“One of my favorite writers is Man (Emanuel) Martin.”
That seems a reasonable way for anyone to introduce Man Martin.
I know it holds true for me.
The introduction continues:
His writing career was already well established with wonderful books but then he had to become greedy and become an outstanding comic strip creator as well, the genius behind “Man Overboard“.
And then segues into an interview.
Is there a book that changed the way you look at life?
Hmmm. And again, hmmm. The question is not my favorite book or one that I’ve read the most often, but one that changed how I look at life. The answer to that question would have to be The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Camus.
© Man Martin
Do you have a favorite children’s book and what about it makes it so?
When I was seven years old, in the Fort Pierce public library (see answer to Question 2) I pulled a slim volume from the shelves called, The Wuggly Ump, by Edward Gorey,
in which the title monster eats three children who for some reason seem to be from the Edwardian era. On the last page, the Ump grins a pointy toothed grin and a cutaway shows the three kids floating in its belly. The final rhyme is,
“Sing tir-aloo, sing tir-alump/ From deep inside the Wuggly Ump.”What a great book.
By comparison, Cat in the Hat and Where the Wild Things Are were tameness itself, because nothing actually happens.
How are you different now than you were in your 20’s?
I would like to say I am wiser. I am probably not. I would like to say I am kinder, more generous, more patient, more loving. I am probably not. I would like to say I am thinner, have more (or as much) hair, had bigger biceps. I do not. My political views have moved to the left. But is that really me, or has the rest of the world shifted while I stood in place?
Read the interview to catch up on cartoonist Man Martin,
then go to “the outstanding comic strip” Man Overboard.