Comic-Con Special!!
Hi Readers, I hope those of you who can attend are enjoying this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International. Cathy and I are showing our paintings at the Glendale Artist’s Studio Tour, which is going on July 24th, so we can’t be there this year. We miss the camaraderie we used to have with friends and fellow cartoonists at Comic-Cons past. The event has grown so huge, so corporate, that you can wander in the dealer’s room for days and not see anyone you know. What started as a few tables and about 100 people trading and selling back issues has now become a repellent mess. The big corporations make fun of the “geeks” they are trying to market their wares to in the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter, but they couldn’t hope to make the billions in profits from Batman 20 or Spider-Man 42 without them. It wasn’t so long ago a fan could hang out at the El Cortez hotel swimming pool with Gene Colan or Hap Kliban, watch an impromptu puppet show given by Daws Butler, or snag an autograph on the fly from Charles Schulz. I miss my old pal Vincent Davis very much at this time of year especially, we used to hang out together on the dealer’s room floor, irritating all the dealers and fans as only Vince could. Bob Foster, Marc Schirmeister, Bob Sidebottom, the list goes on and on of friends I miss seeing. The old Comic-Con is gone forever, sorry you missed it. Have fun (if you can breathe) at the new Comic-Con International!
Felix this time is from 12-14 to 12-20-1936. Felix finds employment for the out-of-season football team as they run interference for a woman shopping at a department store and block for her husband as he dodges the bill collectors. The Sunday page has Messmer back on the art as Felix goes fishing with a kite, sort of like wind surfing.
Remember to click on the small strips to see them at reading size!
Krazy is from 6-3 to 6-8-1940 this time. Ignatz has trouble getting a loaf of bread past Offissa Pupp, Pupp thinks it’s a brick in disguise, you see. I love Krazy’s song lyrics in the 6-7 strip as he sings of the birds and the katnip bush. The 6-8 is classic Garge as Ignatz’s teapot literally has a “tempisk” inside of it.
Patrick continues to torture his mommy, Godfrey and Elsa in the strips from 3-7 to 3-12-1966. Elsa is quite the movie fan, she is crazy over Richard Burton (2 strips), Frankie Avalon, Troy Donahue and George Montgomery (?) or Maharis (?). For their bios, just consult Wikipedia or the IMDB.
As always, don’t buy BP or Arco! Take the train down to San Diego and use public trans to get around. They have wonderful trolleys and sedan chairs there. If you want to give to my dear friend Greg Ford’s fire fund: just Paypal to kausler@att.net, or to contact Greg directly, just write him at: Greg Ford, 115 West 30th St., Suite 1204, New York, N.Y. 10001. Please tell him I sent you. Just imagine how YOU would feel if all your comic books that you are paying hundreds of dollars for right NOW on that dealer’s room floor were destroyed right in your own home by a FIRE!! Put yourself in Greg’s place and send him just a few dollars from your comics budget, he’ll really appreciate your kindness. Until the next time, say hi to Shelter and Harbor Islands for me.
Charles Brubaker says:
Few years back my dad took me to San Diego Comic Con. I remember that we could barely walk there (my dad could barely breathe in there and eventually just went to the book store nearby or somewhere else).
I did meet J.J. Sedelmaier, though. I still have his studio’s promotional booklet that he autographed for me.
Mark says:
Hi Charles,
It was good to meet you at the Gene Deitch screening, and your mother, too. J.J. is one of the Ailurophiles, he is a supporter of “It’s ‘The Cat'”, and a very giving person. This year Sylvester Stallone and Jeff Bridges were among the Hollywood luminaries entertaining the “geeks” at the so-called “Comic-Con”. They should call it the “Trailer Con” (movies, that is). Keep drawing in your sketchbook, I liked your cartoons. Don’t let the damned computers take away your love of drawing with a pencil.
Mark
Charles Brubaker says:
Thanks for the encouragement, and it was great meeting you, too.
There’s a picture of us on my blog (as well as pictures of other cartoonists I met during my trip there)