I dimly recalling linking to this video once before, but here is a YouTube gem from 1970 featuring MAD publisher Bill Gaines on the gameshow To Tell the Truth:

The show worked like this- three contestants came out claiming to be the same person who was described by the host. The panel of celebrities (sort of) would question them and then guess who was really the person they claimed to be. The impostors told lies while the actual person described had to tell the truth. The contestants won if they were able to fool the panel, so the impostors won money for wrong votes.

MAD writer Dick Debartolo was also working as a writer for the television company that produced To Tell the Truth, Goodson-Todman Productions, was instrumental in getting Gaines on the show. You can see a mustache-less Dick De at the end of the credits… he’s the guy under who’s chin Gene Rayburn is holding an illegibly written piece of paper.

Back in the days before the internet, on-line selling, blogs and cheap foreign book printing the world of publication was a lot simpler. The creators (writer, artist, musician, cartoonist, etc.) submitted their work to a publisher. The publisher decided if it was worthy of publication, then did the editing, promotion, printing, distribution and collection of the money. The creator got their royalties (often after an advance on the royalties first) and the publisher kept the rest. The publisher was the middleman with a hammer… they wielded the power to decide what got published, how it was edited and how it was promoted. “Vanity Press”, or the self publishing of one’s own work, was the disreputable, red-headed stepchild of the publishing world… what one resorted to when no “real” publisher would accept their work.

The internet is changing all that, with the simple ability to put the creators in direct contact with the consumer in three fundamental ways: promotion, sales and publication/delivery of their work. This story from The Globe and Mail speaks specifically about how the internet and eBooks are changing the face of the traditional publishing model, but the same revolution is happening in every area of creative work. Today an artist can do their work, promote it, market it, publish it and sell it all from their kitchen table and cut the traditional publisher completely out of the picture. Self publishing one’s work no longer carries the stigma of being the last resort of substandard work. Creators are realizing that they do not need the overhead or approval of a publisher to sell their work to the masses. Inexpensive but high quality printing of books and magazines can be done through overseas printers and via electronic files, or the work can be published directly on the web and “monetized” through the sales of merchandise and printed collections as well as on-line advertising. The only real obstacle in the way of a full disengagement from the traditional publishing model is the inclusion of such works in brick and mortar stores (bookstores, Wal-Mart, etc)… which are increasingly becoming less and less the dominant place to buy books, music, etc.

The usual gripes by old school creators apply: “Anybody can publish a book now. Being published isn’t a sign of success or quality. There is no quality control.” To a certain extent this is true. Nearly every kind of creative work that once was only presented to the world through agents like publishers, syndicates, record labels and movie studios/networks can now be self published. Anyone with a little money, a desktop computer and some time to do the research can publish their work in a form basically indistinguishable from big-name publishing. Unlike just a few years ago, self publishing is  more a choice than it is a necessity for creators. Choosing to go the self publishing route no longer means one’s work isn’t just as publication ready as the stuff put out by established publishing houses. Some really great work is being self published these days… and in a format that is just as professionally done as any released by well known publishing houses.

The thinking behind publishing itself has to change. The old idea that just to have a book/comic/record etc. in print means the creator who’s name is on it does great work is no longer valid. Instead it’s the marketplace that will decide whether the content offered is worthwhile or not. The power to make the decision as to what is worth spending money on is being taken out of the hands of a third party agent/publisher and put directly into the hands of those who consume the work, i.e. the buying public. It’s possible for small press publishers to make a reasonable living publishing their own work in books, DVDs, etc. without their publications ever seeing the inside of  Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Border’s, etc. In fact where creators needed to sell large numbers of their published works under the old publishing model in order to realize enough money in royalties to make a decent profit from their efforts, self published and self marketed work need only sell a fraction of those amounts to realize the same kinds of profits. You don’t need to sell 100,000 books to eek out a living when you aren’t giving most of the profit to a publishing house.

