The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A Very Happy Cartoonist Day


You may be wondering, "How can I best celebrate this festive day?" You might consider:
  • Finding a cartoonist near you and mowing his lawn, at least the front lawn (especially the hard part with the hill).
  • While you're at it trim his shrubs, so the mailman can find his front door again.
  • Does his house need vacuuming? Well, what are you waiting for?
  • Who left all these dishes in the sink?
  • The cats; somebody feed the cats.
  • You could take him to lunch at the Mexican place down the street, where they're having some no doubt cartoonist-related celebration.
  • For God's sake laugh at his cartoons. If they appear in a newspaper, buy extra copies (or multiple subscriptions, even) and laugh at them too. 
Note: if the cartoonist near you is a lady, please substitute "her" for "his". The original of the cartoon reproduced above is in the collection of the fabulous Mr. Jef Mallett, so this is a scan of the Almanac book page. And it's the same one I ran last year, if it looks familiar.

10 comments:

Larry Levine said...

Happy Cartoonist Day!!!

Dan Thompson said...

That was great! hilarious!
You, Sir, are one of the greats.

Dan

zero hour said...

I'm still waiting for someone to take me to lunch!

Kid Shay said...

Cinco de Cartoonist Day!

Greg said...

I like this. This day needs more media coverage.

Mike Rhode said...

Speaking of Nat'l Cartoonists Day, today Art Spiegelman was interviewed on the Post's Comic Riffs blog - in "The Interview: "Maus's" Art Spiegelman" By Michael Cavna, May 5, 2009 he says, I like Richard Thompson's work ["Cul de Sac"]. They're good gags, and graphically it's on a very high level. ... It really seems like the inheritor to the "Calvin and Hobbes" [mantle]. It's amazing when any strip can electrify and bring life to a form [the comic strip] that is on life support.

[Hmmm, my word verification is Ingedc - does that mean that comics scholar Tom Inge is coming to town? Is this a prognostication tool?]

Matt said...

The firm of Palin, Cleese, Jones, Idle, Gilliam and Chapman(dec'd) would like a word with you.

Jesse Cline said...

I couldn't tell if you were joking about the "TK" part.

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

Wiki knows all...

richardcthompson said...

Thanks everybody and back atcha.

Matt, when I drew this like 4 years ago I Googled that Dog's Nose cartoon and found it's got a rich history, especially in England, where it's considered a National Joke. There was even a site that translated it into As Told By versions (i.e. if it was told by a 4 year old it'd go: My dog has no legs. How does he walk? Terrible!) But you're right; nobody told it better than Hitler.

Marc Arsenault said...

Was that a Wolverine reference in today's strip?