VIP Tries To Sell Out

I've mentioned Virgil Partch before as being an all-man's cartoonist. He has a sarcastic and real look at life, which, being a cartoonist, he exaggerates.
Later in his career, it looks like he tried to sell out by doing a daily and Sunday comic strip. His drawing style is more toned down, but I loved this comic when I was a kid. I think not so much because of the jokes themselves, but because the drawings and attitude had an edge that reflected real human nature.
I think the strip is loosely based on the Honeymooners, with a blowhard husband and more reasonable wife. Yeah, that's kind of pandering to the 1960 audience, but it beats having a completely wimpy male lead with a character arc and a sassy liberated female lead like we have in so many cartoons now.

Partch was great at getting the worst aspects out of the average man in a simple expression. To him, even civilized man is still a caveman at heart - and I believe he's right.

Early Partch

Big George

Sardonic Appeal VS Cloying Cuteness

When Disney animators and fans think of "appeal" they tend to think about this kind of stuff, cuteseypie sissypants smooth tasteless stuff that's aimed at infants, moms, Cal Arts animators and adults who choose alternative lifestyles.

Disney Cute

Cal Arts Cute

This is the modern descendent of Disney "appeal". It's not at all based on any true human feelings or experiences. It's merely the autopilot way of designing characters that follow what animators think is the way cartoons are supposed to look - animators who love Disney and let hardly any other influences into the medium without painting over them with big round wet sad drippy eyes.

For some reason, no matter how hard they try, they can't seem to make any human characters cute or appealing at all. It's a mystery to me.
By the way, I'm not against this kind of cute. It's great for 5 year olds. But we could sure use some variety in mainstream animation. This isn't the only kind of "appeal".

Alternative Lifestyle Animation Fan Cute

Disney would roll in his grave if he knew who his most ardent fans were and what his style inevitably led to:Now just who do they aim these modern Disney characters at?




http://morgenfiles.blogspot.com/2008/02/thursday-13-disney-heroes.html


Anyway, there are many more ways to achieve "appeal" in cartoons without resorting to infantile or effeminate cuteness.


Sardonic Man Appeal

I like a lot of cartoon styles that have a more observant and honest outlook of humanity.
These cartoons by Virgil "VIP" Partch really portray humanity in its rawest and funniest forms.



VIP especially understands men in all their appealing hairy, brutish ugliness.
It's ironic that VIP started at Disney's as a storyboard artist. I can't imagine what they were thinking hiring someone whose whole outlook was the complete opposite of Disney's.
http://www.animationarchive.org/2005/12/media-virgil-vip-partch.html

Actual men in real life must have some appeal, even though most of us are nothing like what Disney cartoons consider appealing. We manage to get girls without looking like Bambi or Disney bland male leads. I think VIP captures exactly what it is about men that is appealing. I don't know why animated cartoons are so afraid to caricature life and true emotions and motivations. Instead they continue to slavishly copy one bizzare man's strange naive outlook of life - even decades after his death.



http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/01/media-virgil-vip-partch-man-beast.html


George Lichty is another great cartoonist whose outlook of life is more honest and observant than the general run of animated cartoons.


http://www.animationarchive.org/2007/07/comics-george-lichty-grin-and-bear-it.html

Don Martin also fits this cartoon outlook, as does Brant Parker. I wish I could find good examples of Parker's early Wizard Of Id Sunday pages to show you.


These kinds of cartoons appeal to more sophisticated and adventurous tastes than do Disney cartoons and their descendants.



When you are a little kid, you tend to like white bread and American cheese - anything without texture, contrast or strong individual flavors, but as you get older your taste buds get bored and crave spicier, more interesting and varied flavors. You start to like European salamis, pickles, sharp cheese, mushrooms and even crustaceans.
This stuff has more texture and may look rude, but it sure tastes better than baby food.



It's very odd to me that animated cartoons have stayed in the tasteless white bread stage for so long. Don't our retinas crave some more spicy varieties of visual flavors?

Like George Baker:




We have enough of a rich history of other types of cartoons to be inspired by - and lots of foods too.

Mort Todd on Don Martin's Influences, more Dentist

Mort Todd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Todd

is a cartoonist, comics editor and all around cartoon/comics buff. He was the guy who was responsible for getting my Spumco COMIC BOOK off the ground at Marvel comics a decade or so ago.

http://talesofwhoa-meat.blogspot.com/2006/10/salute-to-spumco-part-2.html

He knew Don Martin personally, worked with him and did a lot to help Don get some rights back to his original artwork. I asked him in my last post to let us know who Don's influences were and he kindly replied.

Mort Todd on Don Martin

I talked with Don Martin about his influences and, believe it or don't, he wasn't much of a comics fan as a kid. He was certainly inspired by Virgil Partch (VIP)

http://www.animationarchive.org/2005/12/media-virgil-vip-partch.html

http://inspiration-grab-bag.blogspot.com/2006/04/virgil-vip-partch-1950s-magazine.html

which is evident if you've seen his early album covers.

He also liked Milt Gross (Banana Oil)
http://www.animationarchive.org/2007/08/milt-gross-banana-oil.html

and Bill Holman (Smokey Stover

** Note that my Cigarettes the Cat is pretty much stolen from "Spooky". I actually got the idea for the design from the retard cat in Clampett's Kitty Kornered and changed him into a non-retarded cat and then later discovered Smokey Stover and Spooky. So, I'm caught. Hopefully I took it a lot farther and changed the personality.

http://www.smokey-stover.com/jim_ruth_pg1.html

[his fire hat may have inspired Martin's way of drawing feet, no?]). He dug the Popeye comics and cartoons but wasn't aware of Tex Avery or Bob Clampett (by name anyway).

All artists are influenced by others which is most evident by their early work. To see later stuff by Jack Kirby, it'd be hard to realize his early swipes were of Alex Raymond and Hal Foster.

Also, concerning the humor art of Gene Colan, I had him do some stuff at Cracked, shot from his pencils. Beautiful stuff from an underrated artist who was rarely successfully inked by other artists.

Great blog, John, and a true service to mankind!

Beast regards,

Mort Todd



Hey Mort, what are you up to these days? How do I find you?