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Comics Update: June, 2002
This comics update invites you to:
Send The New Comics E-cards
Guess Who Said That?
Order New Rose Is Rose And Pearls Before Swine Strips
Enjoy A Conversation With Raising Duncan Cartoonist Chris Browne
Make Dad Laugh With Comics Father's Day Gifts
Test Your Comics Knowledge
Congratulate A Recent Graduate
Try An Animated Dilbert Cursor
Free E-cards for More Comics
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Visit the new e-cards area at Comics.com, featuring Pearls Before Swine, Raising Duncan, Rose Is Rose, Luann, Monty, Get Fuzzy, 9 Chickweed Lane, and Arlo and Janis. You can send cards to celebrate birthdays and other occasions, or just to say hello. Don't forget to send Dad a Father's Day e-card!
http://www.comics.com/ecards/
For Dilbert animated cards, visit Yahoo! Greetings:
http://greetings.yahoo.com/cards/Dilbert/
Send Peanuts cards at Snoopy.com:
http://www.comics.com/comics/peanuts/fun_and_games/e_cards.html
Guess Who Said That?
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Guess which comic character said, "You don't get a goodbye kiss for that!" The answer appears after the next section.
Order Strips the Day They're Published
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Rose Is Rose and Pearls Before Swine join the list of comic strips you can order the day they're published. Get today's strip on prints, clothing and other great products, or choose any strip published in the last 90 days!
Order Rose Is Rose here:
http://www.cafepress.com/unitedmedia/sotd.aspx?category=roseisrose
Order Pearls Before Swine here:
http://www.cafepress.com/unitedmedia/sotd.aspx?category=pearls
Who Said That?
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In Arlo and Janis, Janis said, "You don't get a goodbye kiss for that!" Find out why here:
http://www.comics.com/comics/arlonjanis/archive/arlonjanis-20020601.html
Interview with Raising Duncan Cartoonist Chris Browne
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Question: When did you first know you wanted to be a cartoonist?
Chris Browne: Like a lot of kids, I loved drawing and painting from very early on. My father was a wonderful cartoonist and he worked at home, so I was always showing Mom and Dad a drawing or a painting. They were very supportive. But I think it was when I was 20 years old in 1972 that I really fell in love with the art form. My Dad was just starting his strip Hagar the Horrible and it filled him with such joy to create something funny and thoughtful and new every day. And I got to watch him do it. I was hooked!
Q: How did your father's work influence you?
CB: My father influences me still on so many levels. Everything I know about cartooning, writing and drawing I learned from him either directly or by observation. But he was also a huge creative force in general. Artistically he loved the line, the way the ink actually flowed off the pen onto the paper. And now I have that love. I love to build up a drawing, to see it start to form, see the characters acquire a feeling of roundness, weight and mass. I learned many intangible things from him as well. He was a very centered person, almost Zen-like. Both my folks were very kind, very good people.
Q: What other cartoonists have influenced you?
CB: I love the work of many cartoonists that I know - Lynn Johnston, probably our greatest living cartoonist. I admire her bravery and a quality I call "disregard" - she is her own person, her own artist. She takes risks and has raised the bar for serious cartoon artists everywhere. Charles Schulz is never far from my thoughts. His clarity and his artistry and just the heart and soul that was in every line he drew. I love the wit and candor of Cathy Guisewite. She was the first cartoonist of my generation to make it big with a comic strip. Johnny Hart and Mike Peters are just the dearest, funniest men on Earth and I love them and their work. And Pat Brady who every day creates absolute magic with Rose Is Rose. He creates love and magic out of mere paper and ink. Bravo!
Q: Did you have pets growing up?
CB: I had some wonderful pets. We lived on a winding mountain road in Wilton, Connecticut and I had a lovely dog, a beagle-mix named Lucky. Supposedly Lucky and I were born on the same day. Lucky took on the role of raising me, much like Nanna in Peter Pan. When I was just starting to walk, I wandered away from home and Lucky stayed with me, corralling me out of traffic and keeping strangers at bay. According to the people who found me, Lucky saved my life. David Letterman jokes that he was raised by dogs. I feel like I kind of was. Dogs are all soul, all emotion. They give us so much and ask for so little. (My Scotties MacDuff and Macky are sleeping on each of my feet at this very moment)...
Q: Does fan feedback affect Raising Duncan at all?
CB: Yes! It's very helpful. I write the strip in sketchbooks - wherever I am during the day - much of the dialog between Big Daddy and Adelle is taken right from real life banter between my wife and myself - and then I sit in my home studio at my metal desk from Pottery Barn. I love working this way - but then I send the work off to the syndicate in New York and cross my fingers. Cartooning isn't created in public like music or theater- and you don't get that immediate feedback. But hearing from people is very important. It fixes my compass. It fills my sails with fresh breezes and lifts the waves under my bow. It makes the journey possible. And I LOVE hearing from people about their pets. Some people have web pages celebrating their pets and have been kind enough to make links to the Raising Duncan page. I LOVE THAT!
