News
October 9th, 2008 | Posted in News
My friend and fellow caricaturist and cartoonist Jim Batts is an entertainment trivia genius, and is about to test his mettle on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” two weeks from today, October 23rd in New York City. Jim traveled to NYC this summer to try out for the program and it’s “Movie Trivia” focused week run of shows sponsored by Netflix. Jim nailed the audition and got the callback last month. He’s scheduled to tape his show on the 23rd. Believe it or not, I am one of his “Phone a Friend” lifelines… basically I am on call to answer any Harry Potter or… READ MORE
October 7th, 2008 | Posted in News
Did this sketch on the bus in Germany… Our day at the National Naval Medical Center and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center got cut short because our flight out to Europe left at 6:30 p.m. that night from Dulles. So the six of us were whisked to the airport and boarded our flight on United, headed to London’s Heathrow airport. There we had a two hour wait until our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt departed. We landed at the Frankfurt airport at about 11:30 a.m. local time, which was 5:30 a.m. Washington time. A lot went on with our group during our travels, and during… READ MORE
October 6th, 2008 | Posted in News
The group at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. R to L: Bruce Higdon, Jeff Bacon, Me, Rick Kirkman, Jeff Keane, Stephan Pastis and one of our NNMC guides So now I am rested and recovered (mostly) from the NCS/USO trip to Landstuhl, Germany to visit wounded U.S. soldiers with a group of cartoonists. Prior to flying out to Germany, we spent Monday last week visiting recovering soldiers in the D.C. area. Our group in D.C. consisted of trip organizer Jeff Bacon (“Broadside”/Naval Times), NCS President Jeff Keane (“The Family Circus”), Rick Kirkman (“Baby Blues”), Bruce Higdon (“Punderstatements””/Freelance caricaturist), Stephen Pastis (“Pearls Before Swine”)… READ MORE
October 4th, 2008 | Posted in News
Did I say I’d be at the Minnesota FallCon today?? Thanks to a late flight back from Germany I missed my connection to Minnesota and ended up stuck here in Washington D.C. for the night. I am flying out this morning but of course my flight is already delayed an hour. Figures. If they would have delayed last night’s flight by even 20 minutes I would have made it. As a result I won’t be making it to FallCon today after all. I’ll be there tomorrow, though. Check back on Monday and Tuesday for a complete report of the NCS trip to D.C. and Lansdstahl,… READ MORE
September 30th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In the 80’s MAD publisher William M. Gaines and the editorial staff cited twelve pieces of cover artwork from the magazine that they considered the epitome of what MAD was all about.. it’s “heart and soul”. They represented the essential philosophy, type of humor and satirical outlook that MAD had established as it thumbed it’s nose at the world and all those who took it, and themselves, too seriously. He called these classic pieces of art the “Soul of MAD“. Over the years there have been several MAD art auctions by Christie’s and Sothebys that featured a lot of classic MAD art, but the “Soul… READ MORE
September 29th, 2008 | Posted in News
A few weeks ago I mentioned a special USO and NCS sponsored trip I would be taking where several cartoonists would be visiting U.S. military hospitals in Germany to spend some time with wounded soldiers and medical staff. I am currently in Washington D.C., where today our little group of cartoonist will be visiting the Walter Reed Medical Center and the Bathesda Naval Base to see staff and recovering war veterans. Tonight we will fly out of Washington-Dulles to Heathrow in London, with just a short layover (sorry Steve Hearn, I am airport-bound there) before we are off to Frankfurt and from there to Landstuhl.… READ MORE
September 27th, 2008 | Posted in News
Used with permission If you ever needed any solid proof that politicians in this country are a bunch of sleazy, special interest catering con artists, here you go: Yesterday, with the country in the most dire economic crisis in almost 100 years and a 700 billion dollar bailout or some other form of action desperately needing to be hammered out and put into action, the U.S. Senate passed the Orphan Works Act via a process known as “hotlining”. I guess the economy can just wait. “Hotlining” is a shady practice that was originally designed for quickly passing noncontroversial bills or simple motions, but has been… READ MORE
September 25th, 2008 | Posted in News
One of the cool things that happened last weekend at ToonFest in Marceline was the appearance of John Read with a handful of advance copies of the second issue his magazine Stay Tooned! The issue looks great, including the fantastic cover seen above by Joe Staton. Contents include: Profiles of Mike Peters, Tom Bancroft, Joe Staton, Mason Mastroianni and Bill Day Interviews with Jules Feiffer, Berke Brethed and Ben Towle. Pictures from the 2008 NCS Reuben awards Several articles by the likes of Jack Cassidy, Corey Pandolph and Norm Feuti Regular features galore including R.C. Harvey‘s “Funnies Farrago” and my “MAD Mailbag” As with the… READ MORE