This week will be the comic art industry’s biggest showcase of this publishing revolution: the San Diego Comic Con. Ten years ago the “Artist’s Alley” spaces at Comic-Con was full of mainstream artists selling original comic art and doing sketches and “small press” comics creators selling cheap ashcan printed underground comics. These days both Artist’s Alley and many of the main floor’s spaces are filled with creators selling beautiful hardcovers or slick perfect bound books full of their work, sketches, illustrations and cartooning, how-to DVDs or high quality comics and graphic novels that are essentially “self published” work…. if that term even really applies anymore. In many cases the creators have no major credits outside of their own books and publications. That is no longer an indication of the quality of the work offered. As this type of publication model becomes more and more prevalent the competition for consumer dollars will become more fierce and the marketplace will decide what becomes successful and what does not.

It really is becoming a different world in the publication industry. It’s certainly exciting for both the consumer and the creator. The former will have access to an unprecedented variety of creative works, while the latter will be afforded the opportunity to get their work out in front of the public when previously they had to hope some third party deemed their work worthy of such a release. That’s ultimately going to be a great thing for the culture of art and creativity.

Q: Would you know or could you give the history of the pencil, airbrush caricature like you do in the parks? Was it the Fasen’s that put it together and brought it to the amusement parks?

A: Great question, one I happen to know the definitive answer to as I was there when the live airbrush caricature was “invented” and know the whole sorted story.

Live airbrush caricatures are seen in theme parks, fairs, festivals, malls, tourist centers and many other places where crowds of people gather to spend money. The technique has been adopted by many artists as it is quick, efficient and very impressive when done right. The color magically appears on the paper, and an artist with good airbrush skills can really make their caricatures pop with the color technique.

The airbrush technique was brought into popular use by the Fasen brothers, Steve and Gary, and Fasen Arts, a company that owns caricature art concessions in a number of different theme parks and venues today. However the first time airbrush and live caricature were paired up was not by the Fasens, but by two of their artists who set up on their own in the winter of 1985 in Las Vegas at a casino off Fremont Street.

The two artists were caricaturist Dave Kamish and airbrush T-shirt artist Doug Mahnke. Dave and Doug worked at Six Flags Great America for the Fasens in the summer of 1985, which was also the year and place of my first summer of drawing caricatures. At the time we did them only in black and white using a soft graphite pencil and blending stomp on 12″ x 16″ paper. There was a lot of talk that summer about trying to figure out a good way to color the caricatures, which the Fasens felt would allow us to charge more for the drawing and therefore raise sales. The trick was to come up with a quick, clean and efficient way to color them so the extra revenues from the higher price was not eaten up by the artist spending too much time applying the color. Things like pastels and a palette of crushed chalks with dedicated blending stomps for each color were tried and discarded.

Dave and Doug went to Las Vegas after the summer was over to try and make some money in the off-season. Since Doug’s airbrush T-shirts was too unwieldy to try and set up in a casino, they came up with the idea of having Doug airbrush Dave’s caricatures, and thus tag team to create a color caricature they could charge more for than a black and white. Their foray into Vegas (which at the time was mostly devoid of caricature artists, unlike later years) was not too successful and they moved back to Minnesota… we were all from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. However they learned a few things about applying freehand airbrush to a black and white caricature and they got together with Gary in his home studio to share their experience. Gary, Steve, Doug, Dave, myself and some of the other artists brainstormed and experimented in Gary’s basement with using the airbrush to color our caricatures. Eventually a workable technique using a single brush and multiple bottles with a set color palette was established.

The summer of 1986 saw the Fasen’s convert their airbrush T-shirt booth at Six Flags Great America into a combo T-shirts and caricatures, and this location became the experimental “Color Caricatures” booth whereas the other existing locations remained black and white only. Only Gary, myself and two artists named Chuck Senties and Mark Sanislo were airbrush adept enough to work the color booth, so we were the guinea pigs.

