Reg Parlett's Hancock from film Fun use the link..

Being a big Reg Parlett fan it was a real treat to read some Hancocks strips from Film Fun..thanks to Nigel..go to the link now..

http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot.com/2010/10/they-dont-make-em-like-that-any-more.html

As you can see they really capture the 50's era..bombed out buildings..hip teenagers smoking in cafes..smoking adverts on tv..billboards..save money by smoking!
factory girls..holiday camps with knobbly knee contests..
all drawn with great details..

Special bonus election cartoon

Gag by MICHAEL MORRISON.

Hey, thanks for the guidance...

The Massachusetts Catholic Conference issued their statement to assist voters for 2010. It is good that we have such clear, concise, and eloquent guidance as we make our ways to the polls. In what I like to call our "post-Christian" society, it's comforting to know that we can rely on the guidance of the hierarchy as we sift through the heavy moral issues of our time.

And then I woke up.

You can go here to read the MCC's statement: http://www.macathconf.org/

One statement that stood out for me:
"As shifts in societal challenges are inevitable, it is also vital to determine from election to election which human rights face the greatest threat at the time of voting."
Which "human rights" face the greatest threat? Their statement seems to indicate that the greatest threat changes from year to year. Gee, let's review:

2010 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

2008 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

2004 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

2000 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1996 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1992 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1988 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1984 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1980 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

1976 - Abortion is still legal. Seems like the RIGHT TO LIFE is still the paramount issue that is threatened.

Maybe it's just me; maybe there's another issue that trumps the right to life, but I can't think of one.

Business cartoon

Stunning Disney Original

Listed in the latest Heritage Auction and credited to Hank Porter.

Another Halloween cartoon, this time starring Obama

Oh, there's a change a-coming, alright, but it ain't going to be the kind of change that President Obama will welcome. Fortunately, the people are awake to what he's been up to, and they don't like it. This includes "independents" - those who somehow couldn't see through the slogans to see what "hope and change" really meant. Now many of them do, and many are saying "Hey, this ain't the kind of change we were thinking of...".

Tuesday can't get here soon enough.

Caveman cartoon

The Dandy is back 100% Funny

From comicsuk forum heres who made The new Dandy..artists..writers.etc.

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3853&start=120

Hi all!

As a long-time silent lurker here, I thought I should finally contribute. I am Craig, and I am an editor of The Dandy. One of only four in 73 years, which makes me an incredibly lucky boy.

I'm glad you all seem to like the new direction. A lot of research, experience and plain hard work has gone into it since we kicked the project off, and its success as a comic is all down to its contributors, whether freelance or DCT-employed.

Some post here and some don't, some are long-standing Dandy contributors and others are entirely new to kids' comics - one thing unites them all: they have been heroic in their commitment to this project and I feel lucky to have been a part of it.

If you're interested, these are the contributors to issue 3508:

Nigel Parkinson - Harry Hill, The Phantom Pharter, Little Simon and chief Harry-knowing comics nut: His contribution has been incalculable - and should be applauded to the hills.
Jamie Smart - Desperate Dan, Pre-Skool Prime Minister, the Style Guide: Jamie's been a part of The Dandy for six years now, and when we came to set up the style guide, Jamie's name was first on our list. He was also author of a remarkable email to me which coincided, in emotion and timing, with the initial proposal for these changes.
Wayne Thompson - The Mighty Bork, Pepperoni Pig, Shao Lin Punks, Bananaman and Noel or No Noel: a remarkable artist and friend.
Lew Stringer - Postman Prat and Kid Cops: long-time champion of comics, artist and one of the first names on the list of new artists we hoped to get on board. Thanks for all the support, Lew.
Nigel Auchterlounie - The Bogies, Professor Dandy: great writer, artist and ideas man. Look out for much much more from Nigel in The Dandy. Also an early morning Sky TV superstar - cheers, Nige!
Duncan Scott - Simples!, Count Snotula and What's In Cheryl's Hair Today? - There really will be 101 meerkat episodes! Not so many of Cheryl's hair. Top guy and great artist.
David Mostyn - Dr. Doctor: Mr Mostyn is supremely talented as a children's book illustrator and also past Dandy artist. It's a huge pleasure to have him onboard again, and you can all look forward to some absolutely top-notch work from him in the near future.
Chris McGhie - iDad: Chris is very busy with things far more important than comics, but he always finds the time to help us out.
Alexander Matthews - Robot on the Run: Alexander is well-known in more grown-up cartooning circles, but new, I believe, to kids' comics. ROTR is, in fact, a serial (someone mentioned this earlier?), and it's a good 'un! Nice one, Alexander!
Andy Fanton - George vs. Dragon: a friend of Jamie's, recommended by him, and one of the first new artists we found for The Dandy. Doing more stuff as we speak.
Phil Corbett - Korky the Cat: Korky wasn't coming back until Phil and Chris (staff artist) combined their energies to fight his corner. Turns out it was good enough to make the cover, so what do I know?!
Garry Davies - TV Teaser: Great guy, simple idea, kids love it. What more do you want?

