What a maroon! What a "Yentl" Case!

On previous birthdays of mine I talked about Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew, Tweety, and Jimi Hendrix. This time, as I approach the big 40, I'd like to indulge in a bit of nerd rage against one Barbara Streisand.

I won't go into the usual criticisms of her like the narcissism or her fiercely opinionated nature.  I personally don't care about those things.  She can roll around in a pile of 8 X 10 photos of herself until she squirts enough "fun juice" to go surfing for all I care.  What I want to talk about is one little movie she did back around 1972.  I do believe it was called What's Up, Doc!

It's so titled because it's billed as a screwball comedy (being reminiscent of the ones made in the 1930's) and good ol' Babsy plays a character that is considered a parallel to Bugs Bunny.  She's holding a carrot right there on the poster and she even takes a bite from a carrot and says Bugs' catch phrase when she first meets Ryan O'Neal's character in a book store.

Then, from this point on, she proceeds to stalk the poor bastard...

...and stalk him...

...and stalk him...

...and stalk him...

...until he sees no alternative but to just give in and be her boyfriend.

They even have a Bugs and Elmer cartoon playing at the same time just to completely emphasize the comparison.

I'm not saying this is a terrible movie.  It has clever writing and brilliant performances by Steisand, O'Neal, and everyone else in it.  As a stand alone feature it does quite well.  My problem is that Barbara Streisand's character is NOT like Bugs Bunny at all.  He's not a selfish sociopath who relentlessly goes after whatever he wants.  He's almost the opposite.  Bugs seems to possess a Buddhist-like zen eliminating all or at least most desire (he still craves more than a few carrots now and then).

Sure, in earlier cartoons, Bugs may have picked on Elmer Fudd just for his own amusement, but that died off pretty quickly.

Nyeeeh! Charge any therapy bills to Jack Warner, doc.

As Chuck Jones put it, Bugs works best when he's being a counter-revolutionary.  He doesn't go out looking for trouble.  He actually starts peacefully enough just minding his own business.

Then some big oaf attacks him.

Bugs then swiftly enacts his revenge.

The villain is vanquished!

If anything, Streisand's character is the exact opposite of Bugs, in that it more closely resembles Lola Bunny's character that in exact opposition to Bugs like in the video clip below:



Or, to keep things more-so in line with the animation output of the original studio, Barbara Streisand's character is actually more like Charlie Dog.  He was that stray dog who always used overly aggressive tactics to find a home.  His usual victim was Porky Pig...

...but on occasion he pursued a Southern colonel...

...and a restaurant owner in Italy.

I'd also like to point out that Charlie never actually achieved his goal.  The cartoon would usually end with Charlie getting the bums rush as it were.

Like I said, What's Up Doc is not a terrible movie and deserves no huge amount of heated derision.  I just wish the writers and producers of this film would have had a better understanding of Bugs' character while they were crafting this film's screenplay.

That's it.

Oh yeah, also, happy birthday to me!

Some very detailed feedback for my latest book.

In my pursuit of reviews for Censor Monkeys Have No Class, I recently got a rather in-depth response to it.  here's the email sent to me:


I must admit, Censormonkeys was one of the hardest comics to review . There are moments that made me laugh and ideas expressed that I can agree with. It's greatest strength is that you've spread a wide net over the political/social spectrum in your skewering. Granted it could be even wider, atheist monkey (note: I'm an atheist) is one that comes to my mind, etc.. The art is decent and fitting of the form, but it could use some polish. I think a little shadowing would go a long way.
There are some things I found to be problematic. The opening with Fanny did not work so well in my opinion. It was at odds with the Censormonkeys portion as here a naïve child is derided because she's childish; whereas, the main comic is absurd because the Censormonkeys are over scrutinizing children's drawings. The ending of the Fanny portion came as too suddenly and violent. I'm not against shock value, but I didn't feel it worked in this case because she's a child. As for the main comic, I didn't get the sense that it had much to do with censorship as much it was about overzealous groups forcing their extreme ideas onto children. I believe that is a good thing to satirize and one of the strengths, but that's not quite censorship. Along these lines I felt that both the Black Panther and Feminist Censormonkeys don't quite work as well as the others. I know both groups can have extreme reactions to media on occasion, but really neither of th groups hold enough power (certainly not in the comics world) to censor anything. However, I think you could combine the two concepts into a parody of the ultra-liberal PC types it would have the same effect. Speaking of ultra-liberals, I couldn't help but to think that the design of the Censormonkeys was, well... a bit too close to old racial caricatures. Before you get upset, no, I'm not calling you racist. However, the term “monkey” does have negative racial connotations when combined with the vague resemblance to ethnic stereotypes it can turn away readers. In context the comic is most certainly not racist, but at a glance it's iffy. I know this relates to the point of the Fanny section, but in comics readers do judge a book by it's cover. I don't think that is a bad thing, it is a visual medium after all. I don't know if you are committed to the “Censormonkey” title, but something as simple as changing it to “Censorchimps” could go a long way into not being misunderstood. I hope this helps you in some manner, and sorry if this seemed a bit harsh.


