Not sure the world is not more than a bit better off right now. Of course the reviews of successor Kim Jong Un are not very encouraging… although his name is funnier. The above from MAD #473.

I am finding that the Amazon.com search engine is not a very well-functioning tool. At the very least it seems to be doing a disservice to customers looking for real results for search terms. According to Amazon, the results of a search for any terms or phrase are weighted by relevance of the search, sales on Amazon thus far and a few other factors.

After listing my book on Amazon early last month, it is currently sitting at #85 in results for a search of “How to Draw Caricatures”. That means the Amazon search engine thinks that 84 other books are more relevant to someone looking for a book on “how to draw caricatures” than my book.

Now, I’ve got no problem being lower on the list, considering I am a new book and my sales are obviously far behind those that have been selling on Amazon for many months or years. However it seems that way too much weight is given to those sales figures. Of the 84 books in front of mine, only about 12 are really about how to draw caricatures. The other 72 range from such relevant topics as How to Draw Digimon, Drawing Cartoon Baby Animals, Drawing Manga and my personal favorite, How to Draw Cartoon Fish.

I get that the words “How to Draw” are in most of those titles, and not in my title. However the word “caricature” should carry some weight, I should think. I do have the words “how to draw” and variations of it in my keyword terms. Amazon is not doing their customers any favors if a book that is clearly a much better match for someone looking for the term “how to draw caricatures” than a book on drawing fish is buried on page number 8 of the results. How many customers would continue to click through to more search result pages after seeing totally irrelevant results in earlier pages? None.

Oh, well. It’s out of stock on Amazon anyway. One of my shipments to them got lost somewhere, and others are in transit. Eventually I’ll crawl up that list (I hope). In the meantime, thanks to everyone who went to Amazon and posted a review of the book… that is no doubt the only reason I am as high at #85 right now. Some of those reviews are seriously awesome and I am glad that so many people are liking the book. Thanks again!

In other, more positive book news, The Mad Art of Caricature! is now being distributed by Follett Library Resources, Inc. and Book Wholesalers Inc. for procurement by K-12 school libraries and public libraries. So, if you have a local library that you want to carry the book, request it be ordered and they can get copies from those resources. I am also on the verge of signing a distribution deal with a local distributor which would result in the book being available through Ingram and other wholesalers, which would mean it will start to be carried in brick and mortar bookstores, art stores and other retail outlets. That’s basically the final step in the book marketing, unless I sell the reprint rights to a real publisher.

All in all the book is selling well, I have gotten fantastic feedback from virtually everyone who has gotten a copy (including some big-time pro artists that I respect and admire enormously) and I am very glad I did it. Thanks to everyone who has ordered a copy.

When I joined the National Cartoonists Society in 1999, I got the chance to meet many of my cartooning heroes at the Reuben Awards weekends held in May each year. It was thrilling to get to meet legends like Jack Davis, Charles Schulz, Mort Drucker, Jeff MacNelly, Mike Peters… the list goes on and on. I’m not easily starstruck, but a few of those artists I was genuinely tongue-tied when I met them.

Jerry Robinson might be the one I was most awed to meet, and that is saying something.

Anybody who knows me knows I am a huge Batman fan… as I type this my movie-prop replica Batman costume stands 10 feet behind me on a mannequin, ready for action. I have a studio full of Bat-toys and boxes of Detective Comics dating back to the 1950s. Jerry was one of the talents who worked on the early days of Batman that shaped him into the enduring character he became, including creating Robin and the Joker. Just those contributions to the world of comics would have been enough to cement his legacy as one of the founding giants of the industry. However, that was just one of many important accomplishments he made to cartooning. In addition to many other credits in comics including his own characters, Jerry was an illustrator, editorial cartoonist, syndicated newspaper strip creator, teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York, president of the National Cartoonists Society from 1967-1969 and president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists from 1973-1975. He was also a well-respected comics historian and author of The Comics, a book that studied the history of newspaper comics. In 1978, he founded CartoonArts International, syndicating the work of over 500 international artists to publications all over the world. Jerry was also a champion of artist’s rights, and was instrumental in the struggle for securing recognition and compensation for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for their creation of Superman.

… and that’s just scratching the surface of the importance Jerry Robinson had to the world of comics and cartooning.

Jerry passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 7th at age 89. Rest in peace, Jerry—and thank you for being you and sharing your talent, heart and passion with the world.

