. . . I'm getting around to this one a little late, but...
I thought perhaps you might like to see this editorial cartoon by Jeff Stahler of the Columbus Dispatch, released on Obama's Inauguration day - January 20, 2009:
Pretty cool idea, Obama in the Lincoln Memorial, sharing a fist bump with the great emancipator, a fellow Illinois Congressman-turned-president. I thought so too when I drew this one on Election night, two and a half months earlier:
Now, I ain't got no high-falootin' "paying job" at no fancy newspaper, but I thought this one was worth printing... despite my clearly inferior illustration skills. That's why I sent it out to every publication I could think of in hopes that someone would break all protocols and print the damn thing.
To be fair, I'm sure Mr. Stahler never saw my cartoon, or any of my work (which puts him in good company). Also, it is his job to come up with several ideas a week worthy of printing... while this was merely the result of random inspiration for me. Who would roll the dice on an editorial one-hit-wonder?
Still, I reserve the right to be irrationally pissed off about it. What else can I do? I have nothing else to bitch about.
. . . Does anybody remember the "What a Cartoon" show from the early 90s? In the vein of the Channel Frederator model, "amateur" animators could bring their vision to the small screen compliments of Cartoon Network's in-house studio.
Eddie Fitzgerald brings his Spumco chops to the table
This was one of the first attempts to develop new content on the cheap through a weekly showcase - and it worked! Shows such as Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Cow & Chicken were all born from this model - as was the look and feel of the modern Cartoon Network!
It worked like this: submit your cartoon idea to CN in the form of completed Storyboards. If they liked it, they would give you the staff & resources to complete your cartoon, and then show it on Cartoon Network. One major caveat - CN owned your content (with the usual development deal of 5% profit participation or something along those lines, depending on what a hardass your agent was).
That's the other major caveat to submission: you could not submit Storyboards without being represented by a professional agent. This served the purpose of weeding out a ton of crappy work by amateurs around the world (myself included). It sounds unfair, but sorting through that kind of volume would have been costly and time consuming, and probably would have hurt the overall quality.
As you can imagine, most of the opportunities were given to Hollywood Studio staffers, a sort of insiders club of young and talented players... what we outsider animators called the "Cal-Arts crowd" (named for the amazing Valencia-based school whose program consistently launches some of the best and most successful animators in the business).
Do I sound bitter? I'm not, actually. All of these guys worked their asses off, creating their storyboards on spec, busting out complete (and funny) cartoons on a lean budget and a tight schedule... but there definitely comes confidence & incentive with having the industry experience and professional relationships that would come under scrutiny during the award process.
Still, it did (and still does) kind of reinforce a clique-mentality within the Hollywood animation scene - but nothing so sinister that genuine talent can't permeate it.
Robert Alvarez had me craving pizza for days with this one.
The What a Cartoon program produced one new cartoon every week for like, a year. It was also not uncommon to see these cartoons showing up on Boomerang or any of the other warmed-up leftover channels. Not only did it give Cartoon Network several of the most profitable properties they've ever had, it launched a bunch of careers... creators like Butch Hartman (Fairly Odd Parents), Craig McCracken (Powerpuff, Foster's Home) and Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter, Samurai Jack) as well as Directors like Robert Alvarez (Johnny Bravo, Grim & Evil), Zac Moncrief (Family Guy), and Mike Milo (Chowder, Pinky and the Brain).
Even those who do not swing big balls in the studios have gone on to enjoy enormous opportunities and respect from their peers since participating in the program. Miles Thompson and Joe Orrantia both graced and tortured me with their presence on the Li'l Pimp crew back in ought 3. Talented and mischievous, both of them.
Miles Thompson's installment - I'm convinced he based the worm on himself.
Some of these cartoons represented a look that was rather stale and mainstream by that time in CN history (I will not specify out of respect), but most of them brought something kinetic and wild to the screen, a combination of fresh and retro, a Hanna Barbera on acid approach (partially influenced by Kricfalusi) that helped usher in a new era of animation that has defined Cartoon network over the last 15 years.
The most memorable aspect of this series is, for me, the opening theme song. it sounds like someone took the guitar solo from The Beatles' "The Night Before" and turned it into a punk rock song.
If you've had any love for the animation of Nickelodeon & Cartoon Network over the last decade, drink a toast to the What a Cartoon show.
. . . As promised, here's the other piece we did for Mark Cuban's blog, "Blog Maverick".
This one features the big boys of Government Financial Management, hitting the road in a heap of junk after being taken down a couple of pegs by an unruly economy.
This was was a little harder to write than the Madoff one - lots of research for a limited IQ numbnuts like me to get wrapped up in this stuff.
Very little of the research actually makes it into this piece (just a few key points - the title for example), I just have to really immerse myself in it before I can gain the perspective to write something that's (hopefully) funny. I also feel compelled to write something smart enough to keep Cuban's interest - the guy's a freakin' genius.
If you haven't spent time on any of Cuban's blogs, and you ever want to have a business of your own, GO.
. . . We just completed a quickie job for Mark Cuban, bringing a little financial sector humor to his blog, "Blog Maverick". It's a cut-out head number, parodying the Free Credit Report.com ads (and using the original spots as a background plate).
This is my first time with "high finance humor" - I had to do a bit of research so I could write funny songs to go with the animation. My sorry voice appears prominently in the pieces.
It's set to make its world premiere on Cuban's blog... normally I would hold off on posting it here, but I'm pretty sure he won't mind that 5 or 6 people saw it before his readership did.
Here's the first one - it features supervillain Bernie Madoff bragging about this undertakings while settling in to his new job:
In 1969, Chuck Jones actually took a crack at the beloved Pogo Possum Swamp gang. Honestly, this is nothing like the original Walk Kelly comic (unusual for an animated adaptation, no?) - but it was still an interesting discovery.
Weirdest of all: at 7:40, the porcupine... that Chuck himself doing the voice!
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This was another Time for Timer. Not as awesome as the other one... less clever, and the voice guy is forcing the whole Texan accent, which kinda kills it. Kind of cheesy, if you'll forgive the pun.
The Time for Timer PSAs were actually a "spinoff" of The Incredible, Indelible Magical Physical Mystery Trip, produced in 1973 as an ABC after school special. I remember seeing this damn cartoon (yes, when it originally aired - I'm THAT old), and it may have sucked for all i know but I thought it was an awesome adventure!
This one's a little better:
The voice is that of Len Maxwell, who did voices for the Batfink cartoons back in the 60s and, more recently, Celebrity Death Match! This one's great too, but the quality is a little crappy:
Timer was created by none other than DePatie Freling, the nuts who did the Pink Panther series. The similarities are very noticable at times.
. . . Just found this one... first time seeing it in over 30 years. Despite the years, this song is burned into my brain, word for word. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but now there's proof!
It says vintage 80s, but this is pure 70s.
Almost as cool as Schoolhouse Rock, but 10 times as stupid.
I just haven't been able to stop. long... enough... to... blog....
Nonstop Character Posing - it's actually causing severe back problems and music collection fatigue. Here's some more Inspector McCloud Laredoans.. Loredans? Loraiders?