Pretty heavy stuff.  Here was my response:


Thanks for your candour.  Any feedback is appreciated.  Although, you're not really telling me anything I haven't heard before.  Also there's some things I need to clear up too.

1. Fanny doesn't die because she's childish, she dies because she's ignorant.  I only made her a little girl so that people would not expect her sudden death so much.  And really her death was just a Monty Python style punch line if you will (although the Pythons claimed they would end their sketches before the punch-line), not meant to be taken serious at all.  She was essentially set up to die so that the lesson of that tale could have more impact on the reader, just like the tragic tale of MacBeth.

2. I am aware that the term 'monkey' has been used as a racial slur on occasion.  But, as I've said elsewhere, these monkeys represents personality-types not races. For instance, the Black Panther Monkey would only represent black people of that overzealous personality type, not to all black people in general.  Jane Fonda was a black panther at one point so this monkey may or may not represent her. Plus, I have Tom Cruise drawn as a monkey among them and we all know he's absolutely Caucasian. 

3. You're right in that the monkeys more-so represent the overzealous groups that force extreme ideas onto people rather than the ones doing the actual censoring.  But one leads to the other.  When a small fringe group of feminists/angry soccer moms/defamation league jump and cry about some element they see or even just think they see, some suit behind the curtain cowardly takes it down.  With these monkeys I satirize the source of the outcry as a message to the cowardly suits to stand up to these lunatics, don't give in so easily.

4. This leads me to the final point where you give me suggestions on how to change things. If I make any changes to accommodate the sensitivity of others, well then I'm just giving in to the real life Censor Monkeys which pretty much violates the very reason I created this comic in the first place. I didn't come up with all of this scathing satire against them just to let them win. So for that reason I pretty much have to leave things as they are and keep fighting the good fight.  (Although I was toying with the idea of adding an athiest monkey at one point, but there's already 10 monkeys to keep track of as it is).

As for the shading, I am reminded of something that the great animator Chuck Jones once said. "The art of cartooning is to create a solid fully fleshed out figure without the use of shading or subterfuge of any kind."  Although I did put a drop shadow underneath all the characters in this one.  But, I think any more of that would be distracting.

Once again, thanks for your feedback.  Every bit helps.


Do you agree or disagree with any of the points raised here? Do you have any points of your own to add? If so, post them in the comment section below. I need to know the best way to proceed with my next Censor Monkeys book.

Good Brain Janet walking

GBJ_walking by Daffyduckandthedinosaur

Twitter Review

You can follow creator David Germain on twitter at @d_m_g_daffy. The Censormonkey website is found at http://t.co/GE4u1fJq77.
— JohanReviewsComics (@DeanJohannesLor) May 11, 2014

You can find more comic reviews from him on Twitter @DeanJohannesLor or you can visit his blog Modern Boredom.

And, of course, if you want to see if his review is accurate or fair, you can find out for yourself by buying my book on either Amazon or Kindle.

Happy reading, everyone.

AubCon

I will be at the AubCon this coming Saturday April 26, 2014.  That is where you will find me selling copies of my latest comic book Censor Monkeys Have No Class as well as other trinkets you might want to take home with you.

I will be sitting in G11 inbetween Player Prophet and Steven St. Armand.


 See you guys there!