Me and Jerry Robinson, Reubens 2000, NYC

Last month I attended a gathering of MAD (Magazine) men in Savannah, GA, which you can read about here if you missed my posts. Present that weekend was CNN’s Todd Leopold who, along with photographer David Holloway, covered the event. They were planning on posting an article about the gathering on CNN.com, and asked me if I would draw caricatures of each of the attending MAD artists to accompany the feature.

That article just posted today, and while it is mainly about Al Jaffee (it’s this week’s CNN “Monday Profile”) it does talk about the Savannah weekend and features a little about each artist who was there… and my caricatures as well. Actually I had already drawn most of these MAD guys at one time or another, so I just took some existing caricatures in most cases and redid them so the formats and style matched. I drew new ones of Paul Coker, Sam Viviano (although based on a sketch I did a couple years ago) and myself.

You should definitely go read the article, but here are the drawings I did anyway:

Al Jaffee

Jack Davis

Paul Coker Jr.

Sergio Aragonés

Sam Viviano

Me

As of right now my book is finally listed as “In Stock” on Amazon.com. Only 4 copies remaining when I posted this, but I sent another case out yesterday, so more are on the way. So, if you were waiting to order the book from Amazon, now’s your chance!!

A HUGE thanks to all the people who took the time to write such great and thoughtful reviews this week on the book’s Amazon page. I’m very happy so many are liking the book and genuinely getting something from it.

If you are a fan of MAD‘s Spy vs. Spy, or know someone who is, put Spy vs. Spy: Omnibus on your Christmas list.

10 years ago, MAD put out Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook, which features all 247 Spy vs. Spy’s Antonio Prohias did for MAD, plus all the other articles he wrote/drew for the magazine as well as essays, interviews, preliminaries and sketches, his early Pre-MAD work and a bunch more fun stuff. It’s a great book, but one aspect of it was disappointing… many of the Spy vs Spy strips were printed much smaller than the originally appeared (about 25%—as in four to a page).

Spy vs. Spy: Omnibus corrects this, printing all the material from The Complete Casebook but at full size, and throws in a few other extras like a gallery of tribute illustrations from other notable artists, additional sketches and roughs. It’s also printed on much nicer paper and in hardcover. Having all 247 of Prohias’ Spy vs. Spy in their full-size glory is worth picking this up even if you have The Complete Casebook. If you don’t own that one, then get this one because it is the BOMB… pun intended.

The Biography Channel will be airing Jeff Dunham: The Birth of a Dummy tonight at 8 PM/7 PM Central, during which Jeff is going to talk about the creation of one of his newest characters and (I’m told) my role in that process. Try and catch it!

Art by John Martz

The deadline approaches… STOP PROCRASTINATING! If you are an art student/college student interesting in cartooning, send in your submissions for the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship today! :

Jay Kennedy Scholarship

The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist. The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention attended by many of the world’s leading cartoonists.

Applicants must be students at a 4-year college in the United States, Canada or Mexico who will be a Junior or Senior during the 2012-2013 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

Along with a completed entry form, applicants are required to send 8 samples of their own cartooning artwork (copies only); noting if and where the work has been published, either in print or on the web. (See application for details.) DO NOT send original artwork.

DEADLINE: ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED BY DECEMBER 15, 2011

The applications will be judged by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) and the number of scholarships given out and their amounts will be at the discretion of the NCSF.

If you know of any college students who are cartoonists, whether that is their field of study or not, please let them know about this opportunity. The Jay Kennedy Scholarship has helped several talented artists pay for their schooling, and the more who apply, the merrier! Click here for more info!

From left: Nick Meglin, myself, Paul Coker, Sergio Aragonés, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis and Sam Viviano. Clicky to Embiggen.

This past weekend I had the distinct privilege to participate in a gathering of some of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” (i.e. major contributors to MAD Magazine) hosted by the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah Georgia. In attendance were long-time editor Nick Meglin, cartooning legends and members of the exclusive 50 year MAD contributor club, Paul Coker Jr., Jack Davis and Al Jaffee, soon to be member of that same club (next year) Sergio Aragonés, 30 year MAD artist and MAD art director for the last 13 years, Sam Viviano, and… uh… me. Only at MAD can you have been a regular contributor for over a decade, be 45 years old, and still be considered the “new kid”. Originally scheduled to attend and who could not make it for family health reasons was Don “Duck” Edwing, who was badly missed. Other long-time UGOI were contacted, including the incomparable Mort Drucker, but various circumstances make it impossible for them to be there.

