This Week's Cul de Sacs

This week's strips will likely debut on the New York Times Children's Picture Book Bestseller List, because pretty much everything Mo Willems does makes it on the list. Because Mo Willems is just that good. And he's done pretty much everything.

Unfortunately, my daughters, being born too soon and consequently being too old, missed out on Mo's menagerie; the Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Naked Mole Rat and my favorite, Knuffle Bunny and Trixie. Which means I never got a chance to read Mo's oeuvre aloud to a sleepy child.

But I did get a chance to have a Gookie-off with Mo, which is the next best thing-

 

But wait, there's more! This week's Cul de Sacs wouldn't show up in reproduction, would be but pale shadows, without the sensitive inking that cartoonist and illustrator Stacy Curtis provided. If you need a dab hand with pen and ink, Stacy is the man to call. And if you call him, you'll soon find yourself drawing a Banjo Pig.

 

I'd better get mine drawn if Ii know what's good for me.

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.

This Week's Cul de Sac, August 1 Through 7, 2011

Here's a whole, solid, brand-new week of Cul de Sacs along with some unnecessary commentary. Last summer Cartoon Camp was taught by Dan Spinnerack (below)

 But this year I wanted someone new, though it might upset some, like Pete(y).

I think I redrew him a dozen times trying to find the right guy.

In his earliest, larval stage he resembled the cartoonist Seth (below) if he was played by an anemic Johnny Depp. I didn't think the public was ready for that quite yet.

Casting the right guy for a part in a comic strip is important. It can be fun, if the right guy shows up, but if he doesn't you have to keep looking till you find him. I wanted someone who looked like he could possibly be related to Dan Spinnerack. Beyond that I wasn't sure. One role that I've always been proud of casting was the bit part of the Fed-UPS driver who gave Mr.Danders a lift back in 2006 -

I keep hoping to work with him again, but the opportunity hasn't presented itself.

After redrawing him a dozen times I eventually I found his face, got him dressed and named him. Six months of touring historic cartoon sites would barely scratch the surface of the Buckeye State's offerings (Ohio license plates bear the motto "Incubator of Cartoonists").

I like the idea of a daily diary comic. Those who do it well make lively, interesting comics out of unexpected choices and juxtapositions of the quotidian. I'm not sure that makes sense; just go read everything by Dustin Harbin and you'll be the richer for it. 

Really I just wanted the kids to have something different to do at Cartoon Camp this year and this seemed like a good direction to wander off on. Andre, Pete and Loris should each respond to it in some amusing way, I hope.

Although Pete might get too tightly focused on the boring, dull and uneventful part and produce a sluggish comic. This can drag a comic strip down and scare away readers, as I'm slowly realizing.

I've never heard windshield wipers say "Wipey". Those on my first car, an '82 Sunbird, went HIRNK-HORNK, but that sounds too much like an oboe onomatopoeia and I don't want to confuse people.

The next week of Cul de Sac is all repeats I'm sorry to say.