Q: What other comics/illustration work have you done?
CB: Wow, let's see... I worked with my father on his strips as an assistant for years, but I also worked for the National Lampoon for ten years. That was fun! I did lots of gag cartoons and parodies for them. I found out that I loved cartoons but hated doing parodies. I was known around the Lampoon as their "Token Good-Taste Cartoonist." I also have drawn cartoons for Playboy magazine for 25 years. They have been very kind to me and gave me a lot of leeway to grow and develop. I'm indebted to them, especially to their legendary cartoon editor, Michelle Urry. I tried to sell cartoons to the New Yorker for years and years and finally sold one to them and of all things, the first cartoon they bought was of my Scotty MacDuff being interviewed by Larry King. What can I say? I love drawing Scotties!
Q: What's a typical working day like for you?
CB: Our older Scotty, Macky, wakes me every morning early requesting to be walked. Pretty soon all the other dogs are asking out as well. After coffee, O.J. and shredded wheat I ease ever so slowly into the day, watch some Imus-In-The-Morning on MSNBC and make my way to my desk. I do most of my artwork early in the morning and sometimes late at night, listening to jazz and oldies. In the afternoons my wife Carroll Adelle (the inspiration for Adelle in the strip) and I often step out to our favorite cafe, sip coffees and chat. A lot of our ramblings go right into my little pocket sketchbook and then end up in the strip. It's fun. It hardly seems like work and I hope it lends an authenticity to the dialogue.
Q: What profession would you want to try if you weren't a cartoonist?
CB: I would be an actor. Of this I have no doubt. I almost went that way... I studied acting in New York City. I waited tables and went on auditions. My teachers were Doug Taylor and Barbara Baxley. I played Lenny in "Of Mice and Men." I would love to play Sgt. Slaughter in William Goldman's "Soldier in the Rain." I loved acting. I like to think I bring some of that training into my cartooning. In cartooning as in acting, the work is what matters.
Read a month of Raising Duncan:
http://www.comics.com/comics/raisingduncan/index.html
Father's Day Gift Ideas
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Do your barbecues end with sauce on Dad's shirt? Treat him to an apron featuring the cooking antics of Get Fuzzy's Bucky the Cat.
Bucky and the tomato sauce:
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/productdetail.aspx?prodno=2416039
Bucky and the salmon:
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/productdetail.aspx?prodno=2416034
Whether he's playing the game or just watching from the stands, Dad will enjoy a baseball jersey featuring a Dilbert or Get Fuzzy strip. Choose from all strips published in the last 90 days, or selected older favorites.
Order Dilbert strips here:
http://www.cafepress.com/unitedmedia/category.aspx?category=dilbert
Order Get Fuzzy strips here:
http://www.cafepress.com/unitedmedia/category.aspx?category=getfuzzy
Test Your Comics Knowledge
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Which comic character fits this description?
She can often be seen raising her "voice," but her husband usually deserves it. Actually she's a kind wife and attentive mother who puts up with an enormous amount of foolishness from the two men in her life.
The answer appears after the next section.
Congratulate a Graduate
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For a perfect introduction to the world of work, send a recent grad one of Scott Adams' Dilbert business books.
The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings,
Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions
Themes include quality, ISO 9000, downsizing, consultants and marketing.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887308589/dilbertcom-20
The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Business Stupidity in the 21st Century
This book offers predictions for the future. Topics include technology, the workplace, elections, the battle of the sexes, drive-through pet care, and the possibility of intelligent (or stupid) life on other planets.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887309100/dilbertcom-20
The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers
This book focuses on how to create workplace happiness for yourself at the expense of your boss, co-workers, and those lazy stockholders who have never done anything for you. You'll also learn Dilbertian secrets for creativity and humor. No matter how boring you are, these tips and tricks will make you seem to be more interesting. If you have friends who think they are very funny, but aren't, this is an excellent gift.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887308953/dilbertcom-20
Don't forget to send your favorite graduate a free e-card! The animated Dilbert graduation card is here:
http://send.greetings.yahoo.com/greet/send?.id=152055419
The Peanuts graduation card is here:
http://www.snoopy.com/comics/peanuts/fun_and_games/e_cards.html
Answer to the Comics Knowledge Question
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This strip has no dialogue, but Ferd'nand's wife can often be seen raising her "voice." Her husband usually deserves it though. Actually she's a kind wife and attentive mother who puts up with an enormous amount of foolishness from the two men in her life.
Read a month of Ferd'nand here:
http://www.comics.com/comics/ferdnand/index.html
Animated Dilbert Cursors
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Turn your cursor into an animated Dilbert character! In one cursor, Dilbert adjusts his glasses, and in another Dogbert wags his tail. Try them all!
http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/desktop_diversions/html/animated_cursors.htm
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