features but the lack of features.” Richard also notes that Gould was humble in the assessment of his work. “Asked how he came to create such memorable characters and dynamic art, he replied ‘By working every day on Dick Tracy.’” See www.ncs-chicagocartoonists.com. … In Jim Davis’ first-ever appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, he was surprised when presented with the Con’s prestigious Inkpot award. The Awards are given to individuals for their contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fan-

tasy, film, television, animation, and fandom services. Jim signed advance copies of a special limited edition of The Art of Jim Davis’ Garfield, and was later presented the Award at a panel discussion with the publisher of Hermes Press, Daniel Herman, and comic historian R.C. Harvey, who contributed to the book. The Art of Jim Davis’ Garfield has yet to go into general release — more on that collection in the next Cartoon!st A one-ton, 13-foot-tall likeness of Captain America — with the quote “I’m just a kid from Brooklyn” — was recently installed in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Only he wasn’t from Brooklyn. And it looks nothing like the iconic character created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. It’s the movie version of Steve Rogers’ alter ego — just another commercial tie-in, folks — with the imagery and the quote lifted straight from the Marvel screen versions. When Simon and Kirby first created Captain America, Rogers grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and only recently has the backstory shifted. And Marvel and Disney also needed to be reminded of where their billions are courtesy of: a petition was circulated at the San Diego Comic-Con to get Simon and Kirby’s names engraved on the statue — and at least that request was honored. The statue will spend two weeks in the park before being moved to other locations. … Bill Hinds’ latest book, My First Book of Hockey, is scheduled for release this month. It’s the third title in the Sports Illustrated for Kids’ “Rookie Books” series that features Bill’s character “Sprat.” Previous books were Hinds’ My First Book of Football and My First Book of Baseball George Lucas, after a protracted confrontation with (Chicago’s) Friends of the Parks, has announced that The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will not be built in Chicago after all. Originally planned for San Francisco, the Lake Michigan site near Soldier Field would have held Lucas’ art collection, estimated to be worth approximately $1 billion. Plans met opposition, with concerns from size of the building to the architecture to preservation of the lake front to the cost of maintenance absorbed by taxpayers. In June, Museum officials announced that they are now considering sites in Los Angeles and San Francisco. … The latest film adaptation from a graphic novel is, well … a bit less than heroic than most. Shooting now in the greater Cleveland area is the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, based on the book My Friend Dahmer by John Backderf, an award-winning cartoonist who was Dahmer’s high school classmate. The film focuses on Dahmer’s Northeast Ohio high school years, and locations included Dahmer’s boyhood home. …