Tomversation comics

Below deck; boos cruise

When I look at today’s cartoon it reminds me of that Below Deck tv show on Bravo. It’s a franchise, there’s all sorts of Below Decks. There’s the original Below Deck and there’s Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Below Deck Down Under, and Below Deck Adventure. Sort of like the Real Housewives – one for every city.

I don’t watch any of the Below Decks, even though they seem to be very popular and my reasoning is quite stupid. The reason? I can’t understand how the full crew, including the captain and his staff and all the guests, along with the film crew, fit on the yachts. Seriously.

I live on the water, there are many yachts like that in my area, and I tried to look them over and figure how a large crew and a large bunch of guests, along with the camera men, sound men, etc. all fit below deck, let alone above deck!

*Just the crew on Below Deck, not counting the guests and film crew.*

And that’s why I can’t watch the show. I get too technical in my head to enjoy the story. I keep trying to figure out where everyone is sleeping, how they maneuver in the galley/kitchen, how they store all the food and drinks and how they all live aboard for a whole week or however long each outing is.

By the way, when I came up with this cartoon idea, I didn’t have Below Deck in mind, it just made me think of it after I looked at the cartoon.

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Paul on the tube

With The Beatles’ new song out, “Now and Then,” there seems to be a lot about The Beatles online now. I’ve seen a bunch of memes along with news stories. One meme, shown below, reminded me of this old Paul McCartney cartoon I did awhile back. Tube vs. Tube.

I guess it should really be is he on the “tube,” meaning subway or “telly,” meaning television? But tube and tube seems to work.

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Pumpkin smile

This Tomversation cartoon ran today. It started out as a similar image which was almost identical to a New Yorker cartoon by Sara Lautman, which you can see here.

I drew the original cartoon last week, thinking it was a funny image, with the jack-o-lantern smiling with big white teeth, but I couldn’t think of a gag. So it just sat for a few days and then I came up with the candy corn teeth and I played around with that, making various images.

Sara came up with an excellent gag. You can see my original smiling one below without any text, since I couldn’t think of anything funny. I just thought it was never done before – a smiling, big toothed jack-o-lantern.

I hate when similar ideas happen regarding cartoons, which is quite often. It always looks as if one person got the idea from the other. Great minds . . .

Here are a few more of my candy corn variations without the text. There are more, too, believe it or not.

I’m glad I went with the top one. It fits in with the Halloween theme this week, perfectly.

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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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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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Protecting the entertainers

There are two cartoons published today – same concept, two images.

I wasn’t sure which version to use, so I did two of them.

As you know, lately performers have things thrown at them from the audience. Not sure why, seems like a stupid thing to do. Cardi B threw a mic at one guy who threw water from a plastic cup on her!

The story goes that Cardi B was asking the audience to throw water on her because she was burning up in the Las Vegas heat. So this person threw the water. But when Cardi B threw the mic into the crowd, she hit someone else – a lady, and now the lady is suing because she is “bruised.”

The world we live in today.

Even the Sign Guy agrees. Saw this on his Facebook page.

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A Messi, Barbie weekend

It’s a pink weekend. Between the new Barbie movie and Lionel Messi. the soccer superstar’s USA debut, it’s all pink. You can swipe back and forth for both cartoons here.

Pink is of course the theme of Barbie and Messi’s color is pink. Messi’s pink a little bit lighter in color, but still, I think this deep, bright pink makes the point (cartoonwise).

I first did the Barbie cartoon and at the last minute I thought of Messi. Here in Miami, it’s Messi all over the place. Murals are appearing on buildings, soccer tickets have zoomed up in price and that’s all you hear about – Messi, Messi, Messi.

On the national news, I’ve seen lots of reports on Messi, so I thought I would add it to today’s cartoon as a second option, to add to the pink theme of the weekend.

The Oppenheimer movie is opening this weekend, too, and people are buying tickets for both Barbie and Oppenheimer and will do a double feature, sort of like the old days. The big debate there is which one to see first so as to set the tone for the next movie.

I couldn’t fit Oppenheimer into the pink theme. It’s anything but bright and pink.

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