Calvin and Hobbes for Peace

I took this photo in the historic central square in Salvador, Bahia, the first colonial capitol of Brazil.  That's the former 17th Century Jesuit Church in the background (now the main cathedral) and the old medical school.  My spousal unit made it into the picture as well (left). The wall in the foreground is covered with six delightful stencils of Calvin calling for peace.  I'm pretty sure Bill Watterson did not authorize this public artwork project but I'd like to think he would get a kick out of it.

Monkeys Against Magic

A great (but fake) "History of Forgotten Magic" over at Archie McPhee's Monkey Goggles blog.  My favorite bit is Nude-ini, the Erotic Magician.  APparently his version of pulling a rabbit out of a hat was particularly grotesque and ended with the line, “As you can see, not only is this not a rabbit, I am also not pulling it out of a hat.”

Mirandamania

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I have an potentially unhealthy obsession with the singer and actress Carmen Miranda. In Brazil I was able to visit several Carmen Miranda-related locations including the Art Deco Casino in Urca where she performed in the 1930s and the tiny little Carmen Miranda museum in Flamengo.  We even got to see a lavish Carmen Miranda musical production. A lot of the strips I drew around this time were influenced by the Brazilian Bombshell.

Trivia fans take note.  Carmen Miranda was neither born nor died in Brazil!  At the height of her Hollywood  career she was the highest-earning woman in the United States.  She owned and ran a hat shop before she became a successful entertainer. She died after suffering a heart attack live on the Jimmy Durante Show.

Rabbits Against Toilet Paper

Brazilian toilet paper has rabbits on it!

Good Fortuna

I just got back from Brazil where among other things I attended the 2nd Rio de Janeiro International Humor Festival.  It was an amazing exhibition with a special retrospective of one of my favorite Brazilian cartoonists, Reginaldo José de Azevedo Fortuna (better known as "Fortuna") who died in 1994.  He has a very loose and edgy style.  It was great to see his work close up.

Fortuna's drawing style reminds me a lot of the European cartoonists who emerged in the Post-War period, such as Saul Steinberg, Jean Jacques Sempé and André François.

 

His work was published in in most of the larger Brazilian newspapers and magazines, such as Senhor Senhor and the Correio da Manhã. He was a member of the founding team of the magazine O Pasquim in 1969. He also worked as an art editor for the magazine Veja and as director of editing of the magazine Claudia. He edited the alternative comic Bicho and contributed sketches to the Folhetim, the supplement to the newspaper Folha de São Paulo and also to Revista da Semana and A Cigarra.

 

Most of his drawings are without any text.  Apparently he used the seemingly ill-advised pseudonym 'Chico Forte' early in his career (Strong Boy in Portuguese). 

Rabbit People

An unidentified random photo from the wonderful My House Rabbit blog.

Will the Real Doodles Duck Please Stand Up

As you may or may not know, one of my lesser supporting characters is a duck called Doodles. I just discovered that he's not the only duck with this moniker.  According to the always useful Toonpedia there are two more! One (above) was created by Howard Post and ran in various DC publications.  This Doodles lived with his nephew, Lemuel, who was a good deal smarter and usually came out on top at the end of the story.  They first appeared in Animal Antics #40 (September, 1952). That same year Sheldon Mayer created an unrelated dimwitted Doodles Duck (below).

There's an entire Howie Post Doodles story on the great Cartoon Snap blog, here.

Rabbit Injury from 1935

Another excellent post from Mark's Scrapbook of Oddities and Treasures. It's unclear how the rabbit sustained such terrible head injuries along with shin and wrist lacerations but it almost certainly had to do with that top hat and some ill-conceived dabbling with the black arts.  He seems to be in good hands though..

Putting on Your Top Hat

The book publisher Taschen, the one that specializes in very large glossy coffee table books, has just announced it will release a fat hardcover volume of complete album covers from the great designer Alec Steinweiss.  He actually invented the idea of art of album covers in 1939 and has allegedly done over 2500 covers! His style still looks fresh and clean and long predates vector computer art. I really like his cover for this Cole Porter/Andre Kostelanetz collection.

Lighter than Air

This is the second ever helium joke I've done.  Stay turned for more element humor.  I've only just scratched the surface.

Happy New Year Everyone

Have a great 2010!

Boxing Day

People complain about having to assemble Ikea furnature but that's part of the fun isn't it?

Oils Well

Poor Eightball.  I don't think he's ever successfully completed a painting.

Vegas Baby!

I drew this strip in the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Vegas where there really is a tattoo parlor.

Hamster Poo

I got away with rodent excrament in a comic strip!

Schulzaroonie!

Here's a couple of snapshots from my recent personal appearance at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

 

A big thank you to everyone who dropped by in spite of the rain.  The photo above is me (left) with some young cartooning fans (Wesley and Erin) who had an amazing book of sketches by other cartoonists.  You can see me working on  a strip that will run early January.

It was quite a day.  I was honored to meet Jeanie Schulz, wife of the great man himself.  Jeanie was nice enough to give me a personal "behind-the-scenes" tour of the former studio, probably the closest I'll ever come to a religious experience.

Peanuts!

I'll be at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California tomorrow as the featured monthly Cartoonist-in-Residence.  If you happen to be in the area please drop by between 1-3PM for some free original artwork and an inky handshake.  I'll be the awkward looking gangly English guy sitting at the table.  The museum is worth visiting even when I'm not there.

Rabbits Against Boxing

Where indeed is the referee.

The Greatest Newspaper Ever?

The San Francisco Panorama came out today. At $16 it may seem a tad pricey but it's simply the best newspaper that's been released in my lifetime. The 16 page comics section is worth the price alone with original new art by Dan Clowes, Seth, Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman and Adrian Tomine. Other writers include Stephen King, Michael Chabon, Nicholson Baker, Junot Díaz and Roddy Doyle. It's the brainchild of the always interesting Dave Eggers and his crazy bunch of McSweeney's pirates. Apparently the paper sold out within hours of hitting the newsstand.

Humor vs. Humor

Once again I am a guest on the most excellent Tall Tale Radio podcast, this time talking about British Comedy with English cartoonist extraordinaire Darren Rolfe and the always graceful host Tom Racine. Stay tuned to the end for the exciting Monty Python Trivia Quiz.