Archive Category: Cartoon & Comic

Mickey Mouse Gas Mask

Posted by Jill Harness in Cartoon & Comic, Everything Else, Fashion on July 1, 2009 at 2:23 pm

It’s important to keep kids feeling comfortable and happy, even when they need to watch out for poisonous gas clouds -or at least, that must be the theory behind this Mickey Mouse gas mask sold in WWII. Paranoia and consumerism sure make for an interesting combination.

Link Via Consumerist

 
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The DM of the Rings

Posted by John in Cartoon & Comic on June 29, 2009 at 4:40 pm

The DM of the Rings is a webcomic by Shamus Young which imagines the characters of The Lord of the Rings movies as players in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign who consistently refuse to stay in-character.

Link via John Meunier

 
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The A to Z of Awesomeness

Posted by John in Cartoon & Comic on June 28, 2009 at 8:33 pm

Cartoonist Neill Cameron is spending a month creating and presenting an A to Z list of things that are truly awesome, bringing together pop culture icons such as Hello Kitty, Optimus Prime, and Ironman.

Link via Popped Culture

Previously on Neatorama: The Periodic Table of Awesoments

 
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Comic Origins of Phrases

Posted by Alex in Bathroom Reader, Book & Lit, Cartoon & Comic on June 26, 2009 at 9:09 am

The following is an article from Uncle John's Triumphant 20th
Anniversary Bathroom Reader

Who says that comic books don't contribute much to literature? Here's a few choice phrases, which origin can be traced back to comic strips:

Security Blanket

Pioneering child psychologist Richard Passman is given credit for identifying the phenomenon of children habitually clutching or carrying a favorite toy for comfort and security.

Charles Schulz first used the concept in June 1, 1954, Peanuts comic strip by giving Linus a blanket to carry everywhere he went. Linus called it his "security blanket." The term is now used by psychologists to define a child's (or anyone's) excessive attachment to a particular object. (Photo: Time Magazine 1965 cover)

"We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us"


Pogo Earth Day Poster by Walt Kelly (image via Wikipedia)

After winning the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Perry wrote in a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, "We have met the enemy, and he is ours." Walt Kelly, author of the comic strip Pogo, reworded the phrase as "We have met the enemy and he is us," in the foreword to his 1953 Pogo collection The Pogo Papers. The meaning: Mankind's greatest threat is ... mankind. The quote became better known when Kelly used it on a poster he was hired to illustrate for the first Earth Day in 1970.

The Heebie-Jeebies

Billy DeBeck coined the term in his hugely popular 1920s comic strip, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, about a community of backwoods hillbillies and moonshiners. It first appeared in a 1923 strip where Barney tells someone to "get that stupid look offa your pan. You gimme the heeby jeebys!" It meant "a feeling of discomfort."

Other phrases coined by DeBeck: "horsefeathers," "hotsie-totsie," and "googly-eyed" (after Barney Google, who had huge, bulbous eyes). The strip also gave us the nickname "Sparky," from the name of Barney's horse, Sparkplug. (Many young comic-strip fans were given the name "Sparky," among them, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz.)

Palooka


Joe Palooka by Ham Fisher - via Wikipedia

It came from the main character of the 1920s strip Joe Palooka. Joe Palooka was a boxer - likeable but dumb, a trait that probably came from repeated blows to his head in the ring. Soon after the strip's debut, any big, dumb guy might be called a palooka.

Milquetoast

"Milk toast" was a simple dish (toast served in milk) frequently served at soup kitchens in the 1920s. Harold Webster named the main character in his late 1920s strip, The Timid Soul, Caspar Milquetoast.

Thanks to the comic strip, by the 1930s the word "milquetoast" had become common slang to describe anybody who, like Milquetoast, was weak and timid.

Sadie Hawkins Day


The First Sadie Hawkins Day, by Al Capp

It's from Al Capp's L'il Abner. One day a year in the comic strip's rural setting of Dogpatch, single women would chase the single men around. If they caught one, they got to keep - er, marry him. The day got its name from Sadie Hawkins, the first woman in Dogpatch who caught a husband that way. High schools in the United States still hold "Sadie Hawkins Dances," to which the girls invite the boys.

Foo Fighter


(photo: Gasoline Alley Antiques - lots of neat vintage books there!)

In Bill Holman's 1930s strip Smokey Stover, the title character rode around in a bizarre-looking two-wheeled fire engine (with a fire hydrant attached to it) that Smokey called a "foo fighter." The term was used by World War II pilots for any unidentified aircraft (including UFOs). The phrase became popular again in the 1990s when it was used as the name of the rock band Foo Fighters.

