Tag Archives: Gags

February 25, 2019 · 2:45 pm

Kickstarter: ART BLOCK webcomics anthology starts March 4, 2019

ART BLOCK

We are in a golden age of comics, specifically webcomics. We all have our favorites that we follow. Cartoonist David Daneman brings together some of the best work out there. Last year he presented Launch Party which proved a success. This year, it’s Art Block, with a whole new group of talent. A Kickstarter campaign in support of this new project launches March 4 and runs for a month. Check it out right here.

“Projects like this are the reason we get up in the morning. When David calls, we’re in.”

—Jonathan Kunz & Elizabeth Pich, War and Peas

Tech Specs:

~88 pages

~75 strips from 25 different artists

–Full color interior
~$20.00 (usd) + shipping/handling

–Ships anywhere in the world

In 2017, Montreal-based cartoonist David Daneman realized he had found a niche to fill in the comics ecosystem. The type of comics he loves, short and funny gag-strips, are increasingly published but rarely in anthology form. Under the name The Original Content Collective, Daneman published the 2018 proof of concept book, Launch Party, and paid all of his contributors a fee per comic plus a share of the profits. Building on the success of Launch Party, Daneman returns this year with Art Block, a new anthology with a new crew of cartoonists and including some very impressive titles: Poorly Drawn Lines, Cassandra and The Perry Bible Fellowship, to name a few. Kris Wilson, author of Cyanide and Happiness, will write the introduction.

ART BLOCK

List of Artists

Ah, Mince!
Boumeres
Cassandra
Cheit.jpg
The DaneMen
Fail By Error
Good Bad Comics
Good Bear Comics
Grumpy
Gudim
Heropie
Honeydill
Hotpaper Comics
Jamie Squire
Kraan Komix
Lizz Lunney
Lollibeepop

Mondo Mango
Mrs. Frollein
Perry Bible Fellowship
Poorly Drawn Lines
Red Dot Comics
Rustled Jimmies
Tiny Snek
Underpants and Overbites

The Art Block Kickstarter is ready to rock!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/229526019/1243589993?ref=752605&token=41943ca7
http://daviddaneman.com

Interview: Mike Capozzola, Stand-Up Comedian and Published Cartoonist (See him at Seattle Comedy Underground June 14, 2015)

Mike Capozzola is a San Francisco stand-up comedian and published cartoonist. He’s very funny and thoughtful and a great guy to chat with about pop culture. He’ll be in my hometown, Seattle, to perform at the Comedy Underground on Sunday, June 14th. This is a perfect time to check out one of the most distinctive and cool comedy venues in the country.

Capozzola will perform his multimedia comedy show about sci-fi films, secret agents, werewolves, and superheroes. It’s called “Emperor Ming’s Mercilessly Spicy Wings and Other Tales.” You can find more details right here.

Corporations that have jumped on the geek bandwagon are not your friends. Heck, corporations aren’t even actually people. And the people who run these corporations don’t care, or begin to understand, what the term “geek” means. But folks like Mike Capozzola do get it. His show revolves around a natural love for geeky stuff.

Amid his wide spectrum of work, what shines through is a relentless pursuit of offbeat humor. We chat here about what exactly the title of his show is all about and end up discussing pop culture in a significant way. We weren’t afraid to pull back the curtain and comment upon the brazen highjacking of the idea of being authentic, or “geek,” by commercial interests.

Byway of discussing the title for his show in this interview, Capozzola shared his love for the webcomic, “The Perry Bible Fellowship” by Nicholas Gurewitch. In relation to Capozzola’s obscure reference to Emperor Ming, he cites Gurewitch’s story, “The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories,” where the good colonel appears in only a couple of panels. Now that’s some good geek street cred!

You can listen to the interview right below:

So, if you’re in Seattle, be sure to see Mike Capozzola at the Comedy Underground on Sunday, June 14. And visit Mike at his site right here.

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Filed under cartoon, Cartoon Art Museum, Cartooning, Cartoonists, Cartoons, Comedy, Comedy Underground, Comics, Humor, Mike Capozzola, Pike Place Market, Seattle, Stand-up Comedy

Tagged as Cartoon Art Museum, Cartooning, cartoons, Comedy, Comedy Underground, Comic Strips, Gags, Humor, Jokes, Mike Capozzola, Performance, San Francisco, Seattle, Stand-up Comedy

October 28, 2014 · 8:05 am

Interview: MAD Magazine’s John Ficarra and Nick Meglin on ‘Don Martin: Three Decades of His Greatest Works’

MAD Magazine, Don Martin cover art, March 1974

Don Martin. We know his uniquely surreal and eccentric cartoons from MAD Magazine. Who better to shed light on Don Martin, and the world of MAD, than longtime MAD editors Nick Meglin and John Ficarra. Mr. Meglin goes back to the early years of MAD. He retired in 2004 but remains a contributing editor. Mr. Ficarra was brought on board by Mr. Meglin and the two worked together for many years. Both men are quick with a joke and just a pleasure to talk to. The subject for this interview is the uproariously funny work of Don Martin and “MAD’s Greatest Artists: Don Martin: Three Decades of His Greatest Works,” a 272-page hardcover published by Running Press and available as of November 11.

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Filed under Comics, Don Martin, Interviews, John Ficarra, MAD magazine, Nick Meglin, pop culture

Tagged as cartoons, comic books, comics, Don Martin, Entertainment, Gags, Humor, Interviews, John Ficarra, MAD magazine, Magazines, New York City, Nick Meglin, Pop Culture

April 9, 2014 · 10:33 pm

Review: ‘I Don’t Get It’ by Shannon Wheeler

Shannon Wheeler has been for many years the much beloved alternative cartoonist, famous for his over-caffeinated comics, “Too Much Coffee Man.” And then he went where many cartoonists have attempted to go before but only a smidgen have been heard from since…The New Yorker!

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Interview: JOHN ATKINSON and WRONG HANDS

The world of the one panel comics gag shares a lot in common with the world of stand-up comedy. Either the joke works or it doesn’t. There isn’t much room for debate. Well, maybe. But, in general, you know what I mean. It needs to make an impact pretty quickly. Welcome to Wrong Hands, the world of John Atkinson, where jokes make impacts.

Life and art are a process. You learn by doing. And you often get your best ideas when you least expect them, when you don’t seem to be doing anything more than preparing to fall asleep. That’s when John relies on his pad and pencil near his nightstand. He’ll come up with an idea and jot it down. The next morning, he’ll either gasp in disgust or be pleased by a promising new joke.

But will his audience be as receptive to this new joke as he is? Sometimes, in those solidarity moments of word play and free assocaiton, a connection will be made that is so strong that it is emboldens the cartoonist to take a stand. He’ll deliver the joke, no matter the consequences.

It becomes a matter of honor. A person will stick their neck out, all for the sake of a joke. It’s the principle of the thing: a joke for the sake of a joke. The fight is on, if needed, against all who can’t take a joke, who would rather analyze and dissect it. Everyone is entitled to their opinon but the cartoonist is there to believe in his, or her, work.

And so it goes with Mr. Atkinson’s hand in the game. In his case, it’s the “wrong hands.”

Click on the full interview below: