700 Things: (Zombies) #369: Hello Gimpy

Here’s my contribution to the 700 Zombies project from the larger 700 Things project.

Zombie #369: Hello Gimpy

Hello Gimpy was killed by zombies in a shopping mall, of all places. Mercifully, his left arm tattoo was left in tact, fueling his inevitable moniker (the tattoo of the Lone Ranger on his right forearm was lost, unfortunately… if it had not been eaten, he would have most likely been called the Bone Ranger). Much like Hello Kitty, he stares forward blankly… his true emotions and thoughts remain inscrutable. Perhaps somewhere in his rotting brain, he longs secretly to have his ghastly visage appear on stickers, lunch pails, folders and other sparkling and shiny plastic geegaws like his iconic inspiration? If so, he sublimates these obscure desires into his anti-social hobby of consuming human flesh.

Note that my good friends at Big Time Attic just added some excellent pirates to the 700 Pirates project!

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #143 Rick Altergott

#143 Rick Altergott

Rick Altergott’s Doofus and Henry Hotchkiss are the Laurel and Hardy of modern “alternative comics.” Doofus’ obliviousness to and pride in his unintentionally anti-social behavior is always hilarious. Altergott’s style is clean and realistic, which makes his comics that much more effectively unsettling. Click the above image to view the whole Doofus strip at comicartcollective.com (where he sells original art)… more Doofus strips can be found on Mr. Altergott’s website, although the image quality there is terrible, unfortunately. You are much better off doing yourself a favor and buying the Doofus Omnibus anyhow.

Click here to read the entry on Rick Altergott at lambiek.net.

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #144 Steven Weissman

#144 Steven Weissman

Steven Weissman’s does great kid comics in an almost early Charles Schulz big-head style… however his kids are not the Peanuts gang. His heroes are Li’l Bloody, a young vampire, Pull-Apart Boy, Kid Medusa, and a gang of other young monstrous miscreants. Also like Schulz, Weissman is a master of character-based humor. So his comics are kind of like Peanuts, only with violent mayhem and death. So, basically, it isn’t like Peanuts at all. Never mind. You can find many excellent books by Mr. Weissman at Fantagraphics, buy original art from him at the Comic Art Collective. He also has a blog.

Click here to read the entry about Steven Weissman on lambiek.net.

Crumbling Paper: Happy Hooligan (1917) by Frederick Opper (strip #12)

Here’s another example of Frederick Opper’s strip Happy Hooligan from 1917. Click the image to read the strip.

You can see more examples of Happy Hooligan (and many other classic comics) at Barnacle Press. Here are some other Opper strips at Barnacle Press.

Here are some other Happy Hooligan examples from Bugpowder.

Here are some other Opper strips from Coconino Classics.

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #145 Bill Wray

#145 Bill Wray

Alas, Bill Wray has apparently decided to abandon the world of cartooning for landscape painting. His comics are hilarious, gleefully offensive and beautifully/crazily drawn. .. most notably in his Dark Horse comics Big Blown Baby and Hellboy Junior. He also is well known for his memorable work on Ren and Stimpy. You can still buy copies of Big Blown Baby and Hellboy Junior on the Dark Horse Comics site.

Click here to read the entry about Bill Wray on lambiek.net.

150 Greatest Cartoonists Countdown: #146 Patrick Smith

#146 Patrick Smith

I wrote about Mr. Smith the other week… he’s the man behind the flash site vectorpark.com. More relevant to our current post, he’s the fella behind the comics in The Ganzfeld Reader #1. Yes, I am including him based on that one book… he is that good. His comics are like nothing else I’ve ever seen. The closest comparison I can come up with is he’s kind of like a cross between Jim Woodring, Mat Brinkman and Pac Man, but that’s not really accurate. His comics are weird, simple and spooky… they feel like they take place in a vacuum. I really hope he makes more comics some day… I have a feeling he would be a lot higher on this ridiculous list pretty quickly.

Above image taken from The Ganzfeld website (which was also designed by Smith).

Crumbling Paper: Happy Hooligan (1905) by Frederick Opper (strip #11)

Here’s another example of Frederick Opper’s strip Happy Hooligan from January 15, 1905. Click the image to read the strip.

You can see more examples of Happy Hooligan (and many other classic comics) at Barnacle Press. Here are some other Opper strips at Barnacle Press.

Here are some other Happy Hooligan examples from Bugpowder.

Here are some other Opper strips from Coconino Classics.