I received a nice e-mail the other day from the administrator of Gillian Anderson‘s Official Web Site (Scully of The X-Files, Lady Dedlock in Bleak House) wanting to extend Gillian’s invitation for me to contribute a doodle/drawing for NF, Inc’s Third National Doodle Day Auction scheduled to start on May 7, 2009.

Gillian is the spokesperson for Neurofibromatosis, Inc., a non-profit charitable organization that helps families affected by NF – a genetic disorder of the nervous system which causes tumors to form on the nerves anywhere in the body at any time.  Gillian’s brother suffers from this disorder and their mother is the vice-president of the organization. You can visit the NF-Inc. website for more information.

The way this works is they send a blank 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ doodle card out to participants and you do a doodle on it, sign it and send it back. Then they have an auction on eBay to sell the doodles and raise money to provide support services for those individuals with NF, their families and caregivers.

Many of the doodlers are famous actors, musicians, politicians and such… with just  a few cartoonists and artists sprinkled in. You can take a look at the doodles that were donated in 2007 and 2008 at: www.doodledayusa.org

Past doodlers include Gillian Anderson, Sergio Aragonés, Mike Arnold, Patricia Arquette, Ed Asner, Catherine Bell, Candice Bergen, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, David Cassidy, Ellen DeGeneres, Kim Delaney, Dom DeLuise, Micky Dolenz, Mike Farrell, Neil Gaiman, Seth Green, Kathy Griffin, Goldie Hawn, Fred Hembeck, Ji m Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Carolita Johnson, Davy Jones, Jay Leno, Sugar Ray Leonard, Julia Louise-Dreyfus, David McCallum, President Barack Obama, Angus Oblong, Mike Peters, Jimmy Pickering, Wanda Sykes, Peter Tork, Donald Trump, Garry Trudeau, Robin Williams, Gahan Wilson, and Henry Winkler.

I couldn’t resist drawing Gillian herself on my doodle card, having been a big X-Files fan.

A worthy cause, and I will remind people about the auction as May 7th approaches, so you can bid on your favorite doodle!

Today is the big limited release of “Super Capers”, playing at a theater near you (maybe). Check the theater list for where and when, then bring a group out to see it! Lionsgate will distribute it to 0ver 2000 theaters if it reaches a certain goal today!

If I was feeling a little sorry for myself and was down in the dumps about my surgery yesterday, the package I just got in the mail sure cured my blues!

Way back when I did a parody of the TV show “Heroes” for MAD, and was contacted by produced Michael Green about buying the original artwork for himself, creator Tim Kring and others that worked on the show. I had gotten hooked on “Heroes” after researching for the parody, so I did my customary deal of getting an oversized print of the splash signed by as many members of the cast as possible.

Michael, who incidentally is the creator of the new TV series “Kings” on NBC that just premiered last Sunday, left “Heroes” just after he bought the art. That was over a year ago, so I was despairing of ever getting that signed print. I once made the same sort of deal with some of the staff of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” who bought the splash of that parody for Dick Wolfe and promised to send me back the print with signatures… never heard from them again. However I kept in touch with Michael and he kept at some of his friends still on “Heroes” to complete the deal.

Wednesday I got this via Fed Ex:

Click for a closer look!

Signed by almost all the cast on the splash: Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh), Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Ali Larter (Nikki Sanders/ Tracy Strauss), and Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), and Tim Kring as well.

This one is going to the frame shop and will proudly hang on the “Wall of Shame”.

Sadly I stopped watching “Heroes” after trying to get back into it this fall. I gave it a long look but the show seems to have no idea who these characters are anymore. They keep doing things that are so out of character that the characters keep changing into different people seemingly at a whim. Maybe they’ll get back on track.

By the time this blog entry gets posted, I should be sitting in the pre-op area waiting to get surgery to repair one of my left rotator cuff tendons.

The decision to get the surgery did not come lightly.