Seriously, what a line-up. Throughout the weekend people were enthusiastic about the gathering, but I think it might have escaped most how unique it was to get Al, Jack, Paul, Nick and Sam all together at one time, Certainly that kind of gathering of greats has not happened since the legendary MAD trips Bill Gaines used to take the UGOI on. I was constantly pinching myself all weekend to even have been allowed in the same room as these awe-inspiring talents, let alone be billed alongside them.

The weekend was a mixture of presentations and workshops with the students and faculty of SCAD as well as members of the SEC NCS, tours, the opening reception of a public show of original MAD art from all the guests, and a free public panel discussion with all the attending UGOI. Here’s a rundown of the events I was able to attend, both public and private, with some pictures:

Thursday, Nov. 10th-

I got in early enough that I was able to attend Sam Viviano’s MAD 101 lecture Thursday night at 5:00 at the SCAD Museum of Art. Sam has a unique part of MAD history as he is the only major freelance contributor to become a full-time staff member. In his dual role as long-time artist and current art director, he has a perspective on the evolution of MAD from two distinct viewpoints. As a result, he is a voluminous repository of MAD lore, history and mythology, and is eminently qualified to lecture on the history of the magazine. Great presentation, and pretty well attended by SCAD students and faculty.

That night, with all of the visiting UGOI having arrived, we were able to go out and experience a little Savannah hospitality at the Crystal Beer Parlor!

Al Jaffee, Paul Coker, Jack Davis and Nick Meglin

Al and Paul arguing about gin vs. vodka martinis

Nick is exasperated as Sergio is being Sergio

Friday, November 11th-

In the morning we here taken on a quick tour of The Savannah College of Art and Design by the John Lowe, Dean of Communication Arts (and former inker for Archie, DC and Marvel). We visited the Digital Media Center (animation, etc), the Film and Motion Picture hall and the Sequential Arts (comics) building. There was a significant level of chaos at the time, as this week is the final week of the semester, and students were scrambling to get final projects done.

Me going into SCAD Digital Media Center

Touring a SCAD classroom

I have to take a moment here to say how incredibly impressive SCAD is. There are a number of schools that have a great programs in animation, film-making and other creative fields, but only a handful really teach comic art. SCAD is one of them, and it’s programs and students blew me away. Some schools seem to teach a “house” style, or shoehorn their students into certain approaches and solutions. SCAD really stresses the narrative aspects of comics, and while they are also extremely art-intensive, they allow students to explore their own unique styles of art within the context of good storytelling. They also challenge them to work within different styles and frameworks, but ultimately I got the feeling they help them to develop their own unique voices. The facilities were mind-boggling, especially the animation studio. Rooms and rooms of 20″ Cintiqs were everywhere, and we saw some incredible grad student animation projects that were basically their graduate thesises. Digital work abounded, but that said we walked into a large room full of old-school animation light boxes and were told that every student begins with mandatory study of traditional drawing as a foundation.

During the animation building tour, we saw how much these legendary MAD artists still influence young cartoonists and animators. We were just a group of old people being led through rooms of the studio, winding our way through all these young students busy at work… we didn’t have name tags or Alfred E. Neuman with us. Tagging along the back end of the group was Jack Davis, grinning and gawking at all the artwork we saw. My wife, The Lovely Anna, was bringing up the vanguard, making sure none of the MAD guys got too interested in any of the artwork and missed the group moving on. Jack said hello, in the southern gentlemanly way Jack does, to three young ladies working on an animation project. They politely said hello back and asked him to have a nice day. I’m sure they were thinking “what a nice old man” as he wandered past. Anna leaned over to them as she came by and whispered to one of the girls, “That was Jack Davis you just said hello to.” The girl went white as a sheet and started shaking stammering… “J-J-J-J-ack DAVIS?!?” They ran after him and were so excited to meet him they barely got three words out. Jack drew a self portrait on the whiteboard and Anna took their picture with him, promising to send it to them after gathering up their email addresses. Those girls were maybe twenty years old, and they not only knew who Jack was, but they understood what a giant of cartooning he is. Great work transcends time.

Jack drawing for the animation students

Jack is an irrepressible ladies man!

Later that afternoon some of us met with groups of students to review portfolios. I had a diverse group of talent in my review session, including international students from Indonesia and Brazil (if I remember correctly). Some great talent, and an obvious desire for advice and direction. It was fun to get to meet a few of the students in the comic’s program, and see what kind of work they were doing.