The technique proved immensely popular and with further refinement very quick and efficient. The next summer all three booths were converted to airbrush color and all the artists used the airbrush. Once customers saw the airbrushed caricatures, we would not sell more than one or two black and white drawings for the rest of the day… everybody wanted color.

Almost every single one of the many airbrush caricature artists you see out in theme parks or other places today can be traced back to that original Fasen theme park operation. They will have either worked directly with Fasen Arts, Kamish’s, myself or another artist who worked with us at some point. I am sure a few artists have seen an airbrush caricaturist work and have then emulated the technique, but most will have been a part of an original or offshoot operation at some time.

Of course there are many ways to color a caricature, and pencil/airbrush is only one. I’m not saying it’s better than another technique, just that it’s a darn good one. I’m also unable to claim with impunity that Fasen’s artists were the first to EVER airbrush a live caricature, because for all I know some caricaturist drawing at the Boiled Potato Days festival in Podunk, Idaho tried doing it in the 1970′s completely independent of Fasen’s group. I can say, however, that the proliferation of the technique in theme parks and venues all over the United States is definitely the result of those cold winter days in Gary Fasen’s basement experimenting with the airbrush.

Incidentally, what ever happened to those two original artists who went to Las Vegas and combined caricature and the airbrush? Dave Kamish and his brothers owned and operated theme park caricature concessions in various locations including Sea World in San Diego for years (they are mostly out of the business now), and Dave has done animation for studios including Warner Brothers, freelance illustration work and authored children’s books. Doug Mahnke is now one of the most popular and respected comic book artists in the profession, which credits too long to mentioned here but including the biggest titles like Superman, Batman, Justice League and many others.

So, there you have the history of live airbrushed caricatures. As always, please do not use this knowledge for evil.

Thanks to Michael Garisek 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!

Once again it’s almost time for the annual Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest in charming Marceline, MO. As always, this small but wonderful celebration of the art of cartooning in the boyhood hometown of Walt Disney has a stellar lineup of guest speakers. Here’s the official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Marceline, MO- As the summer heats up, families are anxiously looking forward to the 2009 Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest, Saturday, September 19th in beautiful Marceline, MO. This will be the eleventh year for this celebration of the life and work of Walt Disney. Director of the Toonfest, Richard Switzer and his crew of reulars are getting thier ducks lined up for what promises to be another banner year.

This year’s headliners include: editorial cartoonist Mark Fiore; creator of the comic strip Non Sequitor Wiley Miller; Hallmark Cards cartoonist David Mowder; and MAD Magazine art director Sam Viviano.

The headliners will be featured in presentations as well as a Q&A session on Saturday in the Uptown Theater. Toonfest guests can see their works on display as well as the works of a variety of cartoonists in the Cartoon Show at the Masonic Temple. The family fun will also include live music, the Toonfest silent auction, giveaways, plenty of food and beverages, exhibits, the Princess and Pirates in training and, of course, the annual Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest Parade down Main Street USA featuring marching bands, floats, Queens, Princesses and Pirates.

For more information and a schedule of events go to the Walt Disney Hometown ToonFest website at www.toonfest.net or e-mail us at toonfest@sbcglobal.net.

I wonder if the “ducks lined up” they refer to all wear sailors caps and jackets but no pants….

This event is always a good time and the hospitality of this small mid-western town is without equal. I hope I can squeeze out some time to go, if for no other reason than to get to hang out with my good friend Sam Viviano.

The official press release on this show was just sent out so I believe it’s now appropriate to promote my art show at “The ToonSeum” that starts on August 1st.

I have had a piece or two of my original work hung in cartoon art shows quite a few time, but have never had a show entirely of my work hanging anywhere before. I am honored to say that The ToonSeum, a part of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, will have a retrospective of my work from August 1st through October 4th at their gallery at 10 Children’s Way in Pittsburgh, PA.