Jesus Needs Help on Twitter

Starting today I will be posting this comic one panel at a time. And all for free! That's nice of me! #JesusNeedsHelp pic.twitter.com/ds9RW0rmNH
— David Germain (@d_m_g_daffy) April 8, 2014

That's what I said.  If you want to read that comic at no cost at all, then definitely follow me on Twitter or just follow the hashtag: #JesusNeedsHelp

Have fun, everybody.

Good Brain Janet and Shit Head Boe

Hopefully they will both be coming soon.  Watch for them in a future project of mine.

Another happy birthday to Tex Avery

At any point in Tex's life had he drank some type of perpetual rejuvenation potion that would allow him to live forever, he would be celebrating his 106th birthday today.  One wonders what he'd be creating in today's animation industry with all it's faster computers, CGI animation, and tons of corporate interference.  We can only speculate on that point so there's no dire need to discuss that at any length.
Today I would like to talk about one aspect of Tex's work that I admire.  Any political references in his cartoons seem to be non-partisan.  Many great, if not all great satirists are like that.  It makes it easier for them to see the big picture and thus have a more nuanced point of view.  You know they're not pushing and agenda and when discussing a topic constantly pulling things out of their asses and shaping it to fit their agenda.  There's too many of the later kind of agenda-pushing "satirists" around these days.  In America, most of them end up on either Fox News or its polar opposite (yet comrade in blind myopia) MSNBC.  In Canada we have The Sun.  Other countries have their own versions of these channels of course.  All that cacoaphonic bickering just sounds like bratty kids demanding to have that toy and the other kid to have nothing.

Tonight on the O'Reilly Factor....

If Tex was here today he wouldn't putting up with any of this nonsense.  He certainly didn't in his own lifetime either as evidenced by the screen shots I've provided:

Here's a gag from a cartoon he did at Warner Bros. called Holiday Highlights (c. 1940).  At the time there was a debate about whether Thanksgiving should be moved a week earlier.  Republicans were saying 'yes' and Democrats were saying 'no'.  A global conflict was gaining serious momentum in Europe and the South Pacific region yet this is the issue that congress was debating over.  Whatever.  Regardless, it's obvious that Tex took no political sides with this issue.  The gag here is essentially a ridiculous compromise that condescends to both sides.  It's a similar gag in the next shot too.

This is a gag from Aviation Vacation (c. 1941) also at Warner Bros.  (click on it to enlarge if you have to) This time he's adding two more faces to Mount Rushmore: Wendel Wilkie for the Republicans and Franklyn Roosevelt for the Democrats.  Of course, to coincide with the most recent election, he would have put Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney up there in their place.  Again, Tex is offering an outrageous compromise to over-sized ill-behaved children.

And here's something from one of his MGM cartoons Jerky Turkey (c. 1945).  The cartoon begins with the Pilgrims coming to this new land to create Amreica.  It seems the first order of business when establishing a settlement is to divide "Ye Democrats" and "Ye Republicans", making the statement that America was pretty much founded on this silly conflict.

There are some good non-partisan satirists around today though.  The two most famous and most obvious are of course Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  Their target seems to be the incredibly biased reporting done by the networks who push the extreme political ideologies thus tainting all of their news.  But then starting in the early 2000's, when George W. Bush's administration was doing some reprehensible things, then their targets began to include politicians themselves.  I know alot of people see them as "in it for the left" but that's not at all true.  They attack the right wing politicians and pundits for their displays of bat-shit insanity while they attack the left wing politicians and pundits for their inability to cope with the bat-shit insanity of their opponents.

HEY!!  Don't lump us in with all those creeps and weirdoes!!

Oh, sorry!  You're right.  Comparing America's right wing fringe with bat shit is indeed an insult to bat shit.  I apologize.

Well, we do know one political agenda that Tex Avery had, he certainly hated Adolf Hitler (just like anyone with a conscience should).  And so, he quickly joined Charlie Chaplain, The Three Stooges, Spike Jones and several others among the ranks of Hollywood's artists who made films attacking the Third Reich.  So I will end this post with Tex Avery's Oscar Nominated masterpiece The Blitz Wolf.


Tex Avery - Blitz Wolf  ( 1942 ) by Eeden_

Enjoy the show.  And thank you Tex for everything.

Recent life drawing

Here are some life drawings I've done.