That night we has a reception at the MAD Art Exhibit at SCAD’s Poetter Hall. The exhibit featured pieces from each of the visiting MAD artists, and it was a great show.

Paul Coker, Me, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragonés, Sam Viviano and Nick Meglin.
Al Jaffee was MIA… rumored to have been around the corner showing some
co-eds how he could do 100 one-handed pushups.

It goes without saying the artwork was awesome… some of the best stuff was seeing preliminary sketches and pencils as well as the finished art for several pieces by Paul Coker, as it was fascinating to see his process. Also hanging at the show were the 15 finalists of an art competition SCAD did with their comic art students. The contest was to create a Spy vs. Spy comic, and there was some innovative and creative solutions on display. It was interesting to see how some people stuck close to the original Prohias style of the Spies, and others went in much more original directions. We MAD men had to judge the finalists and select three winners.

Al, Jack and Sam at the reception

Paul Coker and me, judging the Spy vs. Spy work

Hard to believe this art snuck into the show…

The MAD Gang with the Spy vs. Spy competition winner Meg Casey, at left is
Anthony “Fish” Fisher, the Chair of SCAD’s Sequential Art Dept.

Later that evening the Southeast Chapter of the NCS and SCAD had a welcome reception for everyone at the SCAD Museum.

Saturday, Novemeber 12th-

I started the day at the official business meeting of the NCS Southeast Chapter. It was really the chapter, especially chairman Jack Pittman, Nick Meglin and Michael Jantze, (The Norm and Jantze Animation) who is both an NCS SEC member and a professor at SCAD, who were the driving force behind this whole weekend. Michael got SCAD involved, and they enthusiastically got behind the idea and helped turn it into a big event, but it was the NCS SEC that made it happen. Nick especially got these legends to come to Savannah to get together, being long-time friends with them all. They just turned their annual fall meeting into a cartooning event that made CNN and countless other news outlets. Speaking as president of the National Cartoonists Society, the SEC is a model chapter not only for putting on this event but for the way they keep active and run their group. I was greatly impressed.

Later that morning there was an informal sort of workshop conducted for NCS SEC members by the UGOI. Yep. No pressure. Just me drawing in front of a crowd with Jack Davis, Paul Coker, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragonés and Sam Viviano. No big deal. Piece of cake. <8O

Sergio does his thing!

Jack does his thing!

My demo… I think Paul is laughing at me!!

After lunch a number of SEC members and a few MAD guys did some student workshops at the museum. These ran simultaneously and while the groups were small they were a lot of fun. I did a workshop on caricature, and other artists who participated were:

• Robert Pope:  Making the script serve the visual while preserving the author’s intent
• Andy Smith: Drawing Dynamic Comics
• John Lotshaw: Self-Publishing and distribution strategy
• Jack Cassidy: Editorial Humorous Illustration and Gag Cartooning
• James “Doodle” Lyle: Demystifying Inking
• Stephanie Gladden-Miller: Drawing Characters “On-Model”
• Sergio Aragonés: Cartooning
• Jim Massara: Presenting your Work to Editors
• Jack Pittman & Grey Blackwell: Opportunities in Cartooning

Wish I could have attended a few of those, but I was busy doing my workshop.

That night was the grand event, the MAD Chat Panel Discussion at the Trustees Theater.

The MAD Chat Panel

Wow! Big billing! Photo by Michael Jantze

The MAD gang onstage- photo by Anthony Fisher

There was a great crowd, probably around 600-700 people. The chat was moderated by the quick-witted Nick Meglin, and there were plenty of laughs, great stories and about 300 years of collective cartoon wisdom onstage. I was there for security and to sweep up afterward. Some of the funniest moments were impromptu, like when Jack’s cell phone kept going off and he couldn’t figure out how to turn off the ringer. Unfazed, Nick kept firing off one-liners about it. Jack’s sheepish grin was priceless.

Nick is merciless to poor Jack and his ringing cellphone. Al is amused.

I look on as Sergio and Sam tell a story

Nick, Jack, Al and Paul Coker

Towards the end of the panel, SEC NCS chairman Jack Pittman presented Paul Coker with the “Jack Davis Award” for outstanding achievement in cartooning. Well deserved!

Jack Pittman presents “the Jack Davis” to Paul Coker

Sergio and Sam admire Paul’s award

Afterward there was an autograph session with the whole gang, signing books, issues of MAD and all sorts of stuff…

The UGOI signing stuff. From far end: Sergio, Al, me, Sam, Paul and Jack

That’s a big line!

