Cartoons

Cartoons are one of those things that I occasionally touch base with just to make sure I still don’t get it. I always had these visions of being an artist or cartoonist (or, god forbid, a professional illustrator). Reality set in when the best I could do was a wonderfully egg-shaped duck in colored pencil. I like to draw on occasion (actually, I should post something once), but my youth was able to kill any burning desire and relegate it more to a passing interest; it’s one of those things I truly regret in my life.

However, there are many people who kept the artistic side of themselves alive and nurtured. My friend John Auchter is one of them. He’s got a classic style and a sense of humor that, while I don’t always agree, I still get a chuckle. (I hope you read this John, I’m officially a one man Google bomb for Auchtoon.)

I also ran across this little tale via this Boing Boing article today. PvP is the rival cartoon to Penny Arcade, two cartoons for those in the know about online gaming, fan boys, and fruit-raping critters. They are odd cartoons indeed, but insightful in their own ways. Basically, the creator of PvP got noticed and got an offer to become a syndicated ‘toon in a lot of newspapers; the pinnacle for a lot of comic strip creators. Unfortunately, newspapers and syndicates still think the world belongs to them and wanted not just the strip, but everything; all rights and all the money that could come from those rights.

He told them to take a walk. Now, he’s trying to get syndicated for free. He’s offering newspapers a chance to publish his comics for a year for free. Here’s hoping; he could change a lot of rules if he succeeds.