The following people work in the Dandy Office and their efforts have been unstinting, even when putting together Dandy Xtreme and working on this project:

Michelle, Ally, Katy, Mark and Chris.

Thanks to them all, and to you for reading.

Craig

http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot.com/2010/10/welcome-back-dandy.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/10/dandy-xtreme-is-dead-here-comes-new.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Downthetubesnet-TheBlog/~3/BLb3ihn5im4/new-dandy-who-did-what-then.html

I like the new Dandy it brings backa zaniness..silliness..and the artists all seem to really respond to this..a new freedom..

I liked Jamie's new strip Pre-Skool Prime Minister and Harry Hill best..
Also when he was young 'little' will be fun seeing new stars each week...another good thing the Dandy being weekly again..

Its a comic you want to keep and re-read..
Love the details in some of the strips which you can spot a second time..
All the other strips like Postman Prat..Robot on the loose..Kid Cops..the comic strips..Pepperoni Pig..Shao Lin Punks..Desperate Dan are the others I like..

Roll on next week..
Its better than The Beano now!!

Semi-Annual CCB Halloween cartoon

The Spirit of Vatican II doesn't scare us anymore; with the advent of the internet, sunlight and exposure has helped to beat back the damage it's dished out since the 60's.

Of course, such a costume would elicit different reactions depending on where you donned it; in Lincoln, Nebraska, you'd probably be given rocks by good Catholics, a la Charlie Brown. But in places like Los Angeles, you'd be welcomed as an old friend.

Me? I'll be going out on Halloween as a mild-mannered father of 4, escorting the boys on their yearly Candy Shakedown. I'll be the one with gray hair...

God and Mammon cartoon

Rembrandt

I've been told I resemble the middle-aged Rembrandt. What do you think?

King cartoon

(Mitch) Roy Mitchell has died But lived life to the full..

Hi Peter

My name is Louise; I'm Roy Mitchell's daughter.

I came across your blog tonight and was so thrilled to see your 2008 entry about dad's War Cry job (his longest serving client of 30 years, as it happens!)

Anyway, I felt moved to let you know that sadly dad passed away five months ago.

He was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2007 and fought so bravely (and brightly) for three years. He was still working just a week before he passed away on Sunday 23rd May, making a grand total of 34 years in the cartooning business.

He lived his life to the full; 64 going on 24 - and as a friend said recently, he was quite unimaginable as an old man...

Thanks for making my heart happy with your wonderful blog.

X

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com/search/label/Mitch




Hi Peter

You're more than welcome to do that.

Let's continue to feel fortunate in having such amazing dads - some sadly don't have that privilege, eh?

All the very best - and keep blogging!

Lou x

We certainly had very talented artist Dads..and many fond memories..

See more info on Mitch at Bear Alley blog..
http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2010/11/roy-mitchell-1946-2010.html

Eye'lien

Eye'lien via FreeForm (iPad)

If School Promotion Exersice Goes Awry...

Evolution cartoon

The Last stage 45 minutes later in two parts..Snowy Owl

Made the sky more red and grey..added water to the Owl which looses some details..



Then the last 15 minutes I add my pencils back to the drawing..then sign it..

I'm pleased with my choice of colours for the sky..good reds and greys..so pleased with the results..
So that is my process to draw a water colour pencil animal drawing and how long it takes....