Me, Sam and Paul

What an awesome weekend. I missed all the mythic MAD trips, and this might be as close as I will ever get to experiencing what that was like. It was a great honor to be able to spend some time with these guys, who are all idols of mine, let alone be included among them. A BIG thanks to the NCS Southeat Chapter, especially Jack Pittman, Nick Meglin, Julie Negron and James “Doodle” Lyle for all the hard work, to SCAD for all the support and hospitality, especially Michael and Nicole Jantze, Anthony and Tera Fisher, John Lowe and all the faculty and grad students who shuttled us about and kept us out of trouble.

Oh, yeah… there was also a silent auction of donated art including some stuff from several of the MAD artists. The proceeds go to both the NCS SEC and the National Cartoonists Society Foundation/Milt Gross fund. I won this little gem done by Paul:

Jealous? Clicky to embiggen…

For those who aren’t familar with Paul Coker’s work, he didn’t just work for MAD. He has done a lot of other stuff including being the artist who did the character designs for the Rankin-Bass animated Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and about a dozen other specials and shorts you know and love. This piece was done for MAD as part of a spoof of updated holiday programs… funny that they had the original artist to do the parody already in the fold!

I’m currently in Savannah, GA attending an event put together by the Southeast Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society and the Savannah College of Art and Design, featuring a gaggle of Idiots.

No, not the cast of Jersey Shore.

It’s a gathering of some of the “Usual Gang of Idiots”, as the contributors of MAD Magazine call themselves. As you can see from the list above, it includes some of the true greats from the magazines history, and also me.

Some of the conference involves private seminars and workshops with SCAD students. I’ll be doing a workshop on caricature and participating in portfolio reviews, etc. There are two events that are open to the public, however, that would be worth a trip to Savannah to check out.

Tonight there will be an opening of a MAD Artist Exhibit featuring original work by all the participating MAD artists. The exhibit is located at The Creative Coast, 15 West York Street, Savannah, GA 31401 SCAD Poetter Hall, 342 Bull Street, Savannah, GA**:

• 5:00pm Reception: Open to Special Guests, NCS members, and Faculty Only
• 6:00pm Exhibit open to public and students

Saturday evening is  “A SCAD, MAD, MAD, MAD Discussion,” a panel discussion with some of the original artists from MAD from 5–6:30 p.m. at the Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton St., Savannah, Georgia. This panel will be free and open to the public.

Scheduled to appear on the panel include:

• Jack Davis. Davis was one of the original cartoonists for MAD in 1952. He illustrated the very first story in the very first issue of MAD.
• Al Jaffee. With his first piece in 1955, Savannah-born Jaffee is MAD’s longest-running freelance contributor. He is best known for creating one of the magazine’s trademark features, the MAD fold-in. Every issue since April of 1964 has featured a Jaffee fold-in.
• Paul Coker, Jr. Coker has been a contributor to MAD since 1962 and has appeared in over 300 issues.
• Nick Meglin. Meglin is a former editor of MAD Magazine, a position he held for over thirty years.
• Sergio Aragones. Aragones has been at MAD since 1963. He distinguished himself with his “Marginal Thinking” strips, which were printed up, down, across, and around the corners of comic panels to fill in the margins.
• Sam Viviano. Viviano began his MAD career as a freelance artist and while still illustrating articles also currently serves as MAD’s art director.
• Tom Richmond. Richmond will be serving coffee and sweeping up afterward.

There will be a book signing afterwards with Al signing his new book Al Jaffee’s MAD Life, Sergio will be signing copies of his new comic book Sergio Aragones’ Funnies, and I’ll have copies of my book.

Unfortunately Duck Edwing had to bow out due to a family medical issue. That’s a shame, because he is one funny guy and I hadn’t seen him in years.

This will be fun. If you are anywhere near Savannah, it will be worth coming by. I serve a mean cuppa Joe.

** EDIT- Ooops, there are actually two exhibits of MAD work going on this weekend, and the one located at The Creative Coast, 15 West York Street, Savannah, GA are actually the ones donated for the silent auction, which I neglected to mention. These pieces have been up all wee and will be there through today, then will move over to the Trustees Theater on Saturday for final live bidding from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM, with winners declared at 7:00. Proceeds will help support both the NCS Southeast Chapter and it’s programs as well as the Milt Gross Fund/National Cartoonists Society Foundation, the NCS’s charity arm.