Here is the official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The ToonSeum Goes MAD for Tom Richmond

The ToonSeum  is proud to present “Tom Richmond: The MAD Art of Caricature,” an exhibition of original caricatures and parodies by one of MAD Magazine’s stand-out artists.

Richmond, a member of MAD Magazine’s Usual Gang of Idiots since 2000, has skewed pop culture icons, political figures, movie stars, even President Obama’s dog. His style and technique carry on in the great tradition of MAD Magazine legends such as Mort Drucker and Jack Davis.

Richmond’s work appears in publications, films and comics worldwide. His company also provides caricature artists for some of the nation’s top theme parks. His recently completed book about Obama’s dog is due for release this fall.

The “MAD Art of Caricature” also gives a behind-the-pen-and-brush look at Richmond’s parodies of movies, including “Harry Plodder,”  “Spider-Sham,” “Battyman Begins,” “30 Crock,” “Obama’s Inauguration” and many more.

“The ToonSeum is proud to take MAD out of the teacher’s trash can and put it on museum walls where it belongs,” says ToonSeum Executive Director Joe Wos. “Tom is truly a master of mockery, and we are delighted to present his work at the ToonSeum.”

Richmond will drop by the ToonSeum Aug. 1 and 2 for book signings, a demonstration and a special Master Caricature Class. More information is available at www.toonseum.org.

The exhibit runs from Aug. 1  through Oct. 4 at the ToonSeum, which is located inside the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on the city’s historic North Side.

What: “Tom Richmond: The MAD Art of Caricature”
When: Aug. 1-Oct. 4
Where: ToonSeum at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on the city’s historic North Side, 10 Children’s Way, Allegheny Square.
Cost: ToonSeum admission is included with paid admission to the Children’s Museum, which is $10 for children 2-18 and seniors; $11 for adults

Details: 412-325-1060 or www.toonseum.com

For questions or an interview, please contact ToonSeum Executive Director Joe Wos at joe@toonseum.com.

The show will feature 24 original pages from MAD (actually more than that as technically many of the splash pages are two page spreads) including three full parodies plus some pencil roughs and prints of the final colored art. Here’s a breakdown of all that will be in the show:

• “Spider-Sham” splash page, MAD #418
• “Harry Plodder and the Lamest of Sequels” splash page- MAD #424
• “Schlubs” (TV show “Scrubs”) splash page- MAD #426
• “Battyman Begins” plash page and 5 story pages- MAD #455
• “Harry Plodder and the Torture of the Fan Base” splash and 5 story pages- MAD #480
• “30 Crock” (TV show “30 Rock”) splash page- MAD #490
• “Ironic Man” splash page- MAD #492
• “The Dork Knight” splash page and 4 story pages- MAD #495
• “The Obama Inauguration”- crowd scene spread- MAD #498
• “Botchmen” (movie “Watchmen”) splash page- MAD #499
• Pencil roughs for “The Dork Knight” and full color prints of the final pages

There should also be some examples of work by some of the artists I listed as my influences including Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Sam Viviano, Hermann Mejia and Sebastian Kruger. I doubt these will be originals but having a selection of works by their featured artist’s influences is traditional for The Toonseum.

I will be at the opening reception on Friday night, and will conduct a class on caricature on Saturday evening. The caricature class will consist of an overview on caricature theory and practice, how caricature applies uniquely to MAD and then some practical hands on drawing. The cost is $50, all of which is going to The ToonSeum. Here is the press release on the class and a link to book one of the limited spots:

The MAD Art of Caricature with Tom Richmond, Master Class

Learn the art of caricature from one of its true masters!

August 1st 2009, 5pm-6:30pm
The ToonSeum at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
Cost: $50, Students and NCS Members $35
Proceeds benefit the ToonSeum

The ToonSeum presents a special master class with caricature artists and magazine illustrator Tom Richmond of MAD Magazine fame. This is a rare opportunity for anyone interested in improving their skills, learning about how to break into magazines, and more.

