comics – Page 5

How often do you think of the Roman Empire?

How often do you think of the Roman Empire?

There is this TikTok video which started this conversation. A girl asks her boyfriend how often he thinks of it, and oddly enough, he thinks of the Roma Empire quite often. Now others are asking their boyfriends/husbands and these guys say they think of it a lot.

Do you?

I think I do, but honestly, I think of ancient Egypt almost daily.

Seriously.

I’m obsessed with ancient Egypt and I think I probably would be an Egyptologist if I did my life over. I have been thinking of the Roman Empire lately because I keep trying to think of a cartoon that is Coliseum-related.

I have done quite a few cartoons related to Egypt over the years and maybe that’s why I think of it a lot – to get cartoon ideas. But I do watch a lot of tv shows based on Egypt, but also ancient Italy, including Rome.

I know that the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 during a war. A soldier found it in a fort. It had hieroglyphics at the top portion and an ancient Egypt translation on the bottom portion. People were able to decipher the hieroglyphics from that. It was the first time they were deciphered.

The first word they deciphered was Ptolemy – which was Cleopatra’s family/dynasty. And who was Cleopatra? The last pharaoh of Egypt, which was then taken over by the Ancient Romans – when Augustus invaded and that ended the Ptolemy dynasty and all of the centuries of pharaohs and Egyptian rule, which became the Roman Empire.

I learned some of the alphabet from the Ptolemy hieroglyphic – a P is a square, a T is a half circle, an L is a lion and so on.

See how it all fits together?

Just last night I watched a tv show on Cleopatra on Mysteries at the Museum.

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Aieee! It’s Arnold!

I’ve written about “Arnold” before. One of my favorite comic strips from the 1980s. Arnold ran from 1982 through 1988. Kevin McCormic, was the cartoonist and Arnold Melville and his friend Tommy Jordan were the main characters. Mr. Lester, their teacher, rounded out the cast. That was it. Only the three characters were shown. If there were other characters, we would only see/hear their voices, but never see the person, sort of like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

Well recently a book came out, it’s volume one of what will be three volumes featuring the strips.

Cartoonist Charles Brubaker knew how much I loved Arnold and Charles contacted me to let me know that with Kevin’s cooperation, Charles is reprinting the entire run of Arnold in the three volumes.

I had to tell Charles he was too late, I had already ordered volume one!

You can get it here at Amazon and also have a look inside there at Amazon where there’s a brief history that can get you right into the strip.

I ordered it Friday and it arrived Saturday. I can’t put it down! Aieee!

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Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

I was shocked and saddened to hear of Jimmy Buffett’s death Friday. Living in Florida, he was a big part of our lives. I never cared for tequila or margaritas, but I lived the Margaritaville lifestyle for most of my life.

It was a life of spending almost every day at the beach – for an hour or for eight hours. In crowded beaches and secluded beaches. I would find fallen coconuts on the beach, crack them open and use the milk as suntan oil.

Meeting friends on the boardwalk was a common thing, we would run, then head to happy hour at a beach bar. I would work out or relax at secluded beaches. Many times, grabbing lunch, then head to a quite beach and eat, then head back to work. I did that last week.

Years ago, I would skip school and when I got home, my mom would ask me why I had a tan. I would make up some sort of excuse.

Regarding my cartoons, there was period of time where I would go to the beach daily and make a rule where I would not be able to leave until coming up with two cartoon ideas. Many ideas and gags were water and beach related, but most weren’t. It was a fun, interesting exercise. I must have done a good job of it because during that period, I sold a lot of single panel cartoons to magazines and newspapers. Looking at some of those old cartoons, I can remember where I was, at what beach, where the ideas came from.

I spent a lot of time in Key West, too, where Jimmy is worshipped. But he was worshipped all over South Florida. Every time I drive by the old Miami Marine Stadium in Miami these days, I think of Jimmy, he did concerts there in his early days and while I didn’t attend, I guess it was big news around here, so it sticks in my head.

I found some Jimmy Buffet music and books and stuff here at Amazon.

**Jimmy jumping into the bay after a concert at Miami Marine Stadium in 1985.** (Photo courtesy: Beth Hodle / Parrot Head Handbook)

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The black kettle

This cartoon is a remake of one I did in the 1980s. I found it along with my school stuff.

I’ve been cleaning out my old room at the house I grew up in and I found lots of old cartoons and stuff; things I created so long ago.

I had one cartoon called “Opal” and this witch cartoon above, is a take-off on the Opal cartoon here.

I used to draw a lot of different comic strips with different characters and themes.

I also found a big batch of rejection letters from syndicates. Not sure why I saved those, but they are interesting to read when they have little notes attached, you know, they aren’t just form letters.

I didn’t submit most of the work I did, I just drew and drew without a plan in mind. My issue was that I didn’t set a date or have a plan. I know now to set a date to submit work. Have a plan in mind, write it down, work toward that goal and then send the work in on said date. Maybe have a date to complete writing the series, then a date to draw everything out, maybe a separate time to color them and then finally the submission date.

