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

Friday, April 4, 2025

Tom King talks about Supergirl on i09

The Team Behind Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Looks Back on Kara's Legacy, and Her Future

Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes sit down with io9 to discuss shaping Supergirl's modern legacy in Woman of Tomorrow.

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Jason Chatfield: "I consider Richard Thompson to maybe be one of the best cartoonists that ever lived."


Jason Chatfield
did a live drawing talk on one of his Substacks today.

I asked him to draw Mr. Danders - he pulled out Richard's Poor Almanac (9:15), and said, "I keep this book at arm's reach from my drawing board at all times... I consider Richard Thompson to maybe be one of the best cartoonists that ever lived. Up there with Ronald Searle, Sergio Aragones, Steadman, Scarfe... these guys who have their very distinct styles... This book - on days when I don't feel like being creative or drawing - I just flip through it and snap myself out of my funk. If you haven't heard of Richard Thompson, I'm jealous that you get to discover his work for the first time. If you have, I implore you to go back to it."

And then he drew Mr. Danders from memory.



"I really, really adore Richard Thompson."


See the whole video at:

Jason Chatfield
DMA#1: Draw Me Anything!


PS. I subscribe to Jason's other Substack, New York Cartoons @ https://www.newyorkcartoons.com/


Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Pete Docter shout-out to the world’s greatest unknown cartoonist

Oscar-Winning Pixar Animator Pete Docter On 30 Years of 'Toy Story,' the Future of AI in Animation and New Sequel (Exclusive)
Danielle Directo-Meston
March 24, 2025

Lastly, what are those two pieces of art hanging on your wall behind you?

This is from the world's greatest unknown cartoonist, it's called "Cul de Sac" by Richard Thompson. And if you're not familiar with it, check it out. It's brilliant. The other one is Mary Blair, she was a brilliant animator at the Disney Studios, and this was from Saludos Amigos. I just love the character of those birds.

 (courtesy of Pete, here's the strip)



Sunday, January 5, 2025

Nancy Beiman's FurBabies pays tribute to Cul de Sac

Pop Culture and a little tribute to another cartoonist
Nancy Beiman
FurBabies Jan 05, 2025

Click through the link to spot Petey and Alice in her strip, 2nd tier, first panel.

In her Substack email, Ms. Beiman noted,

One of my favorites, Richard Thompson's CUL DE SAC, is a good one to study. It had a short run, only six years, since Richard sadly left us at an early age. You can see it from beginning to end and two collections feature the original weekly strips that appeared in the Washington POST for comparison together with informative interviews with Thompson. The characters changed slightly (he eliminated Mr. Danvers the talking guinea pig fairly early on) but he never lost the focus on the eccentric children and equally eccentric adults. I've read about his working methods and discovered that he also sometimes had trouble coming up with new ideas for his projects. We all do. That doesn't always make me feel better but it helps me think in a new way.

So, there is a little 'tribute' featuring Alice and Petey Otterloop in today's strip. I figured that Mrs. Oldman could have traveled to Washington, D.C. for a Santa Claus parade that was affected by cutbacks.

I think the collections she refers to are The Complete Cul de Sac and Compleating Cul de Sac that is available for purchase online and benefits Team Cul de Sac for Parkinson's disease research.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Danielle Corsetto would save her Richard Thompson artwork







No offense, Fennel.

I can't share this comic without sharing the original art I'd regret losing. My beloved Richard Thompson originals (forgive the reflections):



Thursday, September 19, 2024

Dave Kellett's original Richard Thompson art at 1 hr 57 minutes

COMIC LAB CROSSOVER (GUIGAR + KELLETT) | PENCIL TO PENCIL } 9/18/24

JAMAR NICHOLAS, STEVE CONLEY and MIKE MANLEY
Sep 18, 2024

WELCOME BACK to Pencil to Pencil, the creative livecast where YOU, dear viewer, get to interact LIVE with expert comic book creators. This week, your hosts, JAMAR NICHOLAS, STEVE CONLEY and MIKE MANLEY have an epic podcast crossover with the titans of creativity, BRAD GUIGAR and DAVE KELLETT of COMIC LAB PODCAST! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Guigar (Evil, Inc.) and Kellett (Sheldon, Drive, STRIPPED) are master modern cartoonists and have become a noted source on the business of comics and doing business in a changing landscape. What happens when we put our peanut butter in their chocolate?