Tom Richmond is one of the most recognized and respected caricaturist in the world. A member of MAD Magazine’s Usual Gang of Idiots since 2000, His sharp pen has produced  dead-on caricatures of pop culture icons, political figures, movie stars and even the president’s dog.  Tom’s style and technique carry on in the great tradition of MAD Magazine legends such as Mort Drucker and Jack Davis.

Tom’s work appears in publications, films, and comics worldwide. His company also provides caricature artists for some of the nations top theme parks. He recently completed a new book about President Obama’s dog due for release this fall.

Limited to 30 participants
Purchase online at  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/73723

(Sorry for all the glowing accolades and vernacular in these press releases, but that’s the way those things work… I didn’t write them.)

I will also have about 60 copies of my new MAD book “Bo Confidential: The Secret Files of America’s First Dog” available for sale and signing. The book will just have been released at that time. I’ll be at the ToonSeum on Saturday afternoon signing the books and other stuff.

I am looking forward to the show, as is The Lovely Anna and all my kids who are going to be with me… even Elizabeth! It’s a great honor and I hope the show is successful for The ToonSeum. My thanks to the tireless Joe Wos, ToonSeum executive director, for doing all the hard work on the exhibit.

Spoiler Free!!-

Tuesday night at midnight I found myself shuffling along in a gigantic line of over 2,000 theater goers to watch the sixth and latest Harry Potter film. I was chaperoning two of my kids, a nephew and a few friends… none of which were decked out in cloaks, hats and spectacles waving about wands with a red lightning bolt drawn onto their foreheads, but they were none the less excited to see the movie.

I was as well, to tell you the truth.

The Richmond family have been Harry Potter fans since the first J.K. Rowling book became all the rage back in 1997. The Lovely Anna and I used to read it to our kids before bedtime, and then sneak it downstairs and continue the story after the kids had nodded off. There was something refreshing and… well… magical about the imaginative world Rowling had created. We remained fans as the kids grew older and the books became more involved, darker (and LOOOOONGER). Naturally once the movie adaptations started coming out we saw and enjoyed them as well, some more than others.

The latest movie “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” may be my favorite of the lot. It’s not the most action packed (“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” get’s that title) nor perhaps the most faithful to the books, but I enjoyed the film from beginning to end more than any of the previous movies.

In the film, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends begin their sixth year of schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry amid great fear of the return of evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who was revealed to the magical world at the end of the last movie. Voldemort’s supporters, the Death eaters, are running amock in the wizarding world creating havoc with kidnappings, mass destruction and killings. The school is under heavy guard. Hogwart’s headmaster and the most powerful wizard on the good guy’s side, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), recruits Harry to help him explore Voldemort’s past through the stored memories of others to try and figure out some way to combat him. To this end, Dumbledore convinces an old Hogwarts professor named Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent), who has a memory from when he taught the young Voldemort at school that he is keeping from Dumbledore to return to teaching and further assigns Harry the task of convincing Slughorn to give it up. In the meantime teen hormones rage and mysterious actions by Harry’s arch rival Draco Malfoy add to the drama.

This film is unique from the others in several ways. First, it is the first that really relies on the viewer having seen the previous movies in order to follow the plot and action. Director David Yates takes it for granted that the audience knows who people are, what objects and places are and the significance of many of these things to the story. That is not to say you must have read the BOOK to understand all that is going on (although it certainly helps, and subtle references and characters would mean more to those familiar with the novel than to others)… that would indeed be poor film making. At film number 6 I think it is permissible to require your audience to have those familiarities with the earlier movies. It would be asking much (and certainly dragging down the latter films) to have to start from scratch with tedious rehashing of back story. One must have seen the earlier movies to understand everything but need not have read the book.

