The Return of Stickman #1454

This is a follow-up on "The Walking Dead" related strip I did yesterday. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I have a couple of drawing project I need to finalize. Putting things to bed always feels good. I'm looking forward to putting myself to bed tonight.

The Return of Stickman #1453

It won't take much of a google search to find numerous news articles on the story that inspired this strip.

The Comic Critic Reviews The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was a tremendous blockbuster. For a short time, The Sound of Music displaced Gone with the Wind as the number one blockbuster of all time.* What made The Sound of Music not only the most widely seen musical ever, but also reach the pinnacle of success? It could be argued that the music is infectiously catchy, or that the movie could be seen as the perfect family film. But neither of those reasons is enough to explain its success. I know the true secret of The Sound of Music: it’s nice. It’s not merely nice, it’s nice squared. It’s nice on a supremely sublime level. There’s no crass potty humor trying to instigate a laugh. The move plays the characters straight. They’re honest, joyful and pink. Their flaws are only that they feel deeply and are trying to find their way to express that feeling. Even the Nazis are dealt with in a nice way. The Sound of Music is a success because it shows us how we want the world to be—courteous, polite, nice, and filled with music from the joy of it all.

*Domestic Gross - adjusted for inflation.

The Comic Critic Reviews The Godfather

Everybody is always going on about how The Godfather is a fantastic gangster movie. And, yes, I do agree; The Godfather is a cinematic masterpiece. But I wanted my review to remind the readers that other terrific gangster movies exist. In fact, an argument could be made that the decades’ accumulation of movies featuring rackets, syndicates, and mob bosses educated the public enough about organized crime. When presented with a story line of an ethnic group assimilating its heritage into a new identity revolving around American capitalism, it could be easily understood in the setting of a gangster movie. Part of the reason The Godfather was so successful is that the book was well researched and finely written. The director, arguing with the studio every step of the way, created a rich view of the Corleone world with stellar performances, thoughtful sets, incredible sound, and a haunting musical score. The Godfather is one of those rare exceptions where the movie transcends the reading experience. Indeed, the movie has such strength that four decades later, The Godfather retains the same viewing power as it did upon its release, and consistently remains prominently placed as one of the One Hundred Best Movies of All Time. But would it hurt you to watch a James Cagney or Edgar G. Robinson movie, too?

The Return of Stickman #1451

When I first read this new story I immediately thought of drawing the classic scene where somebody gets hit over the head with a guitar/musical instrument. Then I thought it would be more of a challenge to draw the strip leaving that actual image out completely and just leave the reader with a the same mental that popped into my head.

The Comic Critic Reviews Raiders of the Lost Ark

Serials were long gone from the theaters by the time I was born. But I was fortunate enough to see a lot of the old black-and-white movie serials on television when I was growing up. From the silent features of The Perils of Pauline to King of the Rocket Men, serials were part of my generation’s viewing culture. Thus, when Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, it was a one-two punch of success. The adults in the audience got a nostalgic flashback to their younger movie-going days. And what the kids had only experienced via the boob tube was spectacularly splashed across the silver screen. I felt that I was watching not only a sterling homage to my Dad’s films, but a movie fashioned specifically for both of us to enjoy on our own levels, and each other’s. Watching Raiders created a reverberating generational bonding moment. Raiders of the Lost Ark did much more than lay a cornerstone to a franchise. It reinvigorated the entire genre of Action Adventure within popular culture—inspiring books, videos, cartoons, comics and movies—all with the goal of recapturing that magical movie moment.

The Return of Stickman #1450

In all the years I've drawn Stickman I've either man his holidays sheer hell, or a half-told series of unconnected and usually unpleasant events. So this year I thought I would just have him suddenly on his own.