Happy Birthday Stan

In honor of Stan"The Man"Lee on his 87th Birthday.

Merry Christmas...

...from Santa's Little Goon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I want all my friends to have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

From the Greatest Christmas Special Ever!

Christmas in Bedrock

Have a Yabba-Dabba Holiday Season!

The Miser Brothers

I can hear their theme songs now.

Happy 90th Birthday, Olive Oyl

It was on this date, December 19, 1919, That Elzie Crisler Segar started his new Comic Strip "Thimble Theatre" for King Features Syndicate. At first the strip was a parody of the silent movies of the day and the "stars" of the strip hero Harold Ham Gravy, damsel Olive Oyl and villian Willy Wormwood protrayed different roles each day.
After a few months of this format, Segar started to give his characters personalities and started to tell stories along with the gag-a-day format. Early in 1920 Segar introduced Olive's Brother, Castor Oyl and the stage was set for Thimble Theatre to tell the wild stories of the Oyl Family.
World-wide fame came in 1929 when Segar introduced Popeye the Sailor, the one-eyed, spinach chomping sea dog. He stole the hearts of the readers (and Segar's) and became the central figure in the strip and went on to conquer everything from animated cartoons, radio, TV, comic books and countless toys.
But the strip started with a skinny, pickled-nose "goil" named Olive Oyl. So Happy big 9-0 Olive, thanks to you and E.C. Segar, you gave birth to the icons of the comic strip world Popeye, Swee'pea, J. Wellington Wimpy, The Sea Hag, Eugene the Jeep, Alice the Goon and all the others.

Christmas of Super-Heroes

What some of the long underwear crowd do during the Yuletide time.

Be good for goodness sake!

What Santa does to those on the Naughty List!

Christmas Time

Only a week away!

LoveBugCentral

Last Saturday I posted about Herbie the Love Bug and got an e-mail from Bob Croesus who runs the web-site LoveBugCentral.com . This site is dedicated to the little VW and how Mr. Croesus uses Herbie to help raise awareness for Celiac Dicease, The Burn Foundation, Make A Wish and others.
Operation Herbie volunteers use their love of Herbie to visit sick children in their homes and help collect for non-profit organizations that help with children's diceases.
Check out their great web-site at:

http://www.lovebugcentral.com/

And if you are interested in helping out or would like to contact Mr. Croesus, you can e-mail him at:

kingcroesus@aol.com

75 years of Alice the Goon

Today is the 75th Anniversary of the first appearance of one of E.C. Segar's original creations, Alice the Goon. Introduced during the classic "Plunder Island" storyline, Alice was the Sea Hag's slave until Popeye fought for her by protecting her child.
Alice has always been one of my favorite characters. (If you are a long time follower of this blog, you'll know what I mean.) She was funny and frightening at the same time and so unique that the word "goon" was added to the dictionary.
So Happy Birthday to Alice the Goon from your "son" Alex.

Happy Birthday to the man who gave us Popeye

Elzie Crisler Segar - The Creator of Popeye


He was a master cartoonist and humorist and his timing was impeccable. He created the iconic figures Olive Oyl, J. Wellington Wimpy, Swee'pea, Bluto, The Sea Hag, Eugene the Jeep and Alice the Goon.
He added new words to the English vocabulary and took us to strange new lands that will endure.


Segar was born on this date in 1894 on the banks of the Mississippi River in Chester Il. He was taken from us at a young age from cancer, but through Popeye and rest of the cast of Thimble Theatre, he will live forever!

Remember Pearl Harbor

Please take time today to remember those who lost their lives on this day of infamy.

Herbie

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of one of my favorite movie stars, Herbie the Love Bug. Released in March of 1969, the cute little VW with a soul made his debut and took the world by storm. The film was the highest grosser of the year and only Mary Poppins made more money for Disney than any other of their live action films.
Herbie went on to appear in five more films and become a cultural icon. Back in the 1970's, I remember quite a few Volkswagen's riding around my neighborhood painted like the famous bug. Just recently I saw a newer model VW made up like Herbie on one of our local highways, it put a big smile on my face.
I've always enjoyed these films and have always wanted a little Herbie of my own.


Fun side note about Herbie: the model Volkswagen they used for the movie was a 1963 Sedan model, made the same year I was born.

The Superboy Legend - Part 8

Today The Boy of Steel explains the youthful appearance of his adoptive parents, The Kents.

The Superboy Legend - Part 7

This time young Clark describes the origins of his uniform.

The Superboy Legend - Part 6

Today features one of my favorites of the Superboy/Superman mythos, Krypto The Dog of Steel!

What's been going on

Hi all, I just thought I would update you folks on why I have not posted any artwork lately. Back in August I found out I have very high blood pressure and problems with my heart. I had to spend some time in the hospital and they are still trying to find the right combination of medication to get the blood pressure under control.
This is also affecting my vision. I get "floaters" on my eyes, these masses of light on my left eye makes it hard to focus on details and drawing has become hard to do. I hope to have an eye exam shortly and I can get back to doing what I love the best...drawing.
I have been able to write and I'm working on a story teaming up two of my favorite cartoon characters. It involves one of my favorites themes, time travel. I'll share more of this as I get further along.

Hopefully soon Huckleberry Heroes will return to this blog and I will share more of my art.

Take Care all.

The Superboy Legend - Part 5

Today young Kal-el explains the source of his powers.

50th Anniversary of Rocky & Bullwinkle

Fifty years ago today, "Rocky and his Friends" made it's debut on ABC and introduced us to two of the Greatest TV 'toon stars of all, Rocky and Bullwinkle.
One of the greatest written shows ever, Jay Ward and Bill Scott (and the other creators) parodied everything from world politics to fairy tales.
The show also introduced us to the genius Mr. Peabody and his pet boy, Sherman. Mr. Peabody invented a time machine to show Sherman history's greatest figures and help them set the course of history right.
We also got to meet Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties and his bumbling adventures in the Great White North battling the evil Snidely Whiplash.
We got great twisted and hilarious versions of "Fractured Fairy Tales" and "Aesop's Fables".
"Bullwinkles Corner" parodied the written classics and "Mr. Know-it-All" showed us how NOT fix things. These segments helped make Bullwinkle a star.
Nothing was sacred in the hilarious world of Moose & Squirrel!


So Happy Birthday to Rocky and Bullwinkle! One of the greatest TV shows EVER!

"And now, here's something we hope you really like!"

Happy Birthday Mickey!

81 years ago today, he made his first appearance in the first cartoon with sound. "Steamboat Willie" made Mickey Mouse a star and the Disney empire was born.

The Superboy Legend - Part 4

More Hide-away secrets from the Boy of Steel.

The Superboy Legend - Part 3

This time young Clark discusses his secret hideouts with us.


Don't forget to right click on the images for a larger view.

The Superboy Legend - Part 2

This time The Boy of Steel explains the weird side effects of Red Kryptonite.