Sunday, June 20, 2010

Fellini's Fumetti

Not many people know that the great Italian film director Federico Fellini was once a cartoonist.  Before breaking into the movie business to write and direct movies such as La Strada, Satyricon, 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita, Fellini produced a number of comic strips, a lot of caricatures and spot cartoons for various magazines. Fellini also did poster designs for many of his films, storyboarded sections of his movies and caricatured many of his actors. He frequently did cartoons on his sets - many of them apparently quite risqué. The above Geppi La Bomba Atomica strip is from 1940. It has the look and feel of a Happy Hooligan strip.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Fwoppy?

I introduced a new character today.  It's a nerdy female rabbit who visits from the fifties.  She'll be hanging around all week. I don't have a name for her yet so if you have any ideas, let me know in the comments.  The best suggestion will get a signed sketch!  Heck... any suggestion gets a signed sketch.

Now For Some Action

Craig Yoe posted a Super Rabbit strip over on his awesome Itch Blog.  I believe this is a sample from his long awaited Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids' Komics.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Cartoon Mascots

Every World Cup since 1966 has featured an official cartoon mascot.  Apart from the ill-advised "Ciao" for Italy in 1990 and the beyond awful German Goleo VI (and his talking ball Pille) in 2006 they are all pretty good.  Despite looking rather charming I'm not really sure what Germany was thinking with Tip & Tap.  Maybe back in 1974 it might not have looked quite so creepy.  The Stryker character was designed by Warner Brothers Studios for USA 1994. They've done a lot better than the Olympic mascots. Who can forget Atlanta's disastrous Izzy/Whatizit (although Cobi for Barcelona 1992 is perhaps the greatest sporting mascot of all time).


The World Cup mascot for 2010 is Zakumi who is a leopard (apparently).  My guess is they really wanted to do a lion but Germany used one for the previous tournament. 


Zakumi comes complete with his own comic strip written by Rico Schacherl & Stephen Francis, the two creators of the popular South African cartoon, Madam and Eve.
 

There's a bunch more strips here.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

World Cup Fever

I make no apologies for being a soccer fan.  Even though I've been living in the US for the last 20 years I still have the sport in my blood.  I did a special World Cup strip yesterday to commemorate the start of the tournament in South Africa. Notice the official flag and ball in the first panel.  It's details like that which raise this strip to the heights of mediocrity. Also, Eightball is holding a vuvuzela, the plastic horn that you'll hear constantly throughout the tournament which sounds like a swarm of killer bees.  I know many people who think that would probably make the game more exciting. 

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Darker Side of Rabbits

When I submit my roughs to my editor I rarely get a strip rejected outright.  The original version of today's strip, however, was deemed "too dark".
While I agree that having one of your characters cut one of his/her appendages off is a bit gruesome, I did want to retain the "finger-in-a-box" joke.  I tried several ways to make it so that Weenus suffered to consequences of being such a sicko but it was still kinda gory until I solicited a cameo appearance form the always wonderful Lio by the prolific and mega talented Mark Tutulli.
Somehow the idea of it being a fake plastic hand is much more palatable.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Enthusiastic Magic

From today's Macanudo by the great Argentinian cartoonist (and one of my big influences) Liniers.  I love the arm in the last panel.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Puff the Magic Rabbit


Over at Cartoon Snap today they posted a full Presto Pete story from 1947. I don't know much about Presto Pete other than that he's a magic rabbit who appeared in the DC series Animal Antics which ran for 23 issues between 1946-1949.  The cover of the first issue features another version of the ol' rabbit pulling a magician out of a hat.