Reading: The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship by Charles Bukowski
Music: Last Night's Fun
TV/Movie: Hellboy Cast Video Commentary
Link o' the Day: The Weekly Dig

I missed yesterday's entry, but refuse to feel too bad about that as I did manage to finish laying out the first draft of Whistling Down the Halls: The Times and Cartoons of America's Original Pantomime Comic Strip Artist by Michael T. Reardon, son of the cartoonist, Foxo Reardon.Over 250 pages which average around 4 strips per page which means tweaking and arranging something like a 1,000 strips throughout the book, in addition to texts and photos.

Not too bad. I'll be working on the cover tonight and tomorrow, and may post a preview of such.

In the meantime, here's a strip from Chapter 4 "Bozo Goes To War"



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Ugh. I just stripped out three long paragraphs outlining the history of Providence's local free art rags because I read through it and thought, "who outside of Providence cares? And even in Providence, who cares?"

So I've just saved you from all that. Bringing it down to size...

Once upon a time there was a free local arts rag called The Other Paper. My friend Chris Reilly and I used to write a bi-weekly column about comic books, and these often featured interviews. Off the top of my head, I remember we interviewed Wil Eisner (The Spirit), Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics), Evan Dworkin (Milk & Cheese, Bill & Ted), and Todd McFarlane (Spawn). But the best interview, our greatest coup in those tender early-20s years, was interviewing the great Charles Schulz.

How'd it happen? Me, I'm sitting home trying to decide between Bud and Old Milwaukees Best when I get a phone call. It was Chris...

(Chris) "John, get over here. Now! And have some questions ready."

(me) "uh wah?"

(Chris) "Charles Schulz! We're interviewing by phone in an hour... 50 minutes actually.:

(me) "uuhhhh..."

(Chris) "Can I speak to John, please?"

Short story shorter, I got over to Chris's and he filled me in. Apparently he called Schulz's office in hopes of being able to schedule an interview something like several months down the line--figuring a man like Charles Schulz keeps a pretty dense schedule. Instead he gets his receptionist saying, "Okay, I think he's in his office now. I'll connect you..."

To which Chris responds "Nononononono... I'm not ready. Can I call back in, like, an hour?"

So it's set up. Chris is having heart palpitations. In between chest spasms he calls me, convinces me it's not a joke, and I drive over and come up with some questions that won't be the same old crap he gets all the time.

First off.. great guy. Insists we call him Sparky. which is tough, be we get into it. Chris and I are both determined not to ask the same old questions like "How did you get your start?" or "Who were your influences?" Seriously, that kind of stuff had already been written up in a thousand places.

I don't remember Chris's questions, but I remember two of mine. One was, "Many cartoonists who retire pass their work on to other artists--sometimes their own children. Chris Browne took over for Dik Browne. Chip Young Jr. took over for Sr. And so on. Should you ever decide to retire, will you pass Peanuts along to another artist?"

He explained that would not be the case. He will always do Peanuts, and no one else ever will. When he retires, that's it."

Okay. Good answer. Good answer. My next Pulitzer-level question was...

"So what's with the cookies?"

If you remember Peanuts comic strips from the late 80s/early 90s, you'll recall that it seemed like every other strip featured chocolate chip cookies. This was really starting to bug me. Foir a short time I made a little mark in my dayplanner each day there was a cookie cartoon, thinking it would lead to a greater truth. (In my defense, I was drinking a lot back then.)

The answer was pretty simple.

Sparky liked to skate, and owned a skating rink outside his office where he went every morning before starting work. Near that skating rink was a vendor who sold warm chocolate chip cookies, which became a part of his daily routine. Hence, they became a part of the comic strip for a while.

All that time I had thought it was a code or something. Alas.

So we asked him some more questions. He complimented us on running a more interesting interview than normal, and asked us to send him a copy of the finished article. Not a problem.

By the time Chris and I were interviewing him, a lot of the Peanuts magic had grown old to this weary old soul (i.e., me). It seemed more charming than funny, and even then it was a square, whitebread sort of charm.

But I grew up on Peanuts. I had all the books when I was a kid. I cad a Snoopy electric pencil sharpener, Peanuts trash bin, bed sheets and pillowcase. A stuffed Snoopy. Peanuts lunchboxes. All that crap.

I think everyone should get a chance to talk to one of their childhood heroes.

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Today's link goes to The Weekly Dig which is currently my favorite weekly arts rag. It's based out of Boston, which is a shame, because they don't cover a lot of Providence issues. I only wish that out local free arts rag, The Providence Phoenix, reads it, and steals some cojones.

Cheers!

--John