Category: Other

Welcome to another edition of Inside the Cartoonist’s Studio! Let’s have an awed hush for “Rhymes with Orange” creator Hilary Price!

1) If you were to cast a movie entirely with cartoon characters, what movie would it be and who would star in it?

Fred Basset gets bitten by a rabid squirrel and bites Dagwood, Hagar, Brenda, Annie and all the other cartoon characters whose artists have now passed on and who are written and drawn by a hired gun who doesn’t get paid enough. Though the cartoon characters struggle valiantly to survive, they don’t, so they all move on to the great comic strip page in the sky. The name of the movie is called “Guaranteeing the Health and Future of the Comics Industry.”

2) You’re a syndicate editor launching a new comic strip. What’s the worst possible title you can think of?

Zits… But what do I know?

3) A light bulb over a cartoon’s head signifies an idea, while a string of random characters denotes swearing. Invent a new cartooning icon and what it means.

You want me to invent a cartooning icon? I will do that if you invent a new letter of the alphabet. You first.

Let’s see… New letter…

OK, try to imagine two uppercase A’s joined at the legs. Sort of an “AA”. It sounds like “Ayyyyyyy…” and it’s used to invoke a Fonzie-like vibe into normal everyday boring words. For example: Boring old “basil” is now uber-hip “bAAsil”!

Ball’s in your court, Hilary…

Please be sure to check out “Rhymes with Orange” and buy the latest RWO collection, “Reigning Cats And Dogs: A Rhymes With Orange Tribute to Those Who Shed”!

BTW, if you live in Cleveland, Ohio, please vote for RWO! Read last week’s post for all the nitty gritty.

This week ITCS is thrilled to have Leigh Rubin of the comic panel “Rubes” answering our questions!

Let’s get down to it, shall we?

1) If you were to cast a movie entirely with cartoon characters, what movie would it be and who would star in it?

It would be a live action flick starring Bush and Kerry. I’d call it Looney Tunes… Oh wait, I think it’s already been done.

2) You’re a syndicate editor launching a new comic strip. What’s the worst possible title you can think of?

Don’t tempt me with a question like this… My goodness there are so many possibilities. How about “Filler” or “This Space for Rent”

3) A light bulb over a cartoon’s head signifies an idea, while a string of random characters denotes swearing. Invent a new cartooning icon and what it means.

I’m not sure how to do this, but how about some sort of symbol that subliminally commands newspaper editors: “BUY THIS STRIP!”

Thanks Leigh! I’d love to see Bush and Kerry doing Looney Tunes – “Democrat season!” “Republican season!” “Democrat season!” “Republican season!”

Make sure you check out “Rubes”! And be sure to pick up the 2005 Rubes calendar as well as any of the wonderful Rubes books!

“The Dare: To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours.”

Sound crazy? It gets worse…

“That means everything: Story, finished art, lettering, colors (if you want ’em), paste-up, everything! Once pen hits paper, the clock starts ticking. 24 hours later, the pen lifts off the paper, never to descend again.”

Cartoonists will displaying their own super-human powers (thanks to plenty of coffee I suspect) when 24 Hour Comics Day rolls around this coming April.

Supporting comic book shops will be staying open 24 hours and hosting artists trying to complete the Herculean task.

“Obviously, with an hour per page you’re not going to get the most polished possible work, but in the works people have created there is an amazing strain not only of raw energy but of cleverness, wit, and pure human emotion, plus a surprising amount of grace,” notes About Comics publisher Nat Gertler.

I have to admit, I’m toying with the idea of doing this myself. True, I’m not a comic book artist/writer per se, but I think it’s a wonderfully challenging idea. I’ll have to keep thinking about it…

24 Hour Comics Day will be April 23, 2005.

This week’s guest is none other than Bill Griffith of “Zippy the Pinhead”

So, without further adieu…

1) If you were to cast a movie entirely with cartoon characters, what movie would it be and who would star in it?

“King of Comedy” (Martin Scorsese), starring Yosemite Sam, Little Iodine and Butt-Head of Beavis & Butt-Head.

2) You’re a syndicate editor launching a new comic strip. What’s the worst possible title you can think of?

“Those Wacky Neighbors”

3) A light bulb over a cartoon’s head signifies an idea, while a string of random characters denotes swearing. Invent a new cartooning icon and what it means.

@@@@@@@@@@@@!! It means: “I’m leaving the country if that guy’s reelected!”

Thanks a bunch for the answers, Bill (and thanks again for sending them again after my hard drive crash)! I guarantee that if our readers weren’t ‘having fun yet’ that they are now!

Please make sure to check out “Zippy the Pinhead”!

Undecided about the upcoming election? Order a ‘Zippy for President!’ t-shirt and help put an honest to goodness pinhead in the oval office!

Some of the New Yorker’s finest cartoonists will be participating in the fifth annual New Yorker Festival.

The festival is described as being “an eclectic lineup of readings, talks, discussions, and excursions with some of today’s most gifted and provocative writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, comedians, cartoonists, gourmands, journalists, and statesmen.”

Pretty much I’m just interested in the cartoonists! Such New Yorker notables as Bob Mankoff, Roz Chast and Charles Barsotti will be signing books and discussing their cartoons at the festival’s Cartoon Corner.

If anyone is going, put in a good word for me with Mankoff!