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Toon BrewToon BrewThis blog is focused on comics, especially comic strips. It explores the history of the comic strip, analyzes dailys, and discusses the theory behind cartoon creation. Articles
Garfield Minus Garfield
2008-02-27 16:37:00 I found this via those rapscallions over at Unshelved. Words fail me. Here’s what the site’s author has to say: Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb. Incredible. When presented like this, Garfield is actually worth reading…
Surrealistic “It”
2008-02-27 06:07:00 The amorphous “it” factor has been applied to everything from quarterbacks to apple pie. In comics, Pogo had “it;” Peanuts had “it;”Calvin and Hobbes had “it.” Showing no ill effects from his significant hiatus, David Troupes’ Buttercup Festival appears to be headed in that direction too, and in a much different fashion. While many of his comics can be funny in a (semi) conventional sense, or funny in a visual sense (my favorite, of course), his best work, in my opinion, has always been the more whimsical, surreal strips (see below), which often evokes a certain kind of introspection. A similar effect can been felt in the efforts of Schulz and Watterson (and others), but Troupes’ possession of “it” seems almost entirely bound to that very specific kind of strip. And I like it. This perfectly encapsulates one of my own best and worst habits, so much so that I contemplated the strip for a good 5 minutes (compare to my usual str...
The opposite of wordless comics
2008-02-19 20:58:00 Today’s Dinosaur Comics made me laugh, so I’m gonna post a link to it. So there! I worry about the same thing as T-Rex all the time… More About: Opposite
Ode to wordless storytelling (part 2)
2008-02-19 17:05:00 I still love wordless comics, but more importantly, I love wordless stories. There’s a reason for the cliche, and the uber-talented David Wiesner proves it. While not a cartoonist, he is a premier children’s book illustrator, and his recent Caldecott winning book (his third!), Flotsam, is a wordless masterpiece. Unfortunately, I could not find scans of some of the more iconic images from it, but rest assured that the ones I’ve shown here are mere setups to the real meat of the book. Each page is carefully laid out to draw the eye along a logical path, while every detail of each scene is dutifully accounted for. Through a gradual shift of perspective, Wiesner tells the story of a camera as it takes a fantastical journey, evoking a profound feeling of wonder along the way. “Reading” the book, I became quite nostalgic for those grade school days in which each pebble, each piece of junk found on the playground was a source of delight. If you’re looking for an exampl... More About: Part , Storytelling
And so have I! (Sort of)
2008-02-14 21:22:00 Hello there. I think I’ll start posting again… This time I’m going to be completely self indulgent. I’m going to post comics that I like and talk about things that I like. And I won’t give a second thought at all to what you, my visitors, like. I’ll post when I feel like it, and ... More About: General , Sort
Buttercup Festival has returned!
2008-02-14 16:38:00 After a three year hiatus, Buttercup Festival , one of my favorite comics, is back. For fans of the whimsical, this fantastically conceptualized comic is well worth checking out. Go here! More About: News , Comic Strips
Dead, for now
2007-09-28 17:16:00 I have to stop pretending that I will ever start posting regularly again. The motivation is just gone. For now, I think I’ve gotten all I wanted out of this project, so until further notice I will not be posting. It seems a couple of my previous posts have been of enough interest to others ... More About: General , Dead
An ode to wordless comics - Part 1
2007-08-24 21:00:00 An oldie but goodie from the Perry Bible Fellowship archives, this strip is titled “An End to Gopher Trouble.” As much as I hate internet vernacular, that one definitely deserves a ROFL. The gopher’s expression at the end is what really makes this strip. I do suppose that the title of the strip does also somewhat add ... More About: Comics , Comic Strips , Part
My Kind of Pun
2007-07-12 17:55:00 As a pseudo-intellectual elitist, I of course turn my nose up at the common pun, but that doesn’t mean that the entire device is incapable of making me smile. I present, Xckd! Even better, the pun is a pretty nice non sequitur, AND it is a great historical reference, which this former history major always will ... More About: General
Sheldon Stretches His Legs
2007-07-05 17:50:00 Yes, I still exist I just wanted to take a minute to highlight one of my favorite web cartoonists, Dave Kellett, who has begun to take steps into better utilizing the infinite canvas. Dave has long been something of a traditionalist when it comes to his comics, as he has often professed that his ... More About: General , Legs , Sheldon , Etch , Stretch
First Pogo
2007-05-30 05:51:00 Arf Lovers reproduces the first Pogo , for those who may be interested. More About: Comic Strips
Posting Schedule
2007-05-23 22:36:00 For a variety of reasons I don’t have the motivation to discuss right now, I am significantly pulling back on my posting schedule (as you may have already noticed). Since I’m still a neophyte and a fringe figure in the comics blogosphere, hopefully this won’t be a big deal for too many people. I do ... More About: General , Schedule , Posti
2-Bit Theater
2007-05-14 01:57:00 OK. I promised you a comic, but my plan to use the scanner at the library was foiled by it not being open. However, I was feeling particularly brilliant this afternoon, so I now present to you a scathing piece of satire about one of my favorite webcomics to hate: 8-Bit theater! Try not ... More About: Theater , Comic Strips , Eater , Thea
Top 5 links for the week
2007-05-13 01:05:00 I am ROCKING this top 5 thing! First off, we have an interesting article about the late, great Charles Addams, who apparently enjoyed living la vida loca. I actually knew very little about his life before reading this and I must say that I always pictured him as being a total weirdo. It seems that he ... More About: General , Links , Week
First Unshelved