I actually already have a decent tear in the same tendon in my right shoulder. That injury happened about 22 years ago. I was weightlifting in the basement of our apartment complex with a couple of roommates in Minneapolis. during the slow downward movement of a barbell behind-the-neck press, I felt a searing pain in my right shoulder and I dropped the weights as my shoulder completely lost strength. I was only a 20 year old college student with no money and no health insurance, so I did not go to the doctor. Instead I just lived with the pain, which lessened over the course of the next few months. I didn’t try to lift weights again for about 15 years, but I could function daily without any major pain. It only hurt when I worked my shoulder too hard lifting or moving things.

About seven years ago I started getting serious about weightlifting again. My shoulder instantly started giving me problems. An MRI revealed I had partially torn the tendon that connects the supraspinatus muscle to my humerus, one of four such small muscles and tendons that together are called the rotator cuff. Fortunately the tear was only 50% to 70% of the way through the tendon, so part of the tendon was still there and the supraspinatus was still partially connected and working somewhat. Exercises to strengthen the other three rotator cuff muscles, icing and ibuprofen when needed made that shoulder manageable. I have had some success in the bodybuilding/powerlifting department despite the bum right shoulder.

In November I was doing some shoulder exercises when on vacation in Jamaica, specifically lateral raises, with what I THOUGHT was 22 lb dumb bells. Turns out Jamaica is on the metric system, and they were actually 22 KG, or about 50 lbs. I felt my left shoulder go after two reps, and by the next day using my left arm was extremely painful.

After a few months of trying to rehab it, I decided to see a shoulder specialist. Another MRI later, and it was found that I had torn the same supraspinatus tendon on the left side… this time a complete tear. Both that surgeon and another specialist I sought a second opinion from told me a complete tear like that would give me a permanent loss of power, strength and range of motion in my left arm, and rehab would not have the same results as it did on the right. My supraspinatus muscle was completely disconnected from my humerus, and it would begin to atrophy if not repaired soon.

So, today I get it fixed via arthoscopic surgery. Basically they grab the loose end of the tendon, pull it over and suture it back to the humerus. They also remove any bone spurs and will take a look at my biceps tendon as well in case that’s damaged. I will be in a sling for 6 weeks, rehabing for 6 months and it may be as long as 9 to 12 months before I regain full strength in my left shoulder.

I figure one year from now I will be glad I got the surgery done. The next 6 months, however… won’t be much fun. Obviously I won’t be doing anything with my left arm in the gym for some time. Just for kicks, I am going to try and see how big I can get my RIGHT arm while my left is out of business and shrinks considerably. That would be an interesting picture!

I came across a recent picture of one of my favorite musicians from back in high school in an entertainment magazine the other day. The guy doesn’t look much different than he did in the 80′s, but I would have said he looked 25 years older than he was twenty five years ago… so maybe he just caught up to his features. I couldn’t resist drawing Geddy Lee, bassist and lead singer of Rush.

I forgot to mention that Rush is still one of my favorite bands. Moving Pictures is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, and I have seen them in concert many times. Between Geddy on bass, keyboards and vocals, Alex Lifeson on guitars and Neal Peart on drums (and lyrics) they may be one of the most talented bands in rock. All three are virtuosos on their respective instruments.

Art by Sean Parks

The 63rd Annual National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Awards weekend is shaping up for this spring.

The event will be held in Los Angeles on May 22nd-24th at the Renaissaince Hollywood Hotel. Guest speakers include “In The Bleachers” cartoonist Steve Moore, animator Eric Goldberg, movie poster illustrator Drew Struzan and Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez. The Reuben Awards Master of Ceremonies will be another Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist named Mike… Mike Luchovich.

As mentioned before, the finalists for “Cartonnist of the Year” are  Dave Coverly (“Speedbump”), Stephan Pastis (“Pearls Before Swine”) and Dan Piraro (“Bizarro”).