Second, this is by far the most a Harry Potter film has departed from the source material. Potter fans are notoriously famous for expecting faithful film adaptations of the Rowling original books (come to think of it, what fans of an adapted work are NOT demanding of faithful film adaptations of their beloved books), but starting with book number four the length of the novels become prodigious and squeezing them into a reasonable length film requires sacrifice. I was impressed with many of the decisions Yates and company made to pare down the story and rid it of needless subplots while still retaining the heart and focus of the story. Some of the decisions are bond to create some controversy, particularly the one near the end that seems to suggest a change the very makeup of what Harry fans might believe of their hero. However even that one, after some thought, maybe makes better sense than the book’s version of the scene. Yates smartly adds a scene not in the book that features an attack on a familiar homestead and an attempt on Harry’s life that stands in for pages and pages of different plotlines meant to make the reader understand the magnitude of the threat and fear the Death Eaters wield now that their master is back in full. There are other scenes from the books that are combined or shortened to more efficiently tell the story. It is not easy to compress so long a story into a little of two hours of film, but I think Yates has done justice to the original and still made a good film.

Finally, this film more than all the others really humanizes the characters and makes the viewer identify and care about them. The earlier films suffered from stiff character dialog and development, mainly due to the slavishness of the adaptation of the book to movie. Some of the acting, especially of the kids, were also awkward in the first several movies. Radcliffe, Emma Watsonas Hermione and especially Rupert Grint as Ron have really grown into their roles and you can tell they are comfortable becoming their characters in front of the camera. Gambon, who took over the Dumbledore role after Richard Harris passed away, finally dropped the hippy dippy goofiness of his take on the character and played it with more authority. Even though they had little screentime, the supporting characters played by Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Helena Bonham Carter made the most of their parts. Best of the lot might have been Broadbent as Slughorn, though. He played the character with plenty of playfulness and wit, but there was an underlying shame and guilt over whatever his secret related to Voldemort must have been. Great casting.

More than anything though the humor really shown through in this film, and not the usual calculated comedic relief. There was real dialog going on here, such as you would naturally expect between teenagers dealing not just with good versus evil issues, but with the regular teenage stuff like who likes who and who doesn’t. The romance in this film was much more believable than earlier attempts to capture teen angst and loves. This film really made the viewer feel they were watching what was going on at a school, and not a movie set.

If the movie has faults, most lie in what needed to be cut from the story in order to keep down the time and not bog down the plot. Plenty was left out of the story that was not just unneeded subplots, but I have a theory that as the last book will be filmed as two movies much of the book six plot points that will be required to advance the story to its inevitable conclusion will be left for the 7th and 8th movies. We shall see.

In the meantime, a hearty recommendation for “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” with the caveat that you might want to revisit at least movies 4 and 5 on DVD first.

I had grand ambitions of doing a nice sketch of Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as Holmes and Watson for today, but that is just going to have to wait until next week. The day is already getting away from me.

Therefore, above is a “Sketch o’the Week” cop out: a very rough sketch for one of the two page spreads I did for the “Bo Confidential: The Secret Files of America’s First Dog” book for MAD I have been posting about here. If you read any of the posts I wrote detailing the story of haw fats this book was produced, you would understand the very rough nature of this sketch. Incidentally I found out yesterday that the actual release date of the book will be September 21st, which is several weeks earlier than the original date of August 10th. Alas, it’s not early enough for me to get copies in time for the San Diego Comic Con, but I will have them at another upcoming appearance I will be making the next week, the official announcement of which is impending.

Oh, and here is the final art based on that sketch:

Click for closer look…

The incomparable Jermy Brett

Last month I wrote this post about my lack of confidence in the upcoming Guy Ritchie film “Sherlock” starring Robert Downy Jr. as literature’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes. As I said in that post, I am actually a fan of both Ritchie and Downey Jr., but also as a fan of Sherlock Holmes I find it difficult to believe I will like that film. You can read the post if you want the details.