The next Hour in two parts..Snowy Owl

I must admit it has been hard to show the workings of a drawing every half hour..
At this stage I've put masking fluid all round the Owl and quickly drawn in watercolour pencils the sunset sky and then added a wet brush..
As you can see the sunset was a bit faded and the trees weren't quite right..not dramatic enough,,




Next Half Hour I've done some more red yellow blue black penciling for the sky and it is looking better..the trees are now more in the background and faded..taken the masking fluid off which always rips the picture:( But I'll touch that up with drawing and shading in the next Half Hour also the Owl needs a wet brush next..
I also might make the top of the picture a bit darker..and add more yellow to the sky..

Ben 10 Wallpapers

Ben 10 Wallpapers 1

Ben 10 Wallpapers 2

Ben 10 Wallpapers 3

Ben 10 Wallpapers 4

Ben 10 Wallpapers 5

Caveman cartoon

Review: Reign of Assassins

After watching Tsui Hark's "Detective Dee", I couldn't believe that we'd get another really good wuxia epic in so short a time. Truth be told, I wasn't even planning to watch John Woo's "Reign of Assassins". The reason being that I thought it'd be a step backwards to ape Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". Therefore when I finally saw the movie yesterday, I was totally blown away. It was nothing like Ang Lee's film and it is actually way better than even Tsui Hark's film!

In fact, this is the most beautiful wuxia film ever made. Everything from the engaging storyline to the very likeable characters and the graceful martial arts choreography and Sa Ding Ding's haunting soundtrack made the film the best wuxia film that I've ever seen in my life (and believe me, I've seen many hundreds!!!). I saw it twice yesterday actually. Took my wife to see it last night and she loved it. She's usually a lot more critical than I am with movies but she was so captivated by the story that she spent the whole day today thinking about it.

Honestly, I can't write an objective review of the film without gushing with endless praise about it. Therefore, I'll just leave you with the MV of the themesong with scenes from the film:

Steve Mellor: Rock Lobster

Jason Armadillo has kindly shared this fantastic & rare Steve Mellor comic called Rock Lobster. Thanks, Jason!


Steve Mellor replies:

I can't believe someone found Rock Lobster! I haven't seen it in years and have so far been unable to find where I stored the original pages.It was done back in the days of zipatone which in this digital age I don't think you can buy anymore. The all bold face word balloons crack me up. I guess I was saying that the comic was meant to be read LOUD! I remember that right after it was published I wanted to redo a couple of panels and basically the whole final page but now I'm not so sure about that. All those background funny animal girls are so 80's. Thanks for putting it out there. Steve Mellor

King cartoon

Half hour drawing see it develop..The Snowy Owl

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3788&start=30
See the first Half hour of my drawing at the link..Seeing John Stokes Marney the fox with a beautiful drawn owl inspired me to draw one myself..
I thought I would show the progress in short spots...As you can see I do draw quickly..



1 Hour
I've made the face wider and moved the leg more back to push it forward more..
The Owl in my photo does have longer wings then I've drawn But I feel in art you can emphasise what you feel is more important for me its the face..But every artist is different..



1 Hour and 1/2

I've adjusted the wing to make it longer and started on the other wing..still debating what kind of background to do and whether to do it in colour..I sure do love the yellow eyes Snowy Owls have..

Constitution cartoon

X-Men Second Coming Review

Gomer Pyle sings "The Impossible Dream"

This, to me, will always be one of the greatest moments in television history. I was a kid in my early teens enjoying the comedic antics of Private Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) every week on TV with my dad. Then, suddenly in this episode, the bumbling private was called upon to perform before an entire audience who were spellbound by his fantastic rendition of "The Impossible Dream". We started off laughing and we ended the episode in tears. Gomer Pyle was fantastic! :)

Humpty Dumpty cartoon

Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society

This is unbelievable stuff. Geekdom at an all new high. The blokes in the video actually reenacted the 1980s "Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars" saga by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck! :)

Review: The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

"The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl" by Barry Lyga feels like a fanboy dream novel at first but quickly turns into a pile of hot steaming turd when you're halfway into it. I read it a couple of weeks ago and my wife is reading it now. Like all other novels featuring ostrasized geeks as primary protagonists, the book celebrates and examines the outsider status of a comicbook geek (i.e. Fanboy) and his ongoing sufferings under the boot-heels of Jock Jerks in school. In comes the obligatory smart girl with an attitude (i.e. Goth Girl) and they both hit it off. Fanboy has a comicbook that he's working on and he's hoping to show it to Brian Michael Bendis who is coming into town for a mini con. Goth Girl has issues and hides her breasts within loose clothes and cigarette smokes - she also appears in a new car every chapter. Fanboy comes up with some silly turtle-theory to explain the Great Depression and his stupid teacher (as teachers usually are) totally buys it. Those are the interesting bits of the book. If you grew up as a geek, you'll identify with the protagonist of the book in a special and intimate fashion.

