Have Sharpie, Will Draw

Need thousands of dollars worth of renovations in your home, but only have a handful of magic markers? Not a problem, if you're Charlie Kratzer. Mr. Kratzer, of Lexington, Kentucky, wanted something unique to cover the sea of endless cream-colored paint on his basement walls. He started the project mid-wall, by drawing a copy of the "Salon" by Picasso, and the idea took off. Through most of the spacious basement there is black line-drawing — around the pinball machine and the pool table and over the bathtub and toilet. You can view the entire basement artwork here, and see if you can spot Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill, The Walrus and the Carpenter from Alice, the Marx Brothers, and R2D2.

Sunshine Makers Cartoon by Borden

I love this cartoon!! Not only does Borden endorse injesting glowing liquid sunshine (radium?), but it encourages fighting a war with the evil sunshine haters -- even making them swallow the glowing liquid so they, too, glow!!




Watch the war start about 4:30.
Don't miss the "We're Happy When We're Sad" song, and the "Hail His Majesty the Sun" song at the beginning.
This was made in 1935, just a few years before the Seven Dwarves, and yet it reminds me of the Smurfs for some reason. Why are there no women?

New Chris Mars Film

Give yourself a big treat.

1) Go to the home page of artist Chris Mars. (Note that site plays pleasant but loud music automatically.)

2) Click on the choice of FILM.

3) Click on the icon that looks like the image you see here to the right.

4) Sit back and be amazed.

Altergott + Hernandez = Greatness

While we wait for our banner-artist Rick Altergott to finish his concluding installment of RAISIN PIE, we will have to content ourselves with these great covers he did for two Gilbert Hernandez graphic novels. I just finished reading both of them, and they are of course superb.

The third one, due out at the end of this year, seems to lack the distinction of Altergott cover imagery, but will no doubt repay your attentions as well.

Follies of the Mad Men #103

Something different for this installment: an old postcard.

Why would any casino want to depict their customer as a drooling cretin?

The verse on the back says:

AT SYSTEMS, MATH, COMPUTERS ALL, I'VE BEEN CONSIDERED APT.

BUT THEN I LAID MY MONEY DOWN, AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW..."I CRAPPED!"

This Is A Recorded Message

1973 was, of course, really the tail-end of the trippy Sixties.

Warning: millisecond subliminal flashes of nudity.

Weird Salt & Pepper Shakers

My brother Bob found these salt and pepper shakers in a junk store and could not resist buying them. Two women with Marge-Simpson hairdos in the form of carrot and corn prepare to engage in fisticuffs.

Can anyone explain the iconography here? Note that they do originate in Japan, source of much strangeness.

Optical Illusion house

Don't you hate it when you are just walking along, and a perfectly good cartoon house turns out to be an illusion?



"House 1" is the title of the piece, from the National Gallery Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. It was created by U.S. artist Roy Lichtenstein.

The A To Z Of Awesomeness!

British comic book artist Neill Cameron has been posting one letter a day of sheer awesomeness, based on suggestions from fans. Now the alphabet is complete everyone can view such wonders as "Aztecs in Atomic Armour Attacking Anomalous Amphibians" and "Doctor Who Defeating Doctor Doom in a Deadly Disco Dance-off" for themselves.

So if you've ever longed to see Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris lasciviously licking lollipops at a London landmark, why not have a look-see at Neill's A to Z of Awesomeness. You'll love it!

Banksy’s Meat

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.