In that post I confessed to not having much exposure to the many films, TV shows and plays featuring the Great Detective. My expertise with Holmes begins and ends primarily with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original cannon of 56 short stories and four novels, and from the Basil Rathbone films of the 1940s. I received numerous e-mails from people telling me that I had to see the Granada Television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes. I was told that many Holmes fans consider Brett one of, if not THE, definitive Holmes. Fellow caricature illustrator Lash LeRoux went so far as to send me a few DVDs on loan to watch. Once I saw them, I was so hooked I ordered the entire series on a 12 disc DVD set.

Brett truly is Conan Doyle’s fictional sleuth brought to life. He obviously went to the source material to incorporate the mannerisms, idiosyncrasies and many details that defined Conan Doyle’s character. He even looks like a Sidney Paget illustration sprung from the pages of The Strand. Brett’s performances as Holmes are remarkable, and make this series really shine. He displays the impatience and hints of immense ego that defined the less savory side of Holmes with enough substance that they are definitely present, yet his Holmes is also likable and as gallant as his class and the times would expect. The sharp laughter and moments of intensity are played as if they escape from the man despite his efforts to remain collected. This Holmes delights and revels in his powers when they are in play, and is frustrated when his deductions are not coming together fast enough. So many of the details I imagined from the stories are brought to magnificently to life by Brett.

Not that Brett’s Holmes is the sole reason for the success of the Granada series. I say “series” but actually there were four series in all, totaling 41 episodes… all with Brett as Holmes but with Edward Hardwicke later replacing David Burke as Dr. Watson, both playing him splendidly. Obviously the creators of the show intended to stay as closely as they could to the original Conan Doyle stories, and must have went to great lengths to be accurate in both the time period and the tales themselves… right down to much of the dialogue coming straight from the pages of the canon. It’s always been a mystery to me why so many Sherlock Holmes films and shows insist on inventing new stories or changing the settings and fundamentals of the characters and original tales as Ritchie’s upcoming movies seems to do. Conan Doyle’s stories and characters have not endured for 120 plus years because his plots and concepts were bad. Most of the Rathbone Holmes films were changed from Victorian London to take place in the 1940′s. What the????? Still more only incorporate elements from Conan Doyle’s original stories into their own plots. Again… I can’t for the life of me understand why.

Watson, for example, is often portrayed in film and TV as a bumbling stooge as was the case when played by Nigel Bruce in the Rathbone films . That could not be farther from the original character’s persona. Dr. John H. Watson was an educated man with a doctorate of medicine from the University of London and a physician of some experience who served in the Afghanistan wars as an army surgeon. We was written by Conan Doyle to be a brave and capable man, who despite his intelligence was continually amazed by the insight and brilliance of Holmes who could easily make normal men seem to be slow and unobservant by comparison to his unmatched powers of observation and deduction. Yet this character has often been turned into a clown presumably to provide a comedic foil for the cimenatic Holmes.

The Granada series shatters this and many other conventions that have hung around the Holmes legend like an albatross. The shows are very faithful to the plots and characters of the original stories, and they are the stronger for it. It was a sad loss when Brett died of heart complications at only 62.

I cannot recommend this series more highly. I shall have a difficult time when I revisit the Conan Doyle canon, as I often do on audiobook, to not see the lean and intense face of Jeremy Brett in my head as the Great Detective’s adventures unfold before me.

Image Courtesy Doug Gilford’s MAD Cover Site.

The Gladstone Gallery on 24th Street in New York City will open a show of the original work of Basil Wolverton on June 20th, which will run through August 14th. The show does indeed include the collage of this beautiful and famous cover from MAD #11. There is bound to be plenty of great stuff to see.