The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader.

Proving that some things do get better with age, the latest Bathroom Reader is jam-packed with 600 pages of fascinating trivia, forgotten history, strange lawsuits and other neat articles.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

 
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TXT Island

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic, Video Clips on June 25, 2009 at 1:26 am


[YouTube - Link]


TXT Island is a stop-motion film by Chris Gavin, who hand-crafted each frame using hundreds of plastic peg-board letters.

The films follows the endeavors of a squad of letters, as they delve deep into the jungle of a mysterious island. What is their mission? And will they succeed?

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

 
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Woman Snores Like Donald Duck

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on June 22, 2009 at 10:23 pm

Finally! After all these years, the secret of the source of Donald Duck’s laugh (rabid chuckle? mad chatter?) has been revealed! You’d never guess where it comes from …

A Welsh View has the video clip: Link [embedded YouTube clip]

 
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Jedi Kirby Cross Stitch

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts, Cartoon & Comic, Movies & SciFi on June 3, 2009 at 7:14 am

What’s more awesome than Star Wars? How about a cross stitch of lightsaber duelin’ jedi Kirby by Flickr user gamerghoul13? Link - via Geekadelphia

Talkin’ bout Jedi Kirby, here’s an animated gif by deviantArt user Yoshio1pal. Marvel at the awesomeness (or similarity to Star Wars Kid [wiki]) and weep:

 
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Suco de Laranja: A Fun Little Stop Motion Animation

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic, Music, Video Clips on May 31, 2009 at 7:59 am

Brazilian artist Breno Pineschi of Hardcuore had a little fun with this Suco de Laranja (orange juice) video clip. All you need to make a funky electronic music are fresh oranges, some melba toast and a dash of humor.

Hit play or go to Link [Vimeo]

 
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The Science News Cycle

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet, Cartoon & Comic, Science & Tech on May 25, 2009 at 6:25 pm


Biggify at: PhD Comics by Jorge Cham

Oh, this is SO true! Jorge Cham of PhD Comics (which stands for Piled Higher & Deeper, if you must know) nailed it with this cartoon panel, The Science News Cycle, about how a scientific finding gets exaggerated and distorted as it trickles down through "The Internets" and the media.

As proud member of the blogosphere and a trained scientist myself, I’m happy to report that Neatorama works hard to wrestle and twist a lengthy scientific finding full of caveats into short (and hopefully witty) couple of sentences with the purpose of partly enlightening you, partly entertaining ourselves and, of course, driving traffic to the blog. The scientific truth be damned! ;)

Link - via The Zeray Gazette

 
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Archie Finally Chooses Between Veronica and Betty

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic on May 24, 2009 at 1:02 pm

After almost 70 years, Archie, the perpetual teenager will finally choose which girl he really wants and will propose in an upcoming issue:

Archie Comics’ official blog confirmed the epochal news, digging into its cache of exclamation marks to declare: “ARCHIE ANDREWS IS GETTING MARRIED!”

In the story, Archie has finally graduated from Riverdale High School; in fact, he’s five years older and a college graduate. (We told you this was the apocalypse.) He may even have an actual job when he gets engaged.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ccmushroom.

 
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The Cookie Monster Interview

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on May 21, 2009 at 1:41 am

Elizabeth Blair of NPR has interviewed many people, but she may have just met her match in Cookie Monster. From a February 2009 All Things Considered interview:

Years before Sesame Street, Muppet creator Jim Henson made a very similar monster who ate snack foods and computers in television commercials. The basic look and spirit were there, but the character we know today was still a ways off.

Enter puppeteer Frank Oz. For nearly 30 years, Henson and Oz were an extraordinary team. Cheryl Henson, Jim’s daughter and the president of the Jim Henson Foundation, says the two men shared a subversive sense of humor. Their Muppets were regulars on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show.

It was later, on a Muppet game show, that the cookie-fixated creature we know emerged, Oz says. The winning contestant was offered the chance to choose a prize: a vacation, a new house, $10,000 cash, or a cookie. He chose the cookie — and the Cookie Monster was born.