Of course those rejection letters will come, but at least the work was submitted.

I once sold advertising for a newspaper. My boss used to say, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” But also, it goes without saying, “If you don’t submit your work, you don’t have a chance of being published.”

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Dirty deeds

I reworked this old cartoon I did some years back. It came to mind because all weekend I’ve been seeing this quick 15 second commercial for Walmart using the ac/dc Dirty Deeds song. You can see it here.

So after hearing it over and over I looked in my archives and there was Lucy at her doctor’s booth ready to do some dirty deeds. Usually it’s five cents for a doctor’s visit, right? So maybe it’s the same cost for a dirty deed or two.

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No respect from the newspapers

Friends ask me how my comic “career” is going.

I always tell them these days, that it’s going well. No, I’m not published in newspapers, but honestly I don’t want to be.

Being published in newspapers was always my goal but those days are over. I sometimes wish I was part of the height of the cartooning days, when cartoonists’ works were worshiped. From the turn of the last century until possibly the 1980s, I think that was the time to be part of it all. In the very early days, they were treated like movie stars.

I think the 1940s and 1950s might have been the best time. Now I think it’s all about online publication.

Just as new performers, singers and such, are discovered online and on apps, so are new cartoons and comics. It’s where the readers are, and viewers. Many people watch tv and movies via apps now, they aren’t subjected to the scheduling and whims of tv networks.

It’s where I can be creative, do my own thing, have short deadlines and just not be controlled by a large corporation – gaining the same readership as I would if I was printed, maybe more.

I’ve lived by cartoonist Jason Chatfield‘s quote: “Don’t curate your art to what gets likes. Curate it to what you like.” In that way, my readers find me, rather than me searching for readers.

And now he introduced a new one that I am living by: “We need to forget the newspapers. They forgot us a long time ago,” referring to cartoonists and comic strips. Keef Knight, another cartoonist, said it first. But Jason brought it to my attention.

And it’s not just cartoons. I’ve been reading newspapers online from other areas of the country. I subscribe to them and read the e-papers which I like flipping through. I noticed that so many of them don’t seem to be published locally, even though they are local daily newspapers.

One newspaper in upstate New York had as their main above-the-fold headlines stories on Nevada’s wet weather and a story about Olympians from California. Nothing related to upstate New York on the front page, not one story! I unsubscribed from that paper after a few days. It wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s owned by USA Today and it seems that that is the news that they print – what USA Today prints in all the newspapers they own.

Back to Jason Chatfield – he took over an old Australian newspaper comic strip called Ginger Meggs a few years ago. It will be 102 years old this November. It’s gone through quite a few cartoonists since it’s inception in 1921.

Well, the newspapers in Australia that publish the strips has cancelled Ginger and that’s the end of his 102-year-old newspaper publication. It appears as if the newspapers there have abandoned all cartoons. There seems to be a newspaper monopoly ownership in Australia.

Ginger Meggs will continue online at Jason’s website: gingermeggs.com and GoComics will post reruns here: gocomics.com/gingermeggs.

Hence, the quote: “We need to forget the newspapers. They forgot us a long time ago.” But I’ve been way ahead of Jason and Keef on this one for quite a few years now.

I interviewed Jason a few years back for my 10 With Tom series when he was president of the National Cartoonist Society. By the way, he is also a New Yorker magazine cartoonist.

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The New Breed

I’m still finding things as I clean out my old room. In among to the school newspapers were newspapers that published my cartoon panel.

In the 1990s, I was part of a thing King Features called “The New Breed.” It was a different cartoon every day sent in by various cartoonists. They were grooming us at the time for better things. So many of the cartoonists that were part of the The New Breed are professional cartoonists today, with their cartoons published daily in newspapers.

I started a marketing biz at the time and sort of stopped after having so many cartoons published. I sometimes regret it now, but I guess that was my fate to go in another direction.

What I would do is send in a batch of cartoons and they would buy the ones they liked and have them published in hundreds of subscribing newspapers as part of the feature. This sample shown hre is from the Kansas City Star. I like how they have the feature at the very top of the page. There I am with Family Circus, Dennis the Menace, Marmaduke and Peanuts! Mine is the Santa one.

King Features would send back the ones they wanted changes on, after editing the cartoon – simple things like, “change this word to this,” or “take the shading off this.” I don’t know why they just didn’t make the changes themselves, but I guess they didn’t want to touch the art and they had the cartoonists make the changes on their own work.

This was all done by snail mail. I would mail in a batch and they would mail back the edited ones that needed changes. I would make the changes and snail mail the cartoons back and they would appear in the newspapers a few weeks later.

While I’m trying to grow my audience on my current work today, I don’t think I want to be published in newspapers. It’s too restrictive and most people read their cartoons online or on social media.