2007-05-11 21:33:00 Continuing on, in the afterglow of so much link love, I figured that I would feature the first Unshelved strip, which was published February 16, 2002. The creators, Gene Ambaum (not his real name), and Bill Barnes, were kind enough to highlight my coldly calculated inclusion of Buddy on my top 5 list on their ... More About: Comic Strips , Webcomics , First
?Top 5? Madness
2007-05-11 19:06:00 This being the first time I’ve participated in a Problogger writing project, I must say I was surprised by the results. First, almost 900 people participated, which is crazy! And second, I’ve gotten a lot more traffic than I anticipated, which is great. I do suppose this means that if I want you guys to ... More About: General , Ness , Madness
Five Favorite Comic Strip Characters
2007-05-10 20:16:00 Darren Rowse over at Problogger is running a group writing project with the topic of “top 5.” With a prize of $1001 being given to a random participant, how could I not join in! Darren… uh… made a… uh… “comic” once, so it’s relevant to mention him, right!? Now as for the topic I chose… Well, ... More About: Comic , General , Characters , Trip , Character
First Opus
2007-05-07 19:05:00 Since we had a look at the first Bloom County the other day, I figured I’d go on to Berke Breathed’s other fine strip, the Sunday-only Opus, which was first published on November 23, 2003. Even ignoring the fact that this strip is in color, the difference in detail when compared to his first Bloom County ... More About: Comic Strips , First
First Bloom County
2007-05-06 18:16:00 Here it is, published December 8, 1980: Strangely enough I never really got into Bloom Count y when I was younger, but now it’s one of my favorite strips. The only thing I wanted to note here is how obvious it is that Berke Breathed continued to refine his art since his early days. The illustrations in ... More About: Comic Strips , First
More Brainstorming Tools
2007-05-06 17:59:00 I was “Stumbling” around the web the other day when I came across a fantastic list of idea generation techniques. The list includes ideas ranging from various forms of “streaming” (stream of consciousness writing/drawing/talking), to Role Playing, to incubation. There are 50 total brainstorming method in all. Each contains a descriptive chart illustrating what kinds ... More About: Tools , General , Stor , More , Brain
Happy Free Comic Book Day
2007-05-05 07:01:00 Hmm, I have to work all day and the old lady is gonna make me go out afterwards. No Unseen Peanuts for me Go here to find a participating comic shop near you. More About: Comic , General , Free , Book , Happy
First Doonesbury
2007-05-04 17:54:00 Published in two dozen newspapers on October 26, 1970, here is Garry Trudeau’s first Doonesbury comic Strip: Clearly the quality of the art is lower than in the current incarnation. The gag and the drawings are fairly simple, and when comparing this strip to today’s, it almost seems like they were created by two different ... More About: Comic Strips , First
Three Panel Terrorist????
2007-05-04 17:21:00 So I’m way behind the curve here, but it seems that Matt Boyd, a contributor to the popular webcomic MacHall, and the brilliant Three Panel Soul, was recently fired from his job for talking about his hobby (paper target shooting) at work, not long after the VTech shootings. Even more ludicrous, his discussion revolved around ... More About: General , Terrorist , Error
Is it wrong that I find this funny?
2007-05-03 22:32:00 On the light side of (semi) comics news, comes this story of a mother and her sons who apparently were exposed to a few seconds of hardcore porn, when trying to tune in to their favorite cartoon. Perhaps it’s insensitive of me, but I find these kinds of situations to be pretty amusing. Of course ... More About: Funny , General , Find , That , Wrong
Xkcd - Mapping Web Communities
2007-05-02 07:38:00 With a somewhat less esoteric/nerdy take on web cartography than his earlier Map of the Internet, webcartoonist Randall Munroe gives us a map of online communities: Xkcd is one of my favorite webcomics, and this is a great example of why. From the quirky, to the clever, to the cereberal, to the cheesy, Xkcd ... More About: Webcomics , Comm , Communities , Ping , Mapping
The Benevolent Mr. Gaiman
2007-05-01 20:47:00 Just in case Neil Gaiman’s prolific contributions to the comic world (not to mention his non comic works) were not enough to gain your adulation, he also aparently is someone who rescues lost animals on the freeway. Every time I read an article about him, or an interview with him, I like him even more, ... More About: General , Bene , Iman , Lent
The First Calvin and Hobbes
2007-05-01 19:39:00 Continuing with the easy to find, well known comic strips, I bring you to the very first published Calvin and Hobbes , which appeared in 35 newspapers on November 18, 1985. Unlike with Schulz, Bill Watterson’s illustrations were only subtly different in his initial work, most notably with his inclusion of pads on Hobbes’ hands (not shown ... More About: Comic Strips , First , Calvin and Hobbes
Comics Link Roundup
2007-04-30 21:16:00 As is the custom when you can’t think of/are too lazy to write a decent post, I thought I’d give some link love to some of my favorite things from the past week or so. I meant to put this manifestation of my work ethic up yesterday, but I got too busy analyzing the second ... More About: Comics , General , Roundup , Link , Round
The first strip
2007-04-30 20:01:00 I started thinking the other day about the evolution of an artist’s style, and how some of my favorite comics changed after years of publication. This made me want to go find the first published strips for a variety of features, just to see how they introduced their characters, and what artistic stylings, if any, ... More About: Comic Strips , Trip , First , Strip
International Editorial Cartoons on GoComics
More articles from this author:2007-04-27 20:58:00 GoComics is offering a new selection of internation editorial cartoons, most of which will be updated daily. Selections include vaguely titled topics like “Views of the World,” cartoons on international business, and some features that focus on various regions of the world (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, etc. No Antarctica, I’m afraid). I go back ... More About: International , Cartoons , General , Editorial , Edit 1, 2, 3 |
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