Recommeded Reading: Lio The Great

Someone recently posted a comment mentioning that they are used to my “effusive praise of other artists” to which I replied “if it seems I only effusively praise other artists that is because I only mention artists who work I truly admire… ones I think suck I just don’t talk about. My mom always said, “If you can’t say anything nice…””

Too true. I don’t dislike everything I do not take the time to post about… far from it. But I do wholeheartedly love and admire that which I do take the time to post about.

Like the comic strip “LIO“.

I’m friends with LIO and “Heart of the City” creator Mark Tatulli, but that has nothing to do with my post today. While “Heart of the City” is a solid strip which I very much enjoy, Mark moved up about 10 levels in my (admittedly meager) book when he started LIO. I’m a sucker for pantomime cartooning, and LIO is one of those strips that consistently makes me smile or laugh out loud with nary a word used. Some cartoonists have a schtick or formula they stick close to and are successful with… a single voice if you will. Mark shows how creativity can branch out into another realm and bottle the lightning all over again from a totally different storm. LIO is as different from HEART as apples and oranges, but Mark wields the pen with great prowess in both strips.

Last year “LIO” won a divisional award from the National Cartoonist Society for best comic strip, and well deserved in my opinion. It’s a great strip and well worth reading either in your local paper or online.