Category: Books & Comics

So the other day I’m adding some pin-up cartoon bookmarks to my del.icio.us entries (after reading about Dan DeCarlo at Cartoon Brew) and I began to wonder – what is it about men that we’re affected visually, even by drawings/artwork?

I don’t know any guy who wasn’t intrigued by Jessica Rabbit. How ’bout Betty and Veronica? And the Wilma vs. Betty debate still rages on. (What is it about the name Betty?!)

Got me, but here’s some more of my favorites:

Dean Yeagle – Wow! Yeagle’s work is simply stunning. Sexy, but strangely innocent. And you gotta love Mandy!
Bentan – I don’t know a lot about this guy (his/her “About Me” page consists mainly of “What can I say? I like to draw.”) but the art speaks for itself, and it’s got a lot to say.

Gary Ham – More cartoony than Yeagle or Bentan, but I love the line and color of Ham’s work.
Bruce Timm – Pin-up cartoons in that great retro animated Batman style.

Shane Gline – Another very stylized pin-up style that I just absolutely adore!
Katie Nice – Almost too cute to be pin-ups, but such a fun look I had to include them.
Rion Vernon – Mentioned here a few weeks ago, but I had to give another shout out.

Like Scotch & Toilet Water? and Tequila Mockingbird before it, Cockatiels for Two: A Book of Cat Cartoons is simply another outstanding Abrams collection of Cullum cleverness and absurdity.

Focusing on feline foibles this time, Cullum’s wit sparkles with captions including a young cat at the breakfast table whose human parents admit “If you must know, Jimmy, you came from a box in front of the market. It said, ‘free kittens.'”

Or how about the feline businessman remarking to a mouse co-worker “I take no pleasure in it, Kaplowe, but I have to kill you and devour you. It’s company policy.”

But perhaps my favorite is one that I think can be truly classified as a cartoonist’s cartoon. An awkwardly rendered cat to nearby canine “You’re lucky. Dogs are easy to draw.”

I think what impresses me most about Cullum is that he almost never goes for the easy joke. While there is a handful of less than surprising captions, for the most part he eschews the norm and shows us jokes that seem obvious only once illuminated. One finds himself thinking “why didn’t I think of that?!” while wondering if indeed you could have.

All in all, Cockatiels for Two makes you glad that cats had Cullum’s tongue.

I read this article three times, and to be honest I’m still not completely sure what Ms. Brodeur is trying to get across here…

She asks “…why do we insist on seeing [cartoons] as human, capable of dismantling our belief systems and sullying our children like melted chocolate on their Easter finery?”

But we never really get an answer. The closest we get is Washington Post Style writer Hank Stuever’s “maybe cartoon characters create mythology. You apply life lessons and hidden meanings to them.”

Um… OK.

I think what she’s trying to discuss is how the current gay cartoon scare affects the reality of cartoon characters. But it’s never really spelled out to my satisfaction.

Not a big deal, I know. But it’s my blog and I’ll complain if I want to.