Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

He was The King of Comic Books.
'Nuff Said!
'

Krazy Kreator Day

Happy Birthday to George Herriman, the man who gave us the wonderfully surreal world of Krazy Kat. He was born on this day in 1880 (August 22).
Above is a beautiful self caricature done by Herriman.

The stars of the strip Ignatz Mouse, Offisa Pupp and Krazy herself.

Eugene and Bernice

Eugene the Jeep and Bernice the Whiffle Hen - two of the great fantasy characters created by Elzie Segar for his Thimble Theatre comic strip.
Eugene a magical creature that could predict the future and travel through the fourth dimension, was introduced into the strip on April 1, 1936. Segar insisted that that there was no reason for the Jeep to be introduced on the infamous holiday, it was just a coincidence.
Bernice the Whiffle Hen was the reason for Popeye's introduction into the strip. Whiffle Hen's give their owners incredible luck by rubbing the three hairs on it's head. Castor Oyl received Bernice from his uncle and wanted to try the bird's luck on Dice island, a casino resort. He buys a boat with Olive's then boyfriend Ham Gravy and hire Popeye to sail it for them.
In the climax of the story after Castor and crew clean up at the resort, Snork the owner's henchmen shoots Popeye numerous times. Popeye escapes death rubbing Bernice's head through the night and emerges the next morning to knock Snork to kingdom come.
A lot of Popeye fans believe this is the reason for his super strength. Segar established the eating of spinach a few years later but displayed super strength before this.
Which is right? In my opinion they both contribute to the powers of our one-eyed champion.
And thanks to Segar we were introduced to great characters like Jeeps, Whiffle Hens, Goons, Sea Hags and many more to the Popeye Universe.

More Robin

Ready for Action!

Saturday Morning Greatness

Quisp and Quake, the great commercial stars of 1960's and 1970's Saturday Morning Television.
Created by the Jay Ward Studios (creators of some of the BEST animated series for TV, Rocky and Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle) for Quaker Oats, Bill Scott and his writing staff came up with the concept of an pink colored alien versus a caped construction worker that challenged the kids watching their commercials that their cereal was the best. This gave Quaker Oats the opportunity to introduce two new cereals to the public and then get the kids watching the chance to pick which one they liked best.
The best part of these ads is they had the great humor and puns that made the Jay Ward shows so funny, and also so memorable. Along with Capn' Crunch, Quisp and Quake were the best commercials that interrupted our favorite Saturday Morning Shows.
So who was your favorite - Quisp or Quake?

Scrapper

I love the Kid Gang Comics of the Golden Age and Joe Simon and Jack Kirby did the best of them. Their second gang was for National Publications (you know them as DC Comics today). They were the Newsboy Legion with their Guardian police officer Jim Harper who was really a costumed crime fighter named the Guardian (ironic,huh?). The boys helped the Guardian clean up the streets of Suicide Slum in between selling newspapers and helping the citizens of their neighborhood.
Above is a drawing I inked over an unfinished pencil sketch by Kirby. I finished it, then inked and colored it. This is one of my favorite pieces of inking The King.

"DUCK!"

More art from my Super Goof and Robin Hood team-up. This is one of the first sketches I did of the Disney duo but put off until now to ink and color.
When you do a sketch like this with all those arrows, you wonder if it is too much or not enough. End result, I'm very happy with it.

Happy 80th Birthday, Betty Boop

Today is the 80th Anniversary of the first lady of animation, Betty Boop. She made her first appearance in the Fleischer Bros. "Talkartoon", "Dizzy Dishes".
Believe it or not, Betty started out as a dog character but the Fleischers knew they had something special on their hands.
With the help of animator Grim Natwick (who helped define her look), Betty was made a human and had one of the most successful animated series of the 1930's.

Boop - Boop - A - Doop!

Super Goof and Robin Hood

For the last couple of months I've been writing a story that teams up Disney's animated version of Robin Hood and Super Goof (also owned by Disney of course). Above and below are a few of the sketches I've done so far to tie into the story.


The story involves Disney Comics' villain The Phantom Blot who breaks out of jail and uses a time machine created by inventor Gyro Gearloose that sends the Blot back to the time of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. Gyro sends Super Goof back in time to capture the Blot and with Robin Hood stop the dark clad villain from taking control of England from Prince John.



I have five chapters written and am having a lot fun writing this story teaming up two of my favorite characters from the House of Mouse.

Stay 'tooned!