Then the book goes downhill. No real exploration of the characters' personalities, motives and drives beside the cliched and caricature-styled depictions. I think the book really suffered after Fanboy's meeting with Bendis. It's like the book was building up to that point but when you finally get there, you go - "Huh?!? That was it?!?" It's like Dorothy going all the way to the Land of Oz and when she finally meets the Wizard, he turns out to be the school janitor. Or like Darth Vader telling Luke in "Empire" that he's actually the hotdog seller outside Luke's mechanic shop in Tattooine and that he had a "thing" for Luke's mother when she used to work as a stripper in Jabba's Swingers Club. In fact, it's not even half as interesting as the last reference there. I would totally want to visit Jabba's Swingers Club. But Barry Lyga just couldn't hit any right notes 3/4 of the way into the book and so the story had to end on an anticlimactic note.

This book has garnered tons of praises since it was published. Truth be told, any fanboy could've written this book. You just have to kick in some of your autobiographical stuff and mix it in with lots of name-dropping from Bendis to Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman, and people will think that you've written a really good teen novel that examines teen angst and the dark shit that we all struggled with as underaged geeks who sucked in sports but were simply too smart for our own good. Phew! We all grew up that way and we exulted in our outsider geek status. We'd get into some tussles with Jock Jerks sometimes but nothing so serious that we'd work out a List of people to kill and walk around with a bullet in our palms like a talisman. Speaking of The List, did Bendis steal that idea and used it for Norman Osborn in his "Dark Reign" arc? Come to think of it, maybe Norman Osborn was a geek who got bullied in school as well. Maybe Fanboy grew up and became Norman Osborn and plotted to take over the world and destroy the biggest nerd in the universe who managed to out-geek him, Peter Parker!

In conclusion, Barry Lyga's book is good for a weekend read. The pleasures derived from reading it are mostly limited to the way in which you (if you're a geek) find yourself mirrored in the novel. Other than that, it's a totally forgettable read that ranks even lower than "I Love You, Beth Cooper". In time, this book will probably be referred to as the uninteresting and unsexy second cousin of "I Love You, Beth Cooper"!!!

Pro-abort politician at the Pearly Gates

The above cartoon was inspired by, and originated from, the mind of the Curt Jester; it's such a good idea that I'm surprised that one of us Catholic cartoonists hadn't thought of this one before.

Great idea Jeff!
http://splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/

guru cartoon

Roland Deschain the Gunslinger

Spent another day resting in bed and reading King's "The Talisman". Found these videos featuring Roland Deschain and the Man In Black. I think I've gotta reread "The Dark Tower". Well, I admit that I may have been a tad prejudiced against King's writing style the last time. :)

My Cards are on sell outside Kim's Bookshop Chichester..

My animal drawn cards are now being sold outside Kim's Bookshop in Chichester.
28 South Street
Chichester

Which is a big break for me..now all they have to do is sell them to be paid..:)

I am a regular customer there being a collector of old comic annuals..

On my main website (www.pgcartoons.co.uk)I'll be shortly adding paypal to my animal cards so you can buy them online for £2 each..postage free.

http://www.kimsbookshop.co.uk/

Joe Hisaishi's "A Chinese Tall Story"

My wife and kids are watching Jeff Lau's "A Chinese Tall Story" on 8TV as I'm typing this. The best thing from the film is the very powerful soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi. I hope you like the music as much as I did. :)

Revisiting Stephen King's Fantastique Literature

I was down with a terrible headache and toothache today. Couldn't even go for my Evidence lecture in the afternoon. Was bed-ridden and struggling with the pains in my head. The only thing I had for company was Stephen King's and Peter Straub's "The Talisman" novel. I drifted in and out of sleep. Could only read in small amounts in between my waking and sleeping. But I enjoyed what I read very much. King and Straub crafted a deft fantasy horror adventure mixing Twain, Tolkien, Narnia, blues music, hallucinatory drugs and Lewis Carroll. I remember seeing the cover to the paperback in 1984 (I was only 8 years old at the time) in a bookshop next to a swimming pool and thought that it must be the scariest novel ever written. Little did I know that King is more of a fantasist than a horror novelist. More accurately, King's novel is a celebration of the fantastique in literature.

