Ask A Cartoonist: Lazy Days of Summer

Hooboy! It’s sweltering over here in New York City– too hot to do anything except sit back with a cold beer and wait for Autumn. I don’t know what I’d be doing without my air trusty air conditioner!

Well, since I don’t want to move, I figured I’d ask the cartoonists about their favorite ways to be lazy– or about their characters’ favorite ways to be lazy. Here’s what they said!

Orville Lee is the epitome of laziness. That doesn’t mean he’s not willing to step out once in a while and share his creative side. Me? I’m so busy I have to schedule my few moments of laziness weeks in advance. In fact, I have a fifteen minute lazy period on my calendar for this Friday at 2:20. Yay.

–John Hambrock, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee

–Mort Walker, Beetle Bailey

Here’s Ted and Hil working hard not to get any work done.

–Jim Keefe and Francesco Marciuliano, Sally Forth

I’m terrible at being lazy. I almost have to run myself ragged to feel like I’ve earned the right. But then the extreme happens. The moment I decide to be lazy I turn into a corpse and barely move. Usually happens at night. I’ll just read or watch TV. There’s no happy medium – I should try and find that.

–Terri Libenson, The Pajama Diaries

Mike has a slightly different nerdy definition of being lazy than most of us do…

–David Reddick, Intelligent Life

Hooray! I’ve loved hammocks ever since I was a kid.

–Alex Hallatt, Arctic Circle

One of the many things that I love about Snuffy Smith is that he is one of the laziest characters in the history of comics! He is always laying down and resting–whether it’s against a tree, a stump, a fence post or in bed. Here’s one of my favorite strips from years past about his laziness!

–John Rose, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

When it comes to “Fastrack’s” Art Welding there are so many possibilities. (From his perspective his personal language probably has a hundred different variations of the word “slacker.”) Here’s one of many, many examples.

–Bill Holbrook, Kevin & Kell, On the Fastrack, and Safe Havens

I think Dennis and Mr. Wilson finally agree on something.

–Ron Ferdinand, Dennis The Menace

–Isabella Bannerman, Six Chix