friday robots in the sand

This week, Friday Robots are on a hill and in the sky.  When I drew the circular robots, I thought of them as comets and planets, so of course I put them on the ground.  What was left but to put square, earthbound robots up in the air?  What can I say, I'm making this up as I go.

fan art!

I have a standing invitation to cartoonists and non-cartoonists alike: if you submit a drawing of any of the inhabitants of Falling Rock National Park, I will post it right here.  The last cartoonist to grace these pages was none other than Patrick McDonnell.  He drew a very flattering likeness of Carver.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find the following drawing of Carver and Ernesto by New Mexican cartoonist Stephen McCranie.  It looks to me like Carver is contemplating an O.K. Corral-style shootout, while Ernesto is happily baffled.  Par for the course at Falling Rock.

Thanks Stephen!  And make sure to read his comic strip, Mal and Chad, which he is currently adapting into a graphic novel.  Movies, plush toys, and complete world domination are certain to follow.

comic con 2010 in photos

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comic con 2010: watterson's spirit

A full rundown of Comic Con 2010 will appear at this here blog within the next day or so.  To tide you over until then, I present a series of sketches Bill Watterson sent to Berkeley Breathed - they were cartoonist pen pals back in the heady 1980's.

Berkeley gave a funny and subversive talk, attended by hundreds of nerds, geeks and dweebs of all stripes.  Since Comic Con is home to Exclusive Limited Editions in all media, where better to show off a bunch of Watterson sketches received by snail mail in the 80's?

This is probably the closest ol' Bill will ever get to Comic Con.

This last sketch, of a buck naked Ronald Reagan, was Bill's response to a story told by Berkeley in which Berkeley received a phone call from the President as he emerged from the shower.  Reagan had seen a picture of his wife, Nancy, in a Bloom County Sunday strip, and wanted to thank Berkeley.  Too stunned to think of anything better to say, Berkeley replied "Mr. President, I think you should know I'm not wearing any pants right now."  The President must have found this charming, because he invited the cartoonist to a State Dinner.  (That time, Berkeley wore pants.)

More fun cartoonist stories to come!

friday robots: comic con edition

I'm at San Diego Comic Con right now.  

Enjoy these robots, inspired by last year's Comic Con, and have a happy Friday!

see you in san diego

This will be a quiet week around Falling Rock National Park, as I am busy preparing for San Diego Comic Con!  I have to make copies of comics so I have something to give Denzel Washington in the totally likely event I'll bump into him.  If not Denzel, I'm sure there will be just a few comic publishers there.  Who knows, maybe they will be interested in my comic book.  That's part of the magic of Comic Con.

Have a great week everybody.  Friday Robots will appear as scheduled!  Have no fear that you'll have to face the weekend sans robots.

And if you happen to be in San Diego, drop me a line!  I'll be the red-head kid wandering around with a look of limitless optimism in his eyes.

friday robots: from the sketchbook

Two unvarnished pages of Friday Robots to take you into the weekend.

Hey, next week is San Diego Comic Con!  Hope to see you there!

palm trees

I've been drawing a lot of palm trees lately.  This is a series of them I drew.  The last one, I think, is either about to explode or just had a really great idea.

And of course no drawing session would be complete without turning palm trees into hot air balloons.  This would be my preferred method of travel, if it existed.

Harvey Pekar, 1939-2010

He was, among other things, proof that Ohio breeds great cartoonists.
We'll miss ya, Harvey.

die, comic sans, die

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friday robots on the coast

okay bill watterson, time to come out of retirement

You've watched every movie in your Netflix queue.  You have plumbed the depths of your Pandora radio stations.  You've thoroughly tested the capabilities of your custom-built road bike.  It's time now, Mr. Watterson, to return to the publishing world.

Judd Apatow has said that comedians are just people in search of a philosophy.  That makes sense, because they make fun of everything.  Maybe that search for meaning is part of why you dropped out of public life for the past 15 years.  You went off the grid.  Cartoonists have heard rumors of a mysterious moustachioed man at Buddhist temples, hiking the Andes, riding a hot air balloon over the North Pole.  Did you find what you were looking for?  I sincerely hope so.

If you had simply stopped publishing, that may have been the final answer.  Bill Watterson, the J.D. Salinger for Generation X, threatening trespassers with his shotgun.  But you have popped up every now and again, which makes the long pauses all the more infuriating.  Your heartfelt review of the Charles Schulz biography, the short and funny interview you did for the Plain Dealer earlier this year.  It seems like maybe you're not done - that you've still got something to say, and the skill with which to say it differently than anyone else.


So do it already.  It could be the comic strip equivalent to The Dark Knight Returns.  It could be a sci-fi farce.  It could be a series of paintings, or a piano concerto, or an ice sculpture.  My point is, a talent that strong shouldn't be denied.  Michael Jordan tried to retire like seventeen times, but he knew he was put on Earth to sell shoes play basketball.  Don't be the guy who one-ups Michael Jordan by only retiring once.

You could draw a comic strip or a graphic novel about anything you choose.  You were an editorial cartoonist without talking about politics, a philosopher without talking about religion.  You got to all the heavy stuff in life without weighing your comics down, an amazing feat.  I credit you with getting me into watercolors.  And though I haven't used a brush to draw comics for quite a while, I'm thinking of trying again.

Mr. Watterson: show us how it's done, again.

at last, the bob dylan kid's album

He is a titan who walks among us.  He has given us the musical treasures Highway 61 Revisited, Blood on the Tracks, Time Out of Mind, and about 75 other albums.  Last year, Bob Dylan saw a gaping hole in his catalog.  Thankfully, we now have a Dylan Christmas album to put on when we're sick of Elvis, Harry Connick Jr., Amy Grant, and nearly every American Idol contestant.

But what could possibly be next for Bob?  Has he finally plumbed the bottom of his lyrical well?  Never!  This fall, get ready to be the first on your block to get Bob Dylan's brand-new children's album!

Rabbi Zimmy Sings for the Kids is a rollicking, romping rockfest that is sure to have your toddler screaming to turn it up to 11.

Hear Bob sing:
Ringiddy-Ding Them Bells
The Times They Are A-Jumpin'
The Boy In Me
Spanish Harlem Incident
Happy Eyed Girl of the Highlands
Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
All the Animals on Maggie's Farm
...and much, much more!

In addition to all those instant classics, the album itself comes packaged with a sticker book depicting Bob's musical milestones.  Have you ever wanted to populate your own Desolation Row?  Well, now you can!  Join Bob in his Woodstock basement when he played silly and soulful songs with The Band!  Hang out with Bob in New Orleans when he was recording Oh Mercy!  And kids under age 6 will love the colorful page devoted to Bob's born-again period.

Yes, Rabbi Zimmy Sings for the Kids is sure to please anyone from ages 9 to 109.

happy july fourth from falling rock

From all of us at Falling Rock National Park, happy birthday America!

For extra patriotism, imagine fireworks exploding above this book while a marching band plays Irving Berlin and bald eagles swoop around.

friday robots

These robots wouldn't look completely out of place on a totem pole.  Or destroying a major city with their laser beams.  Either way.

Happy Friday everybody!