That time Bill Watterson wrote Mike Lynch a letter
Six months into Bill Watterson’s comic strip launch, I wrote him a letter. I asked probably what many people were asking: How do I do what you do? What’s the path? And then I suggested we meet. (I had learned he lived nearby. How I got THAT information I don’t know.) Anyway, it was 1986 and I was a kid and Calvin and Hobbes was the best new strip out there. I had no idea if he would write back, but in June 1986, he did.
Nearly 39 years ago young cartoonist Mike Lynch asked young cartoonist Bill Watterson for advice. The response came on Calvin and Hobbes letterhead, in a Calvin and Hobbes envelope. Mike has posted it for the public record.
The letter is currently up for auction at ComicLink.
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Sour Grapes Soda
NORTH PROVIDENCE – Smithfield cartoonist Tim Jones and Yacht Club Soda owner John Sgambato have joined forces to bring the Sour Grapes comic strip from the newspaper page to the soda bottle.
Sour Grapes is a quirky, irreverent comic that appears in various newspapers across the country, including in The Breeze. The comic follows Aesop, a miserable flying dog, and his pet cloud, Ominous, as they navigate what Jones describes as “a strange, problematic and troubled world.”
The soda, which launched last month, is a playful fluorescent green, the same color as the comic’s logo, and, of course, tastes like sour grapes.
Joining the ranks of Kickapoo Joy Juice is Sour Grapes Soda as reported by Sofia Barr of The Valley Breeze.
The label, designed by Jones’s daughter Jillian, features a characteristically unamused Aesop in the foreground, with various scenes from the comics behind him. A QR code on the label allows soda drinkers to read the cartoons while they enjoy their beverage.
More about Tim Jones and his Sour Grapes comic strip here.
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Covers and Comics – Turkeys by Tom Toro
Tom Toro gets this week’s “cover story” to showcase his first New Yorker cover.
More Toro turkeys at his Home Free comic strip. And just More Tom Toro.
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The one person other than Charles Schulz who had a hand in the Peanuts comic strip
For the Sunday comic I sat with Sparky and asked him to tell me what his favorite visuals were from the strip. Communication was difficult for him, but we took our time. He said he thought it was funny when Snoopy tried to steal Linus’s blanket, he laughed at the image of Lucy getting hit on the head with a baseball, he was particularly proud of Snoopy as the Flying Ace, and he chuckled about Peppermint Patty fumbling through school.
In the end, because I lifted elements from previous work, it can still be said that Schulz authored every single comic strip. That was important to him. And it was important to me.
November 26 is the birth date for Charles M. Schulz and people are honoring the celebrated cartoonist. One of those is Jim Keefe. Jim Links to an earlier post where Paige Braddock recalls helping Schulz assemble the last Peanuts comic strip.
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10 Most Influential Comic Strip Series Of All Time
Certainly you aren’t expecting to see comic titles by Winsor McCay or Milton Caniff or Clare Briggs or Sidney Smith or Roy Crane or Garry Trudeau or Chester Gould or Alex Raymond? If you were then prepare to be disappointed. Their influence pales in comparison to Dilbert for The Most Influential Comic Strips.
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The Return of The Christmas Comic Strip
A Very Sally Forth Christmas will be one of at least a few holiday short stories coming to your local comics page or computer screen as Christmas supplants Thanksgiving next week.
feature image by James M. Condé (maybe?)