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

Thursday, March 15, 2012

This Week's Cul de Sacs

At the drawing board this week is Mr. Lincoln Peirce, who knows how to do a kid strip better than anybody, seeing as how he's been drawing Big Nate since 1991. The best comic strips are those that appear to happen spontaneously; the person whose name appears as its author just follows the characters around and transcribes events as incisively as possible. That's what Big Nate is and that's what Lincoln does, only of course he doesn't. He has to invent everything, all of Nate's manias and frustrations, and he makes it look large as life and twice as natural.

And he's doing it in Cul de Sac this week and doing a masterful job. Which is great, if you're a reader. But it sure raises the bar for those of us who have to sit at the drawing board in the near future.

I'm particularly fond of this strip. I liked the flying monkeys, the witch scared me silly.

6 comments:

Andy said...

I think I was about 8 or 9 before the witch no longer scared the bejeebers out of me.

Darlene said...

I have to say I wondered what kind of wild ride we were in for with the guest artists, but they have managed to stay true to the strip and still take it in some fun directions - flying monkeys included;) I still don't care for the wizard of oz and I am 45.
Hope you are enjoying it as much as we are. See you back on the funny pages soon!

Robert Gidley said...

I love "Big Nate," and I can't figure out why Lincoln Peirce isn't a household name, making piles of money, and drawing with a solid gold, diamond-tipped nib.

Plus, he's done a super job this week staying true to the CdS characters, but taking them in interesting directions.

Now if I could just figure out how to pronounce his last name...long i? short i?

Chuck said...

I think Mr. Peirce has done terrific work this week. Up next, a BIG NATE/
CUL DE SAC character crossover?!

Lynn said...

I love this week's strips. They make me miss Mr. Thompson a little less. Good job.

edi mide said...

I think Lincoln Peirce got closest to the real Cul de Sac of any of the guest cartoonists.