Steve Dickenson and Todd Clark have a new featured called Retro Geek last Sunday with Tribune Media Services. TMS describes the new feature as:
In the world of “Retro Geek,” once-tame Eisenhower Era art is force-fed a freshly cooked serving of contemporary humor as Dickenson and Clark put words in housewives’ mouths, strip the veneer off dad’s hobbies and yank the wall-to-wall sensibilities out from under that tidy white-bread Ozzie & Harriet suburban lifestyle.
I don’t have a launch count, but I know The Olympian is running it in place of Between Friends.
Steve and Todd are not new to syndication. Both cartoonists produce the Lola feature that is currently syndicated through United Media.
At this posting, I can’t find Retro Geek on TMS, gocomics, comics.com, Houston Chronicle or Seattle PI web sites. If anyone sees a Retro Geek comic in the wild, please let us know in the comments.
I too had trouble finding it the other day. A search for “Retro Geek” brings up all sorts of non-comic stuff since those words go together for all sorts of things. I only got a few articles about the strip but no images. Of course we want to SEE this thing.
You can see samples of Retro Geek here
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?catid=2046
A new TMS strip? That’s an unusual occurrence.
Well, it looks intriguing. The bizarre combination of the ’50s style art and the modern jokes should make for some interesting reading. I’m not sure if I agree with the title “Retro Geek,” however. Based on the concept and reading the first two strips alone, I don’t think it really fits the feature.
I’ve always liked that mid 20th century illustration style even though it’s over-used these days.
It’s hard to tell much about the strip from the two samples. I wonder if each one will be one-off gags as shown or if it will develop any recurring characters. I much prefer continual characters, situations and themes which would be fun to explore in this style. One could really get below the facade of 1950’s America with some depth and humor!
Otherwise, this type of modern humor combined with retro style is already done in calendars, magnets, greeting cards and so forth. Just visit any gift store with a contemporary/urban edge. Do we also need this in the comics? And if so, would a strip like that be sustainable?
“this type of modern humor combined with retro style is already done in calendars, magnets, greeting cards and so forth.”
Anne Taintor is the pioneer of this type of humor. She started doing this style of humor on greeting cards years ago. Hugely successful.
http://www.annetaintor.com
Retro Geek is boring….not funny…..
the san antonio Express-news has it and they can lose it..took off a great cartoon for a no-count/no color strip.
This one just doesn’t do it for me. They should stick to Lola. Now at least we can find that one! Lola’s seen in newspapers and on comics.com.
Scott, thanks for pointing out Ann Taintor. Of course I’ve seen that stuff all over, I just never knew where it came from. Cool!
That known, I would rather see a more original strip taking one of the limited spots in the papers.
Looking at the photo of Steve and Todd (LOVE their Lola strip) all I can say is: “Dudes, you just scored a second strip! SMILE!” 🙂
I don’t like Lola and I feel Retro Geek is too similar to Red Meat. I was PO’d when my local paper added Lola. I think it’s a weak strip.
The whole idea of tame, clip art-style features with outrageous dialogue seems overdone at this point…
Funny stuff I hope mpls Startribune keeps it running
I am looking to hire an illustrator for a book I am writing. I am looking for someone who can draw in the Anne Taintor style, the 1950s style housewife.
I want to hire an illustrator for a book I am writing. Someone who can draw in the Anne Taintor syle, 1950’s housewife.