As you probably know, veteran comic book illustrator Gene Colan is ill and facing mammoth pharmaceutical bills and other related expenses. Gene is so beloved that a huge number of his friends and colleagues are pitching in to help him out. One way you can help — and maybe pick up a treasure for yourself in the process — is by bidding in the benefit auction currently being held. You'll want to go over to the blog of Clifford Meth for details. Bid high because you'll never get a better chance to help one of comics' true living legends.
This is for those of you in Los Angeles. Next Wednesday evening, May 28, there will be an exhibit of the artistry of Will Eisner at Storyopolis — an art gallery and bookstore in Studio City. Here are the details and admission, they say, is free. The event opens at 7 PM and around 8:00, there will be a panel discussion on Eisner's work with (I believe) Denis Kitchen, Jackie Estrada, Sergio Aragonés and Yours Truly. And maybe other folks, I don't know. Anyway, it's Eisner and it's free and what more do you need to know? The "free" part alone does it for me.
This is the weekend of the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards Weekend. Cartoonists from all over the world are converging on New Orleans for panels, parties and awards. The awards will be given out Saturday night and that includes the most prestigious, the Cartoonist of the Year award, which is known as The Reuben.
The Reuben is, more or less, a Lifetime Achievement award and this year's nominees are Dave Coverly (who draws Speed Bump), Dan Piraro (who's responsible for Bizarro) and Mad magazine's own Al Jaffee. Wiley Miller, who draws the comic strip, Non Sequitur, has announced that his strip this Sunday will congratulate the winner by name. That strip, of course, was drawn some time ago and will have been printed before the award is announced. So how could he know who'll win?
Because everyone knows who'll win. Al Jaffee will win. It's such a foregone conclusion, it makes you wonder why it's taken 'til now for him to even be nominated. Piraro and Coverly are deserving but they'll both win in some future year. This year, it's Al's turn.
A bit of a fuss — much more than is warranted — is being made over that New Yorker cartoon that was based on an old Jack Kirby drawing. As you may recall, (we mentioned it here) cartoonist Harry Bliss did a drawing that readers were invited to caption. He used a monster from an old issue of Tales to Astonish and a number of folks recognized it and, as reported in this newspaper article, are expressing some level of outrage.
I cannot speak for Mr. Kirby but I seriously doubt Jack would have considered this to be plagiarism. It's one drawing put into a new, funny context. It's also an obvious and famous drawing (I included it in my book) and it's not like Mr. Bliss could have expected everyone would have thought it was his design. The joke in the visual is that it contrasts so totally with his own style.
On the other hand, I think someone at the New Yorker is guilty of a bit of bad sportsmanship. Readers were invited to submit captions for the Bliss cartoon and quite a few entrants wrote to me that they'd submitted lines like, "What's that? You say you're the lawyer for the Jack Kirby estate?" Someone at the magazine must have noticed the name of Kirby popping up in many entries...and if they didn't know who that was or get the connection, they should have researched it and found out. Then they should have realized that one of the Kirby reference submissions would have been funnier than any of those they picked, and it would have carried Bliss's joke to a logical, honest punchline. So that's where I think the "wrong" lies...and let's be honest. It's a pretty trivial "wrong."
One of the quiet joys of David Letterman's show is the Paul Shaffer play-on. Mr. Shaffer always selects an appropriate song to perform for a few bars as a guest enters...and "appropriate" can mean a groan-inducing pun or a nugget of musical trivia.
The other night, Letterman's guest was Senator Jim Webb, who's touring the nation to promote his new book and to hint that he'd make a dandy running mate for Barack Obama. (I think he would, by the way.) Shaffer played him on with "Macarthur Park." I wonder how many people made the connection.
You don't have to write me and cite it to prove to me you did. I assume you did because you're smart enough to read this site. I'm just wondering how many other people got it.
Rosa Brooks complains that a majority of Americans seem to trust John McCain on handling the Iraq War, even though he's been consistently wrong on that topic and is pledging to prolong a war that most people want ended. Could this possibly have to do with the fact that (a) he's a charming guy in front of an audience, (b) he's a war hero and (c) so far, he's been running more or less unopposed, at least by Democrats?
Obviously, (c) is going to change and that may do a lot to change (a). McCain does not do well when there are contrary opinions in the room. And I also think that a certain section of the population will never get past the notion that if you want a safe America, you vote for the guy who talks toughest, has the military record and is probably Republican. That number will get whittled away as we get closer to the day of voting. Right now, those folks have the luxury of continuing to like McCain. At some point though, they're going to have to ask themselves if they really want to renew the Iraq War for another four years.
Hey, you know what would make a cute musical number? Let's dress some grown-ups up as children and have them sing a kiddy song. Oh, and make sure the women show their underwear a lot!
That's right...it's another "music video" from the forties in the "Gags and Gals" series...
May 23, 2008