The NCS just released the nominees in the divisional categories:

TELEVISION ANIMATION

• Bryan Arnett – Character Design – “The Mighty B!”
• Ben Balistreri – Character Design – “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends”
• Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutierrez – Creators – “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera”

FEATURE ANIMATION

• James Baxter – 2D Character Animator – “Kung Fu Panda”
• Clay Kaytis – Supervising Animator, Rhino – “Bolt”
• Nicolas Marlet – Character Designer – “Kung Fu Panda”

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

• Jim Benton- Cherise the Niece
• Stacy Curtis- Raymond and Graham Rule the School
• Mike Lester- Cool Daddy Rat

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION

• Lars Leetaru
• Mark Marturello
• Sean Kelly

GAG CARTOONS

• Pat Byrnes
• Mort Gerberg
• Werner Wejp-Olsen

GREETING CARDS

• Kevin Ahern
• Jem Sullivan
• Debbie Tomassi

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

• Stephan Pastis – “Pearls Before Swine”
• Mark Tatulli – “Lio”
• Richard Thompson – “Cul de Sac”

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS

• Vic Lee- “Pardon My Planet”
• Mark Parisi- “Off the Mark”
• Jeff Stahler- “Moderately Confused”

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION

• Daryl Collins
• Bob Staake
• Sam Viviano

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

• Mike Luckovich
• Jeff Parker
• Michael Ramirez

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION

• Roy Doty
• Craig McKay
• Jack Pittman

COMIC BOOKS

• Chris Blain- GUS & HIS GANG
• Matthew Forsythe- OJINGOGO
• Cyril Pedrosa- THREE SHADOWS

Great to see my friend and mentor Sam Viviano with a nomination in “Magazine Illustration”.  The competition is fierce in these divisions and a nomination is an honor unto itself. The Lovely Anna and I will be rooting for him on the 23rd in L.A.!

I actually live two lives (and NO, one does not involve my batsuit).

In one I am a mild mannered freelance illustrator and cartoonist, working out of a studio in my home. In the other I am an entrepreneur that owns and runs caricature, airbrush T-shirt and airbrush tattoos retail/theme park operations in 3 different states with over 60 people working for me at the height of the summer season… a season that is right around the corner from opening.

Most of last week and this weekend I spent opening my latest location, a combo caricature/airbrush tattoo cart inside the Mall of America’s “Nickelodeon Universe” theme park. I already have a caricature location there but opened this second spot to add tattoos and to take advantage of the spring break/summer crowds.

You want to talk about getting old? I was working at the first operation I ever opened at Underground Atlanta in 1989 waiting around for the phone to ring with a call from The Lovely Anna informing me she was in labor with our first child. Yesterday my youngest daughter Gabrielle, 15, started working as a tattoo artist for me at my newest location. The girl working in the picture is my niece, Brittanie.

Rotator cuff surgery? Bah… I’m looking at hip replacements in the near future at this rate.

Q: MAD #500 is about to come out. I would guess that is going to be a big deal! Is there anything you can tell us about what to expect?

A: Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about MAD #500, mainly because I don’t know much.

I will have at least one piece of art in that issue, but I might have a second article in there as well. I’m just finishing a two pager that might run in #500, or might be in #501.

The article I will definitely be in is a small piece from me, but a very cool feature. It’s a multiple artist piece, written by MAD‘s poet laureate Frank Jacobs. I am one of 6 artists illustrating it, and all I can say without giving too much away is the company I am keeping in the feature is rare company, indeed. I know for a fact you will see art in #500 by MAD artists from yesteryear who’s work hasn’t been seen in the magazine in a while and, in several cases, a very long time. It should be extremely cool.

Thanks to Grant Jonen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

A few web only features and parodies are beginning to appear on MAD‘s website, including this little gem:

Click image to see a larger version on the MAD website

And this one:

Click image to see a larger version on the MAD website

There are a several more parody ads and magazine posters on the website as well, including the Phelps “High Times” cover and the Madoff movie poster “Scumbag Billionaire” I showed on the site before.

A sign of the future? Maybe. I don’t know exactly what the plans are for the website, but with 3 months between issues there is a lot of talk and thinking about it going on at the office… or so I’m told. Obviously someone drew the Peanuts spoof for MAD, but no credits…

I think this is exactly the sort of stuff they need to have on the website to make visiting it regularly worthwhile. Get readers there, and then have subscription info all over it. A combination web/print model is the way to go.

“Who Wants to be a Millionaire” is over and my pal Jim Batts took them for a cool quarter of a million bucks! Congratulations Jim!