Funnies Aficionado

Haven't done a very good job of drawing & posting new cartoons, or even of collaging or montaging either. I had an Art professor in college who said that artists were more prolific when they weren't on an even keel, giving credence to old maxim, "what garlic is to salad, insanity is to art."

Not to make excuses, but it's a good thing if I'm happy, contented, or well adjusted enough to not NEED to cartoon, that's a good thing. I've pretty well resigned myself to the idea that I'll never be a rich, famous, full-time professional  cartoonist. Which is just as well, because I enjoy teaching and parenting and because very few professional cartoonists are full-time, let alone rich or famous.

But what to do with this blog? Just leave it to acquire dust and cobwebs? Nah. I'm a life long cartoon aficionado, so why not share my love of the funnies with others?

Here's the first of my amateur reviews of some of my favorite cartoons and cartoonists.

I only recently became acquainted with 'Cul de Sac' by Richard Thompson and I'm already in love. Thompson has been an illustrator for the Washington Post years before he launched Cul de Sac in 2006. This year he'a a Ruben Award nominee and rightfully so. 

His drawing style has a freedom and loose spontaneous feeling like Edward Koren and Jules Fieffer, yet his staging is as sophisticated and immersive as Bill Watterson's. His writing is as whimsical and thoughtful as Bill Watterson's too. Yet the spirit of the strip is as light and gentle as Charles Schultz or Patrick McDonnell.

In short, the cartoon gods have endowed Thompson with all the magic at their disposal. It would be easy for me to become resentful lie Antonio Salieri was of Mozart in Amadeus, if his comic strip wasn't so intoxicating.

I hope to be following little Alice Otterloop and her family and classmates at Blisshaven Preschool for years to come. 

http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac

http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com