News that Mort Walker has died at the age of 94 today was a shock. I met him last summer and had the honor of staying at his studio for three nights and sharing breakfast with him two of the mornings. I took a couple of pictures, but the one above is one of my favorites (which I hadn't shared yet). It shows Mort walking into the entrance hall of his ofice, with all of his 'real art' in from of him, including a portrait of himself in the right top corner. On the walls behind him is his collection of comic strip art, which he started as a young boy by writing to the big name artists of the thirties. He was as sharp as ever, still drawing the strip that made his name. 94 is a hell of an age to reach but there were plenty of us who would have loved to hang on to him a little bit longer. My heart goes out to his children, his wife and everyone at the studio. I will prepare a post for Tuesday to celebrate Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark and even some of his lesser known strips with new scans. In the meantime you can try and spend some time with any of the posts I did in honor of this great talent. I expect that there will be many tributes over the next few days.
Showing posts with label Sam and Silo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam and Silo. Show all posts
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Mort Walker 1923-2018
Goodbye, Mort Walker.
News that Mort Walker has died at the age of 94 today was a shock. I met him last summer and had the honor of staying at his studio for three nights and sharing breakfast with him two of the mornings. I took a couple of pictures, but the one above is one of my favorites (which I hadn't shared yet). It shows Mort walking into the entrance hall of his ofice, with all of his 'real art' in from of him, including a portrait of himself in the right top corner. On the walls behind him is his collection of comic strip art, which he started as a young boy by writing to the big name artists of the thirties. He was as sharp as ever, still drawing the strip that made his name. 94 is a hell of an age to reach but there were plenty of us who would have loved to hang on to him a little bit longer. My heart goes out to his children, his wife and everyone at the studio. I will prepare a post for Tuesday to celebrate Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark and even some of his lesser known strips with new scans. In the meantime you can try and spend some time with any of the posts I did in honor of this great talent. I expect that there will be many tributes over the next few days.
News that Mort Walker has died at the age of 94 today was a shock. I met him last summer and had the honor of staying at his studio for three nights and sharing breakfast with him two of the mornings. I took a couple of pictures, but the one above is one of my favorites (which I hadn't shared yet). It shows Mort walking into the entrance hall of his ofice, with all of his 'real art' in from of him, including a portrait of himself in the right top corner. On the walls behind him is his collection of comic strip art, which he started as a young boy by writing to the big name artists of the thirties. He was as sharp as ever, still drawing the strip that made his name. 94 is a hell of an age to reach but there were plenty of us who would have loved to hang on to him a little bit longer. My heart goes out to his children, his wife and everyone at the studio. I will prepare a post for Tuesday to celebrate Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark and even some of his lesser known strips with new scans. In the meantime you can try and spend some time with any of the posts I did in honor of this great talent. I expect that there will be many tributes over the next few days.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Character And Slapstick
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
When I was at Mort Walker's place I talked with his assistant Bill Janocha about Jerry Dumas. Dumas joined the Walker crew in the midfifties. I think I can pinpoint where he arrives, actually. Around that time, the Beetle Bailey gags change from gag-oriented to character-oriented. Now I am not saying that Dumas was the one that introduced character to Mort Walker's strips. But I do think there was something to their collaboration, to the effect of talking about what he was making that put the already brilliant cartoonist on the path of what made all of his strips so great and such a big success - the mixture of characterdriven jokes and slapstick. Jerry Dumas stayed with the team until his death last year, working on all the strips. In the early sixties he created Sam's strip together with Mort - a rightfully completely reprinted strip (even though it only ran for a short time) about two characters who knew they were in a comic strip. If you don't know it, you should check it out. Dumas drew the strip himself, in a style that was similar to Mort's but a bit lighter. In the seventies Dumas was allowed to repurpose those characters as a sheriff and his deputy in a small town under the name Sam and Silo. Not as out and out funny as the strips he did with Mort Walker, but still very enjoyable. I was lucky enough to come across a huge run af them.
When I was at Mort Walker's place I talked with his assistant Bill Janocha about Jerry Dumas. Dumas joined the Walker crew in the midfifties. I think I can pinpoint where he arrives, actually. Around that time, the Beetle Bailey gags change from gag-oriented to character-oriented. Now I am not saying that Dumas was the one that introduced character to Mort Walker's strips. But I do think there was something to their collaboration, to the effect of talking about what he was making that put the already brilliant cartoonist on the path of what made all of his strips so great and such a big success - the mixture of characterdriven jokes and slapstick. Jerry Dumas stayed with the team until his death last year, working on all the strips. In the early sixties he created Sam's strip together with Mort - a rightfully completely reprinted strip (even though it only ran for a short time) about two characters who knew they were in a comic strip. If you don't know it, you should check it out. Dumas drew the strip himself, in a style that was similar to Mort's but a bit lighter. In the seventies Dumas was allowed to repurpose those characters as a sheriff and his deputy in a small town under the name Sam and Silo. Not as out and out funny as the strips he did with Mort Walker, but still very enjoyable. I was lucky enough to come across a huge run af them.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Jerry's Strip
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
Jerry Dumas was one of the funniest guys in comics. When he joined the Mort Walker team in the late fifties, al of his comics jumped ahead from 'quite good' to 'extraordinairyly good'. His arrival coincides with the change from a joke a day in Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois to the more character driven approach. Pretty soon after that they also produced Mrs. Fitz' Flat, a purely character driven strip, for Frank Roberge. SO either they had a terrific chemestry or Dumas introduced a way of thinking that made the Walker strips the succes they were. And probably both. In the early sixties Walker and Dumas did Sam's Strip, a unique strip that ony ran for a short period but has been reprinted a couple of times. After many of Walker's assistants had gotten theor own strip through the efforts of the team, Dumas was allowed to fly solo with Sam and Silo in the late seventies. I had been gathering dailies for some time, when I recently got a long run of Sundays. Here are both. If you prefer color, scroll down to the bottom of the post. Oddly enough Sam and Silo was not as out and out funny as any of the joint ventures of the Waker team. It was even more character based than any of ther other products and the set of characters was more limited than ever.
Jerry Dumas was one of the funniest guys in comics. When he joined the Mort Walker team in the late fifties, al of his comics jumped ahead from 'quite good' to 'extraordinairyly good'. His arrival coincides with the change from a joke a day in Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois to the more character driven approach. Pretty soon after that they also produced Mrs. Fitz' Flat, a purely character driven strip, for Frank Roberge. SO either they had a terrific chemestry or Dumas introduced a way of thinking that made the Walker strips the succes they were. And probably both. In the early sixties Walker and Dumas did Sam's Strip, a unique strip that ony ran for a short period but has been reprinted a couple of times. After many of Walker's assistants had gotten theor own strip through the efforts of the team, Dumas was allowed to fly solo with Sam and Silo in the late seventies. I had been gathering dailies for some time, when I recently got a long run of Sundays. Here are both. If you prefer color, scroll down to the bottom of the post. Oddly enough Sam and Silo was not as out and out funny as any of the joint ventures of the Waker team. It was even more character based than any of ther other products and the set of characters was more limited than ever.
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