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Memories

My parents passed away – my Dad last September and my Mom the October before that. The house is still sitting as it was left. I’m not sure what it taking us so long to clean it out. Too many memories maybe, maybe too big of a job. There is 50 years worth of stuff in that house. 50 years this month.

I decided to start going a couple of days a week and try to make a dent. I started with my old room. I’m amazed that so much of my old art from when I was a kid and also from high school and college is still there. Not that anyone would dispose of it, but 30 years ago, Hurricane Andrew struck and the house was inundated with water. There was so much water in the house that the refrigerator was on its side. It was lifted up and thrown over! I guess maybe four feet of water or more was in the house.

The art was on the top shelf of the closet, I’m luckily it survived. Everything below that is gone now, destroyed in the flood.

There were piles and piles of large pads full of cartoons and comic strips I drew and also art from high school and college classes.

Yes, we had nude models in college for figure drawing. I guess we got used to it after the first couple of times.

It’s funny, but I remember this guy’s face from so many years ago. I know, he was naked, but it’s his face I remember. For some reason, it had a familiar look, almost like a famous person or so, so when I look at this I can almost remember him.

Here’s a more detailed figure. These nudes are from college, But one image from high school sticks out. We had to draw a pair of sneakers that were on the table and I remember doing that. I remember how happy I was with the results. I guess I’ll find that in the pile of art I now have.

Not sure who this is, but I don’t remember her being a model. Maybe it was from a book or magazine.

I saw this photo of the Obamas on my mother’s dresser. I don’t remember ever seeing it before.

When I picked it up and read it, I see she must have donated to them or his campaign or something. I was living out of the house by then so I guess I never saw this and she never mentioned it.

My mom loved the Obamas, so did my dad, I was happy to see that she kept the image along with family photos on/in the mirror like people do.

My mom gave to all sorts of charities, she always did. I’m glad to see she donated to political campaigns, too.

One sad thing about the way my parents passed away was that they left the house and didn’t come back in the end. And things are left as if they just walked out of the room.

This looks like my dad’s eyeglasses, just sitting on the side of the bed.

In the kitchen, next to the sink there is a towel and there are two spoons on it, looking as if they were washed and placed there to dry. Just like it was yesterday.

My dad used the dining room table as a desk. All of his papers are there – just as he left them. A pen sits on the pile, just as if he put it down and walked out of the room for a second.

All this reminds me of famous houses I’ve visited – the Roosevelts, Hemmingway, etc. Their personal papers and things were just sitting there, although they were probably set up and placed there. But it gives the illusion that they just walked out of the room for a second. In these cases at my parents’ house, they were really just left as I see them now.

I spoke to one of my brothers. We may start going through the house next weekend, to just start packing things up. We’ll do it as a group to make it go faster, I guess. We grew up up there. It won’t be easy.

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Words are very unnecessary

Depeche Mode has a new album out, I saw a segment about them on the CBS Sunday Morning, you can see that CBS segment below.

They were one of my favorite bands in the ’80s and ’90s.

I drew this cartoon in 2019. I’ve been holding on to it because I was thinking of redrawing it – having the guys in ice cream, you know, sort of lounging in a banana split or something. But I left well enough alone and just made it look like a new album, which, as I said, is now out. It’s called Memento Mori, which means “Remember You Must Die,” which is a bit morbid, because fellow band member, Andy Fletcher passed away in May 2022.

Dave Gahan and Martin Gore are the remaining duo.

Memento Mori can be heard here in full at YouTube.

The CBS interview is here.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte

Today’s cartoon is about Pumpkin Spice Latte. It’s just August 9, but already Pumpkin Spice Latte is on the menu at many coffee and other places, it’s all over the news. I guess apple cider doughnuts and apple cider doughnuts are out, now, too. It all reminds me of the Hudson Valley where we go pumpkin picking in October and have these things.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried Pumpkin Spice anything, I probably did, but it doesn’t seem to be something I would like.

I eat pumpkin seeds almost daily and I love pumpkin pie, it’s second to my favorite, Cherry Pie, but Pumpkin Spice things don’t really have pumpkin in it, I’m told, but it’s all about the spices – fall spices, my favorite season (and seasonings).

Ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are part of the mix in Pumpkin Spice.I put cinnamon in my coffee daily and I try to use fresh ginger or powdered ginger in my food.

Maybe I’ll give it a try soon, but still, it seems like we are rushing autumn, but then again, in autumn, usually in early September, we start seeing Christmas commercials on tv, and I haven’t been to Home Depot or Target lately, but I’m betting Christmas decorations maybe up already – not sure – but just a guess.

For years I was in the newspaper and publishing business and we would be doing a lot of Christmas stuff starting in summer and early fall. By the time Christmas actually came, we had experienced it already for that year, so we basically had two. Same with other holidays – always two – the early publication material and the actual holiday.

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