Month: June 2007

Why This Cartoon Doesn’t Work (I Think) #2

andertoons2 Comments

OK, now the flip side. Here’s one that’s an oldie and a baddie:

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The gag here is that the men are all outside, and so none of them get the inside joke.

Ahem.

Let’s look at the art:

As is usually the case with a really bad cartoon, I spent a fair amount of time on the art. There was a lot of scenery to do, four characters in different poses and nowhere to hide any bodies, and a decent amount of shading to get the night effect right.

Also, you’ll notice that I used a white airbrush in Photoshop around the border to crop a crappy composition.

Add to it that the guy talking takes a minute to find, and it’s a train wreck from start to finish.

On to the joke:

Actually, I sort of like the gag, but I’m not sure there’s a way to do the art successfully enough to really get it across quickly. And, OK, the joke is weak.

Also, it kinda gets you thinking “is the joke here that there is no joke? Is that the ‘inside joke?'” Which is just a mess.

And the sale:

Nada. Nothing. No one ever bought this, liked it, or understood it. And I really can’t blame them.

So there’s a big fat failure, and not the last. More to come soon…

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Why This Cartoon Works (I Think) #1

andertoons6 Comments

I’ve been playing with this idea for a new semi-regular feature for a while where I take a cartoon that I’ve done and explain why it works or doesn’t. The problem is I don’t want to come off sounding like “hey, look at me! I’m so cool! I know everything about cartooning! Blah blah blah!”

So, before I start, lemme get this out there – I have no art training whatsoever. I don’t know a thing about color, composition, etc… It’s also been a good while since I read any Gerberg, Richter & Bakker or even any McCloud, and I’m no cartoon historian, so, long paragraph short, this is going to be pretty much my largely uninformed theories and not much more. Enjoy!

Let’s look at this cartoon:

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A little background first: this one has sold to Teacher magazine, has been used in a number of presentations/newsletters, and has been saved as a favorite at Andertoons most often. So I think we can agree that it’s probably a pretty good cartoon.

OK, let’s look at the art:

I’ve kept the scene relatively simple, but there’s enough there to get the idea of a schoolroom setting across. The blackboard would probably have been enough, but the alphabet on top felt right.

I used a blackboard instead of a more modern whiteboard for two reasons: 1) It’s nice to have a large dark area to help the “The big dog run.” pop a little, and 2) I think it helps get the classroom idea across more quickly.

The cartoon reads from left to right pretty well I think. First you see the teacher and blackboard, then the “The big dog run.”, then the boy speaking, and then the caption. You fill in the necessary ingredients of the joke in the right order with (I hope) no ambiguity or confusion.

Now the joke:

The cartoons I like most have art and captions that wouldn’t work without the other, and I think this mostly fits in that category.

It’s basically taking two cliche phrases, “agree to disagree” and to a lesser degree “subject/verb agreement”, and mashing them together. Add the kid trying to get away with obviously incorrect grammar, and it works pretty nicely.

As I remember I started with “agree to disagree” and let my mind wander on “agree” for a while.

Honestly, it took me a little bit to get the right wording for the chalkboard sentence, and I ran it past the first-grade-teacher/Mrs. just to be sure.

The sale:

I knew when I wrote this that it would most likely be a good fit for a women’s magazine, or possibly a more general cartoon market. After those were exhausted I put together a pak of teacher cartoons and sent them to Teacher after my wife noticed they were using cartoons. (BTW, it was fun for my wife to be able to show me off a little in the teacher’s lounge!)

So that’s it. I’d love to hear any theories or arguments on what I’m right and wrong about. More soon…

Ghost Rider – Review (With The Return Of the Margie Movie Meter!)

andertoons2 Comments

Ghostrider-2To paraphrase Ghost Rider’s penance stare catch phrase, “my soul is stained by the crappiness of the this movie. Feel my pain.”

From Sam Elliot’s voiceover for the opening montage, to the terribly trite ending, Ghost Rider is so cliche and ironic dialogue heavy that it collapses under it’s own weight almost constantly.

Here’s a quick overview of the plot: Motorcycle daredevil Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) makes a deal with the devil (Peter Fonda) to save his cancer stricken motorcycle daredevil father (Brett Cullen seemingly trying to channel Chris Cooper). Not surprisingly, his father dies immediately thereafter in a motorcycle daredevil accident, and Johnny leaves his love to spare her his life as a damned motorcycle daredevil.

Years later, Blaze’s stunt riding have brought him the worldwide fame and fortune that all motorcycle daredevils enjoy, and just when his old flame (Eva Mendes, and yes I intended that pun) shows up again, the devil wants his due. Johnny must take down the devil’s impudent son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley) before he creates Hell 2.

Add in some convoluted back story involving the not very mysterious Caretaker (Sam Elliot), a missing contract, and the 1000 souls of San Venganza, and you’ve got a truly terrible mish-mash of 13-year old boys’ study hall notebook fantasy scrawlings for about the last 50 years.

The Good:

The movie does have a few, and I mean a scant few redeeming points: Blaze’s candy cocktails, obsession with monkey video and love of Karen Carpenter tunes are kooky, Eva Mendes’ breasts make the most of their screen time, and the special effects are quite good, but monkeys, boobs, and fire do not a movie make. (The 1980’s classic Satan’s Silicone Simians being the notable exception.)

The Bad:

Roxy, surveying Blaze’s occult book collection – “Jesus.” Blackheart appears out of nowhere and responds… wait for it… “Not even close.” I wish I were kidding.

Roxy pulls out a magic 8-ball toy at a restaurant after being stood up by Blaze, shakes it vigorously and seems interested in the result. I’m not kidding. I’m assuming this is to make her seem quirky or likable, or both, but it just comes out of nowhere and pretty much leaves you going “what the hell was that?!”

At one point GR escapes the police station by jumping his bike over a terrified guard. Cut to next scene. Ghost Rider walks out of the station to find his bike waiting for him in the street. I replayed this for the Mrs. and she saw it too. Good lord!

GR also whistles for his bike at one point. He’s a flaming skull! How exactly does a flaming skull whistle?!

Early on Nazareth’s “Tush” plays in the soundtrack and I mistook the beginning of the song for “Hot Blooded” which would had been a much nicer choice. Minor point I know, but there it is.

Caretaker erupts into flame and rides with Blaze to San Venganza for the final showdown. After arriving he deflames and says that that was the last time he’d be able to change into a rider, and he’d been saving it for this. Would someone please tell these dorks about MapQuest or Google Maps or something! Jesus!

The POV riding shots are like rooftop siren title shots in Police Squad. Serisouly, I could hear that music in my head!

Montage after montage after soul crushing montage! AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!

(I could go on and on and on, but at some point I have to consider my bandwidth, so let’s move on…)

The After School Special:

Mack, Blaze’s manager.assistant/friend (Donal Logue) to Blaze – “What happened to your Daddy is not your fault. You know that right?” Go ahead and swallow that vomit back down, I’ll wait.

The Margie Movie Meter:

You asked for it (OK, Lynch asked for it), and you’re gonna get it pally!

Out of five eyerolls (five being Catwoman) Ghost Rider gets…

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(For those of you still grasping to the old YHGTBKM scale, Margie said “you have got to be kidding me!” or the equivalent nineteen times. And that’s being upstairs in the kitchen for a full third of the film.)

Wrapping up this review is almost too easy. Again, paraphrasing a GR catch phrase, “Ghost Rider, Guilty… of sucking!”

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