Geddytoons Episode 1: The Big Bummer

I had the idea for this cartoon a couple of years ago, based on audio I found by accident on some fan site.


It has been pretty popular among Rush fans so far, so I will definitely be producing some additional "episodes"!


I am pretty happy with the cartoon, but, of course, the internet being what it is there was of course a bit of negative feedback. One guy on some message board said something like "what's so funny about people getting crushed?" Well, obviously there's nothing funny about that. What's funny to me is just Geddy's attempts to get the audience under control. I thought that went without saying but I did fear that was a sensitive issue with some people, given recent events.


Anyway, enjoy!

The Final 24

Well, tonight was the last episode of 24, and I must say it was a good one. This season started out slow but for the past few weeks has been just as violent, misogynistic and heart-pounding as I always want it to be. The very end was a little bit of a rehash of the way they've ended seasons before, but the goodbye to Chloe was nice, and it leaves the door open for future Jack Bauer adventures.

The drawing above was done about four or five years ago, in front of the TV when I couldn't sleep one night. I copied it from a photo in some magazine. Ah, here it is:

Looking at it now, there's a lot that doesn't match up exactly. But I think my Bauer looks more like he's about to pull the trigger. Just a little angrier.

Again, this was a great episode, but wasn't quite as good as the greatest series finale ever.

Ballad of Billy The Kid

Who doesn't love this guy?

I've been listening to a bunch of Billy Joel lately. He's one of those guys I listened to constantly in the 80's because a) he was still churning out the big hits, and b) my mom listened to him. Back then he was pretty cool, boppin' around in his videos in sunglasses like he was a good lookin' guy or something. And he could back up his bravado because he was married to Christie Brinkley.

He's also one of the guys whom I have witnessed growing old, and unlike many of his contemporaries he has decided to age the way a normal person would. There's a definite dignity to that which I very much respect (just look at Elton John's wigs to illustrate my point- that being said, I love Elton too).

Here he is again with those features more exaggerated:

It's time for me to start improving my caricature skills, and to do that effectively I think I need to practice realistic portraits first so I get all the features down before I start exaggerating them. This one is a lot rougher than the straight portrait, but I think the ideas are there... busted-looking nose, sunken-looking eyes etc. I'll post an improved version when ready, maybe a younger-looking Billy this time.

These songs are second-to-none, by the way. It's too bad he's essentially retired form songwriting because he really does craft a solid song... verses and choruses all loaded with hooks, satisfying rhyme schemes, and they always tell a story. He doesn't cheat you either- listen to his songs, they always seem to have four or five verses, a bridge will repeat with an entirely different set of lyrics, and when you think the song is ending, a whole new verse starts up that adds a new wrinkle to the situation.

The Voice of Her Generation

Your 2010 Album of the Year Grammy recipient:

She's not bad, but once again the Grammys pick a pretty lame record to bestow their top honor. But you know, she means no harm (unlike the Black Eyed Peas, also nominated) so I depicted her very small, fragile, with this oversized guitar, and big goofy expression she always has on like she's just happy to be doing her thing, and as it so happens, she's in the spotlight.

However, I do like this:

Oh, Rush, You Old Blowhard!

I believe there is nothing this guy won't say to contradict the left. He literally has no limits.

I'm not going to get into any political discussion on this blog, though. I just wanted to show off some drawings of this clown.

Why not just dive in

So here we are, my first post. I felt like I had to start out with some brilliant mission statement or something, or an illustration that sums up what I am all about. But if I waited for that kind of inspiration to hit me I'd never get anything up here.

The purpose of this blog is going to be just to put up the latest little sketches I've been working on, maybe talk about the state of things.

So let's see, what's in the news... ah, here we go- the "Late Night Wars- Part II". We all thought we'd seen the last of our villain, 13 years ago...

I know, he's not really bad. But for the sake of the current narrative, it feels good to have a guy representing "the man" we can all revolt against in defense of our boy.

In reality, Conan is not REALLY one of us... he's a Harvard-educated multimillionaire. But he has that against-the-grain rebelliousness we can all relate to. And, we've all had a boss who treated us like crap we'd like to stand up to. It's also pretty striking that a guy with so many original ideas, as well as a huge fan base, can have his career sabotaged by a bunch of executives without a creative bone in their bodies... but that's the way things tend to go these days, isn't it.

These guys are all so ripe for caricature. It was almost too easy, especially in Jay Leno's case. I probably could have pushed the exaggerations a bit more... maybe for a later post.

But, Conan will be back. And not only his fanbase is now bigger than ever, but I think he's proven to the networks that he does better when he's allowed to be himself... to cleaned up to what said executives think audiences want to see. I think he'll do better next time around.