With the ever shrinking size of the newspaper page I don’t think there is a cartoonist out there that makes better use of those imposed limitations than Patrick McDonnell. His strip, MUTTS is a masterpiece of minimalism. He borrows from the stylings of George Herriman but adds his own modern look to it. His layouts are beautifully simple. Because of his minimal approach there is always enough room for his copy and his type is actually large enough to read on a comic page!
I have to admit, that I didn’t always “get” Mutts, but I always admired the artwork. I’ve since come around to his gentle humor and whimsy. This is a great modern strip with a throwback feel to it. His characters are so cute you can’t help but fall in love with them.

Broom-Hilda was a strip that my paper, The New York Daily News, actually carried when I was a kid…and I loved it! I dug how Meyers shaded things to give the strip a full feel in black and white.
The first image I can remember seeing of Broom-Hilda was this piece from the 1973 Phil Seuling NY Convention. They ran a story in The Monster Times (the one paper I read religiously!) about the con which included this picture. I think they even made a poster of this if I’m not mistaken. This image is hilarious in it’s contrasts!
Myers style has a bit of the “underground” “bigfoot” look that made it jump off the page for me. It’s so well drawn, from the characters to the surreal backgrounds with plenty of attention to detail and texture.
The strip is still around and you can read it on GoComics, although I don’t know how many papers it is in. Probably less than it’s heyday in the ’70′s, but still, great stuff from a great cartoonist!

Next up: PATRICK McDONNELL

There are not many cartoonists from the last 20 or so years that are as revered as Bill Watterson. A true artist and iconoclast. His refusal to market Calvin and Hobbes beyond it’s comic strip origins when incredible amounts of money were being thrown at him indicates his ideals and strength of principle. To him, Calvin wasn’t a product. It was personal to him and maybe that’s what makes the strip so endearing.

Calvin and Hobbes isn’t the most original idea. If I described it to you as “A boy and his adventures with his stuffed toy that only he sees as alive” could very well be describing Winnie The Pooh. But like all great forms of art, it’s about the execution. Another example: “A young man is plucked off his home world to bring down a tyrant and his evil galactic empire”. Star Wars? Nope…Flash Gordon. Yet no one would ever confuse C & A with Winnie the Pooh or Star Wars with Flash Gordon because of how the idea is executed. That’s where Watterson’s genius comes through.

You get to know his characters as personally as he does because he has done such a wonderful job of fleshing them out before you. There is a bit of Calvin in all of us. The selfishness, the dreamer. We can relate to him.

The artwork on his strip was unique to the comic pages of it’s day as well. Inked with a bold confident line and with a simplistic (you’re hearing that word a lot in my blogs, huh?) design that is economical and complex at the same time.

I came to this strip a bit late. None of the papers I read carried the strip so I would pick up collections at the book store. When asked what strip Sunshine State is most like, I would have to say it’s more like Calvin and Hobbes than Pogo (see Part 1 of this series) in that it’s about the relationship of two best friends and their whimsical adventures together. But that’s where the similarity ends. I go back to “It’s all about the execution” in differentiating similar concepts. Let’s face it, there are only so many “original” ideas out there. It’s how we present them that makes or breaks them as “new” or strictly derivative. Watterson made his strip “NEW”.

NEXT UP: RUSSELL MYERS!

I said it in the lead in yesterday…Roy Crane is the best of them all! He has inspired me, not only in my comic book work but in my approach to Sunshine State as well.

Roy Crane is known as “the father of the adventure strip”. His work and approach paved the way for a generation of cartoonists in the golden age of adventure strips. Legends as diverse as Milton Caniff and Jack Kirby were all influenced by this man’s work.

Crane’s work has a cartoony feel and yet his backgrounds are lush and illustrative. He pioneered the use of Craftint Duo-Shade board that political cartoonists have been using for decades. His work is the definition of sophisticated simplicity. There is no waste in any of his panels. No clutter and yet, no lack of detail. His storytelling is clear and concise and engaging. The body language of his characters display a subtlety that only a master can achieve.

In 1998 I wasn’t happy with the direction of the comic book industry so I took 6 months and wrote, illustrated and published MONSTER ISLAND, an all ages action adventure “love letter” to Buz Sawyer and the Marvel monster comics of my youth. It was as a result of trying to get MI syndicated as a comic strip that I was offered REX MORGAN, M.D. and began my second career in the strip world. Thanks, Roy!

Next up: Bill Watterson

Popeye. E.C. Segar. What more can you say about a cartoonist whose work still inspires after 80 plus years?
Thimble Theatre started in 1919 but Popeye didn’t come on stage until 1929. Illustrated by his creator until his untimely death in 1938. Nine years…that’s it! It’s hard to imagine that the cartoonists that followed have been watering down and trying to copy the ground breaking work that was done in such a short period of time.

Segar created characters that live and breath and have transcended all forms of media. Some more successful than other and none more so than his birthplace…the comic-strip.

The humor in Popeye, derives from the characters. Because Segar did such a great job instilling them with life, we know how Wimpy will react when presented a dilemma. We know how Roughhouse will respond to the mooching of Wimpy and we know how Popeye will dish out justice to someone mistreating “aminals”. Take a look at this strip and try to imagine this kind of humor on a Sunday page today!

I try (emphasis on “try”) to instill my characters with personalities that are recognizable and resonate with the audience. I hope that the readers will eventually get to know my characters and look forward to their anticipated reactions the way I did when reading Popeye.

Next up, the greatest of them all (IMHO): ROY CRANE!