January 30th, 2019

Ask A Cartoonist: Looking Forward!

by Tea

As we wrap up January, our cartoonists are looking forward to exciting things in the months ahead! Here’s some of what they have in store– or what their characters are looking forward to. 

Bill Griffith, Zippy the Pinhead:

Looking forward to a round of signings and talks for my new book, “Nobody’s Fool: The Life & Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead” (Schlitzie was the original inspiration for Zippy), in stores this March, from Abrams ComicArts. I’ll be doing events in New York, Boston, D.C, Baltimore, Toronto, Hartford and many others. Stay tuned for more details.

 

Ron Ferdinand, Dennis the Menace:

Dennis is ALWAYS full of anticipation and excitement…..ESPECIALLY about candy and dogs. lol!

Brian Walker, Hi & Lois:

Trixie Flagston is just a baby, so her future is full of possibilities. We had some fun visualizing a few of her fantasies about growing up in this 2003 Sunday page, illustrated by Chance Browne.

Jim Keefe, Sally Forth and Flash Gordon:

Looking forward to improving my skillset in 2019.
I’ll be taking watercolor classes at The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art in Minneapolis, MN.
I picked up Liz Staley’s “Learn Clip Studio Paint.”
And hope to throw in learning to play an instrument if time allows – we’ll see…

 

Eric Reaves, Hi & Lois:

Most mornings before getting started on the strip, I like to do a little warm-up.

Some mornings it might be a little watercolor put to some Wendell Berry poem I read the night before…

Other times I may squeeze out a quick little editorial toon for the local small format paper, The News-Herald…
©2019 Eric Reaves for the News-Herald, used with permission.

 And other days, like this morning, I had to sketch out a thought in my head. Warning: this could occasionally be a little wacky! Last week I finally made it to the theatre to see, “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.” I loved the line, “Anyone can wear the mask,” and it immediately sent me to the board this morning thinking I needed to sketch out what my Spider-Persona would be! I love the outdoors and catch and release fly fishing so naturally I would be tying up bad guys everywhere with my out-of-this-universe fly fishing skills. Bad guys who chose to hideout on the stream beware! LOL!

 

John Rose, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith:

I am really looking forward to celebrating the 100th bodacious birthday of our Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip in June of 2019! Barney Google is turning 100 and I couldn’t be more excited! We are working on a really fun story to celebrate his centennial birthday. Stay tooned!

 

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

The “Safe Havens” crew will continue to explore Mars during 2019, as the mysterious planet continues to hold many secrets.