For this one I had to take a picture with my camera because it was too big for my scanner.

 Life drawing is great fun.  It certainly wasn't my strongest subject back at animation school, but nonetheless is fun to practice.  Recently I've been going to this life drawing session held at Plan B 2180 Gottigen St. in downtown Halifax.  It starts at 7:00 pm and goes until about 9.  If you live in the Halifax area and have an interest in drawing then coming here at that time with art supplies ready is a good idea.

Lizzie Borden Took An Ax

That's what this magnum opus is being called.  It makes its debut on the Lifetime Network next Saturday on January 25 at 8pm/7pm Central Time.  If you're not in either of those time zones, you'll have to do that math and find out the time for yourself.  The poster and the trailer is making it look like a campy slasher movie for some odd reason.  After being on that set for more than a few scenes, I can tell you that it is not like that at all.  "What is it then?" you ask.  You'll have to tune in and see for yourself, smart guy.

Last summer, I made a post on this very blog about me being a background extra in it.  Here are some of the costumes I got to wear:

This is what I wore for all of the court room scenes.  I had to do alot of listening kind of actions.  But, every once in a while, I had also had to do some type of gasping and other reflex reactions to the various activities in that courtroom.  Most of the time I was just a face in the crowd.  But I do remember two times where the camera was looking almost right at me.  Once was when Lizzie (Christina Ricci) was conferring with her lawyer and broke down crying at the thought of either going to jail or because I was staring at her back in my efforts to not look directly into the camera lense.  Whatever the motivation, she performed a good cry, even after doing it the 30th time.
The other time the camera was on me, I was behind two ladies commenting on how small and frail Lizzie was.  I know for certain that I was on camera because director Nick Gomez scolded me and the guy beside me and told us to tone down our hammy performances.  For the record, I knew my performance was too much as I was doing it.  But, since the cameras were already rolling, there was nothing I could do but play it out and wait for the director to inevitably call for Take 2 which he did.  So it was all good.
Oh yeah, I also remember that stupid collar digging into my neck.  I think I got a rash from it too.

I wore this ensemble when we shot in Lunenberg.  Here I played the part of a "church-goer".  That's right, kids, I went to church and got paid for it.
It was here that I did a scene inwhich I almost bumped into Christina Ricci and could possibly have ruined the scene.  My part was to be someone who had just left the church with everyone else and was now standing on the sidewalk somewhat behind the entire Borden family while I talked to two other gentlemen about that day's sermon.  After the director yelled "action" I had to tip my hat goodday to those gentlemen and then walk behind the Borden family as they walk off to the left.  But, on one of those takes, either I turned and walked too soon or the Bordens started walking too late.  Either way, when I turned around almost bumped right into all of them.  If I hadn't been paying attention, that whole scene could have turned into a mosh pit.  That might have been fun but I don't think it quite suited the tone the director was trying to achieve.  Oh well, no harm done.
I do also remember a couple of very horny horses that almost caused some chaos too.  I also don't think horse-porn would have suited the movie's motif as well.

I wore this in a few scenes where I was one of a crowd of people outside the Borden household trying to peek inside.  I was also somebody lined up on the side of the street as the coffins of both Mr. and Mrs. Borden travelled passed as well as a despondent Lizzie and Emma Borden.
I think I'm also wearing this in that one big scene where a race of hatchet-shaped aliens lands on the planet with thoughts of world domination.  Then Mr. and Mrs. Borden alone confront the aliens and fight them off in an effort to save all of humanity.  The aliens do fly away in retreat but not before attacking their skulls at least 40 times.

Oh whoops!  I just gave away the surprise "real truth" ending.  DOH!  I had to sign a paper about
not revealing that to anyone too.  Oh well, I guess Nick Gomez will have to make a last minute change before the big broadcast on Saturday.  I'm sure he can do it.  Then we can all find out what great ending he has for us.  It's too bad.  All the fighting off the alien scenes were amazing, even before all the CGI and AfterEffects were added.  Oh well, maybe that will be a included on special DVD or Blueray release or something.

Remember, that's Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 8pm / 7pm Central on the Lifetime Network.  Be there!