The official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Gladstone Gallery

Basil Wolverton
Curated by Cameron Jamie

515 West 24th Street, New York
June 20 to August 14, 2009

Gladstone Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition by American graphic artist and cartoonist Basil Wolverton curated by Cameron Jamie. Basil Wolverton submitted his first cartoon for publication in 1925 when he was only sixteen and remained an active cartoonist from the 1940s through to the 1970s. His unique and humorously grotesque drawings reveal both his fantastic wit and inventive technique, once famously described in LIFE Magazine as the “spaghetti and meatball school of design.”

Wolverton had no formal training as an artist, creating his own style that distinguished him from the other cartoonists of his generation. As he said, “I know I draw things that look like all kinds of organs and glands, it is like the monkey which, if he pounded away for a million years, might accidentally type out the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ lyrics.” Generations of artists including Peter Saul, Ed Ruscha, Robert Williams, Jim Shaw, Mike Kelley, and Cameron Jamie have been influenced by his meticulous technique and pictorial freedom, in addition to its undeniable impact on numerous cartoonists from R. Crumb to Drew Friedman.

This exhibition includes a wide spectrum of Wolverton’s work from his earliest drawings published in numerous comic books, including “Spacehawk” and “Powerhouse Pepper,” to his very detailed caricatures, with sculpted and exaggerated features. Perhaps the most famous body of work in the exhibition are his drawings for Harvey Kurtzman’s comic-book version of MAD Magazine from the 1950s. Also included are portraits made for Topps Chewing Gum in the 1960s, which appeared on bubble gum posters and stickers. Wolverton turned to illustrating Biblical themes and events in his later years, represented here by thirteen drawings from the Apocalypse series based on the Book of Revelation. These drawings are regarded among his finest and many of these illustrations were reproduced in Plain Truth magazine.

Born in 1909 in Central Point, Oregon, Basil Wolverton resided for most of his life in the Pacific Northwest until his death in 1978. His work has been published in a variety of magazines and comic books, from MAD Magazine, America’s Humor Magazine, The Portland News, Plop! and Hollywood Today. His work has been featured in Timely Comics, Circus Comics and Target Comics. He also contributed to the Li’l Abner Comic Strip and LIFE Magazine. In 2006, his work was exhibited at The Portland Art Center in Oregon and in 2007 the CSUF Grand Art Center in Santa Ana, California presented a solo exhibition of Wolverton’s oeuvre from the collection of Glenn Bray. The works selected and presented in this exhibition are also from Bray’s private archive/collection.

Opening: Friday, June 19th from 5.30-7.30pm
For further information please contact Eric Nylund
T:212.206.9300    enylund@gladstonegallery.com

Wolverton’s gross and macabre work, with it’s popping eyeballs and giant, crater-like skin pores, made it a perfect fit for certin types of MAD articles and his work became quite recognizable as part of the MAD legacy. Later his son Monte would carry on the tradition. Of course Wolverton’s work appeared in many different publications and products, perhaps most famously adorning many of the Wacky Package sticker and cards we children of the 70′s remember fondly.

It should be a great exhibit.

Q: I have read on your blog about movie and TV parodies you have done where you say you loved the movie/TV show and ones where you say you didn’t like the subject. Would you rather do a parody of a show you really like or one you really dislike? What was your favorite parody for MAD? What was your least favorite?

A: Since you specifically asked my preference between those two choices I would prefer to do a parody of a show or movie I really like, but honestly either one is preferable to doing one of a subject I care nothing about.

It’s much easier to summon up the energy and enthusiasm I need to do a good job on a parody of something if I have some real interest in it. Love it or hate it, either feeling feeds the fires and gives me a reason to get interested and invested in the project. It’s apathy that is the hardest thing to overcome. Movies or shows that are boring or uninteresting to me are the ones that I least like to do parodies of.

My favorite/least favorite is hard to answer. I guess I’d have to say the Christian Bale “Batman” films have been my favorites to do just because the character is a favorite of mine and getting to parody them for MAD Magazine was a kind of dream come true. My least favorite? Probably one of the reality shows like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”.

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!