Speaking of Stephen King, I remember writing a review of the first volume of his "The Dark Tower" novels some years back. I wrote the review in the computer lab at the international school that I was teaching in. My students were busy doing research for their class project and so they left me alone to my own devices. I'm reposting the review below:

For some unfathomable reasons, I decided to pick up Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” series of novels. Now, I’d never been a fan of King’s writings. Always found him a tad verbose and wordy. Maybe that’s why I was never able to finish any of King’s books in the past. Anyway, I picked up the first volume of “The Dark Tower” – “The Gunslinger” over the weekend and finished it late last night. Firstly, the book actually reads like a prolonged prelude to the real story that, I was told, began only with the second book, “The Drawing Of The Three“. As a prelude, it worked fine but as a standalone novel, it is probably the most exasperating quick-read ever. Stephen King’s verbosity is at its very worst here, with words falling over each other all the time. When brevity is called, he gives us so many adverbs that you get the feeling that the price of adverbs are going up the next day! When you are screaming for clearer descriptions of scene, he gives us very economical descriptions that the reader is often left scratching his head and wondering what just happened! The version that I read is an edited one. Apparently King rewrote a lot of it - removing thousands of adverbs and adding 900+ more words to flesh out the background of Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger.

For the life of me, the whole book is a muddled mess. Don’t be expecting a coherent story here. Most of the action happens in flashbacks. King doesn’t “tell” a story so much as he does blasting imageries into your head hoping that those imageries will form some coherent “experience”. So we get Roland shooting down everyone in the town named Tull – including his one-time lover, Allie. Then we get Roland with Brown, followed by Roland with Jake (a dead boy from modern New York City). We also get some flashbacks showing Roland’s “coming-of-age” under the tutelage (battering, more accurately) of Cort and finally Roland’s meeting with the mysterious man in black that he was pursuing throughout. The book ends with the man in black (revealed to be Marten and Walter O’Dim, the man who had an affair with Roland’s mum) reading some Tarot cards and talking about quantum mechanics (don’t ask) with Roland.

I cannot fault the man for his ambition to write the American “The Lord of the Rings“. Some of his ideas are competent enough – the Dark Tower as the nexus of all realities holding the multiverse together (something that comic fans like me are familiar with after numerous readings of “Infinite Crisis”, etc.) The problem is with King’s writing style. Having said that, die-hard fans will probably laugh at my inability to comprehend King’s verbose prose (with his artificial Wild-West dialogues, etc.) My problem is that there’s nothing in the novel for you to “hang” anything on. Nothing that really hooks into your heart and tears out a piece of it. The characters are either too vague (deliberately mysterious, I should add) or too underdeveloped for you to care about – e.g. does anyone care for the deaths of all the inhabitants of Tull? It felt like watching someone play a shoot-em-up arcade game! Furthermore, King seems more interested in setting up parallelism/contrasts than developing real relationships between the characters. The man in black and Cort are simply filling in the role of “teacher/guide” archetypes in the novel – or in Roland’s quest. Roland’s love for the boy Jake that he’s destined to sacrifice comes off as flimsy and artificial. That’s because King was using all of his powers to set up a parallel with the Abraham-Isaac on Mount Moriah scene that when all is said and done, nobody really cares about whether Roland sacrifices Jake or not! Similarly, the whole backstory with Roland’s mother’s infidelity is so forced that nobody cares for it at all. There is no indication that Roland’s parents were ever passionately in love or anything. The backstory was so matter-of-fact that you don’t even know why Roland felt anything at all!

To be fair, I probably should reserve my judgment for the book only after I’m done with the entire series. But for the life of me, I’m really not sure that I want to continue with the 2nd book after this one. I was told that the Peter David graphic novels that tell the origin story of Roland are very, very good. I have no doubt about that actually. Peter David can do no wrong (especially when teamed up with an artist like Jae Lee). Maybe if Peter David had written the seven novels instead of King (but using King’s ideas), the thing would’ve worked. What we have from King is like a songwriter who just came up with the most beautiful song ever but he somehow made the mistake of singing it himself rather than get a competent singer to deliver it.