It's not my cup of tea

That is what I was told when I tried to sell my comic Censor Monkeys Have No Class to a comic book store here in town.  The proprietor also told me that "he did not think that the book would not be suitable for his customers".  In order to protect the sanity of everyone involved, I will not reveal the name of that establishment.  All I will say is that I'm of course not at all happy his decision but it was his decision to make.  Like a recent review of my book said, you'll either love it or you'll hate it.  he obviously chose the latter. I have to respect his business practices just as much as he has to respect the design and content of my book.
While I do respect that, I also have to point out that those reasons do still seem rather vague and non-committal.  It's as if there was something he wanted to tell me but either didn't or couldn't.  That does make me a little intrigued as to what the real reasons were.  Maybe the current CEO of Marvel Comics was in the back room pointing a gun at the proprietor's head forcing him to reject my book.  I'm pretty sure that's not the first time Marvel has used that tactic.  I think that's how Spawn went out of business.
He did read it all the way through before rendering his decision.  Maybe after a thorough going over he found many holes in the story and/or the satire.  I doubt that because I made sure the entire narrative was solid, but who knows what he managed to spot.
Or, more despicably, he's one of those people who actually sympathizes with any or all of the Censor Monkeys in the book.  If that's the case, well then TO THE MOON with that guy!!

Ugh!  Why does everyone on Earth want to send all their jerks to me??!!

Oh well.  What's done is done.  There's nothing I can do about it now.  All I can do is make sure my dealings with the next comic book store owner go much smoother.

But I can't help wondering if maybe something could have been done.  Was there a way I could have better persuaded him to accept my comic into his store.  If only I had some sort of time machine or something.

Maybe I can help!

WOW!  Noted and accomplished time travelling physicist Samual Beckett.  You want to help me with this?  Cool!  Go right ahead.

Okay!  Here I go!

[SOUND EFFECTS]

You can't look at this book like the others.  There's a level of satire just below the surface that......

OWF!!!

......consider the subtext...... [moan].......... juvenalian satire............ [grooooooooooooan]........

[ooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww].................. well, I tried.

Thank you for trying, Sam.  Tell Ziggy that I say hi.

Michael's and Gabriel's creature

My nephews are at it again.

Some time ago, Michael had imagined a creature that he called the Inkermink.  Being the artist that I am, I naturally drew it for him and thus brought his vision to life.  Well, this time his younger brother Gabriel is helping him out.  Together they described a new type of creature.  Here are the exact features they envisioned:

Sharks for hands

Cars for feet

Pants made of eyeballs

Eyes made of hair

Hair made of feet

Fingers made of thumbs (thumbs made of belts)

Ears made of glasses

Face made of a football 

Brain made of TV (pops his brain out to watch tv)

And so, immediately down below is the result:

So there you have it: Michael's and Gabriel's own creation in all it's glory.  Personally I think they're ready to work for Nickelodeon, don't you?  I will now leave you all with the two of them having fun at Christmas time.  Enjoy!

gabriel_singing_queen by Daffyduckandthedinosaur

One lady's assessment of Censor Monkeys Have No Class

I think she did a fine job, don't you?  Do you agree or disagree with her?

Quimby's has my book

I - er ah - cannot confirm nor deny that.

Wrong Quimby, ya noodle.  I'm talking about Quimby's Book Store in Chicago located at 1854 W. North Ave.  They were gracious enough to sell my most recent book Jesus Needs Help about two years ago.  Once again they have the good souls to give yet another leg up to this struggling independent author and artist.

My book, Censor Monkeys Have No Class, is being made available at Quimby's the same time as these other books:

Mysterious Underground Men Ten Cent Manga

Brooklyn Quesadillas

Adventure Time - Pixel Princesses

So if you want a copy of my book and you live in the Chicago area, definitely stop in and take a look.  I'm sure the courteous staff will be glad to tell you all about it.

Worst!  Book! Ever!

AAAHHHHH SHADAP!!  Does he really work there?  Oh well, hopefully somebody ELSE can help you with any questions you may have.
Just like everywhere else, my book will cost $6.50, which in American money I think works out to three M-16 rifles and a chicken.  I'm not too sure what the conversion rate is right now.  Hopefully one of the staff knows.  Either way, whether you want any of the above books or not, it's always a good idea to go to Quimby's for the "full Quimby's experience".  You'll be glad you did.