Lee and the Boys – New Comic on Wednesdays!

Back in May, the Washington Post announced a contest called America’s Next Great Cartoonist.  The idea was to have cartoonists submit a comic strip and have it judged by a panel of judges from the comics industry.  The top ten comics were posted on the Washington Post website for readers to vote on and select a winner.

When I heard about the contest, I figured “what the heck” and whipped up a submission for the contest.  They asked for six black and white strips or panels.  My idea was a comic strip about some inept Mafia gangsters called Friends of Ours (if you don’t get the Mafia reference in the title… look it up!).  Needless to say, I am not going to be America’s next great cartoonist.  My comic didn’t make the top ten, but I’m posting my submission here for all to enjoy.  Just click on the thumbnail to the left to view the comic strips.

If you want to check out the comics that made the cut, click here. They’ve narrowed it down to five submissions now.

Well, it’s been awhile since I posted anything in the News section, so I thought I’d chime in with a quick book recommendation.  I recently purchased a new book out on Johnny Hart and Brant Parker’s Wizard of Id comic strip.  The title of the book is The Best of the Wizard of Id: 40 Years of Mirth, Merriment and Mayhem and it’s published by Titan Books.

The Wizard of Id has always been one of my favorite comic strips in the newspaper.  The strip was written by Johnny Hart (also the man behind B.C.) and illustrated by Brant Parker.  They both passed away in 2007, but the strip lives on.  I believe the comic is now drawn by Brant’s son Jeff. The book opens with a brief introduction to the strip with some of it’s history and how it came to be.  Next it includes short bios of both Hart and Parker, followed by a brief rundown of the strip’s wide cast of characters.  After that, the book is divided into three sections of comics: The 70’s, The 80’s, and The 90’s and Beyond (I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any examples from the 60’s – the comic debuted in 1964).

There are two reasons I like The Wizard of Id so much.  One is how cleverly it is written.  The punchline is almost always an unexpected one.  I’m often left wondering how in the world Hart came up with some of the gags.  This collection is full of gems like that.  Also, I think this comic has some of the most well written and defined characters on the funny pages.  And that says a lot considering the fact that The Wizard of Id has one of the larger casts of characters. The other thing that really draws me (no pun intended) to The Wizard of Id is Brant Parker’s art.  He used a very loose and spontaneous line in his work that is very appealing.  I often wish I could draw in such a quick, spontaneous way, but it just doesn’t work for me.  Interestingly, I’ve always thought Parker’s art was very reminiscent of Johnny Hart’s artwork on B.C. I don’t know if that’s just a coincidence or if there is something more to it.

So if you’re a fan of The Wizard of Id, classic comic strips, or just comics in general, you might want to check out this book!  You can keep up with the current happenings in the Kingdom of Id every day at Comics.com

I acquired another original Snuffy Smith comic strip yesterday.  This time it’s a daily strip from April 1st, 2003 (April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough) starring Snuffy and his pal Lukey.  Click on the thumbnail below for a better view.

I thought I would share a couple of “gems” from my comic book collection.  The two comics pictured below were the first issues of Beetle Bailey in comic book form.  They were published in 1953 not long after the comic strip began.  These two issues are significant for another reason besides being the first two.  Of all the Beetle Bailey comic books that have ever seen print, only three were actually drawn entirely by Mort Walker.  Those three were also the first three issues.  I’m still looking for that third issue, but rest assured I’ll find it eventually and complete the collection.  These comics are surprisingly hard to come by.  I acquired these two via Ebay by searching “beetle bailey comic book” and then scanning the pictures for one of the covers.  I found issue number two in an auction listing that included several other comics like Bugs Bunny, Lois Lane, and Henry from the same time period.  A few years and many fruitless searches later I found the first issue in remarkably good condition for a 50+ year old comic book.  If anyone sees issue #3 anywhere, be sure to let me know!

If you didn’t notice already, the comic and the site both look a little different.  I’ve decided to change the format of the comic to a traditional newspaper style strip.  This is mainly because I just haven’t been able to put in the time to really do the larger format justice.  Along with this change, the website has been altered slightly to fit the new format.  A few more site changes will probably be on the way, but nothing major.  As usual, any feedback you may have is welcomed.  Feel free to send an email or leave a comment.