Om nom nom nom … COOKIEEE!!! … Link | The Cookie Monster Interview [embedded YouTube clip]

 
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The M.A.S.K. Quiz

Posted by Miss Cellania in Cartoon & Comic on May 19, 2009 at 11:57 am


Of course you are familiar with Transformers, He-Man, and G.I. Joe, but there was also M.A.S.K. If you remember this show, you’ll do well on Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. Link

 
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The Simpsons A Cappella

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic, Movies & SciFi, Music, Video Clips on May 7, 2009 at 2:18 am

I can’t get enough of this: The Simpsons theme song, the a cappella version sung by Canvas. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Land-O-Links

 
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Marvel Zombies

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on May 7, 2009 at 1:29 am

I won’t pretend that I’m "with it" when it comes to comic books, but it was a complete surprise for me to find out that, starting in 2005, Marvel began issuing limited series of comics in which the superheroes are … zombies! (Probably a better read than Spider-Ham)

Link to Marvel Zombie’s official website | Marvel Zombies at Wikipedia

 
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Which Disney Princess Are You?

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on May 4, 2009 at 2:53 am

Which Disney princess are you? Just answer these 10 probing (kidding!) questions over at Brainfall to find out.

Apparently, I’m Pocahontas:

You defy convention and sometimes do what is considered taboo. Unfortunately, others do not always appreciate your differences, so it’s good that you are so strong-willed. You are loyal and you believe in fate. Your true love will find you one day.

Link - via The Zeray Gazette (Maybe they’ll do villains next, now that will be fun!)

So, which Disney Princess are you?

 
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Summer Of The Super-Villain!

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic on May 2, 2009 at 1:51 pm

Len Peralta of Monster by Mail who drew the Neatorama Alien and Neatorama Zombie some years ago has a new project: Summer of the Super-Villain.

For a mere $25, you can custom order your own original villain or as a gift to your loved ones or archenemies. For a little bit extra, he’ll include the "making of" video clip - sadly without the maniacal laugh worthy of a super villain.

Link - via jawboneradio

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by jawboneradio.

 
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Lil’ Junior Particle Accelerator: What’ll Happen Next?

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic, Science & Tech on May 1, 2009 at 2:55 am


Comic Continued: Option A or Option B

I’m a sucker for science cartoons, so imagine my delight when someone told me about Steve Wolfhard (monstro-draw on LiveJournal - turns out he’s been on Neatorama before, how about that!). See the two possible endings of the cartoon above.

Also, be sure to check out the shenanigans of Cat Rackham, Steve’s wonderful new comic series.

Link: monstro-draw’s LiveJournal blog - Thanks Daylight!

 
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6 Famous Characters You Didn’t Know Were Shameless Rip Offs

Posted by Miss Cellania in Cartoon & Comic, Movies & SciFi on April 29, 2009 at 1:29 pm

You’ve heard of X-men, but do you remember Doom Patrol?

Unlike the X-Men, the Doom Patrollers were once normal people who suffered an accident that disfigured them but also gave them superpowers. Shunned by the world for just being plain ugly, the freaks were gathered by Doctor Caulder, a paraplegic, who thought that maybe the world wouldn’t dislike them so much if they used their powers to save the normal people’s asses from giant robots once in a while.

If this sounds somewhat familiar to you, it’s because the same thing as X-Men with the only difference that the smart guy in the wheelchair was bald in one and X-Men uses mutants as an allegory for minorities instead of people with elephantiasis or whatever the heck Doom Patrol was going for.

Cracked looks at six famous characters and their lesser-known precursors. I knew about The Lion King, but I was unfamiliar with the rest. Oh, I knew the last one, too, but I didn’t know how much they had in common. Link

 
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Jughead’s Hat

Posted by Miss Cellania in Cartoon & Comic, Fashion on April 29, 2009 at 12:55 pm

What do they call that weird cap with the ragged spikes and various decorations attached? You’ve seen it in old movies, TV shows, and advertisements. It’s been called by many names: a fedora beanie, jagged beanies, Whoopee cap, palookaville caps, devils caps, clubhouse hats, and Kingpins. I’m Learning to Share takes a look at how the style developed in the early part of the 20th century. Link -via Metafilter

 
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Evelien Lohbeck’s Notebook

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts, Cartoon & Comic, Video Clips on April 25, 2009 at 1:24 pm

.

We’ve covered a lot of neat stuff on Neatorama, but this one belongs in its own category of uber-spiffiness. Behold Noteboek (English title: Notebook), a fantastic animated clip of Dutch artist Evelien Lohbeck where she blurs the line between what is real and what is not. It has won several awards, and it’s easy to see why.

Not to be missed: Hit play or go to Link [Vimeo] | See the rest of her video clips on Vimeo or visit her website

Note: This was originally submitted the the UQ by Victoria McJones, but written as a regular post because the UQ couldn’t embed Vimeo codes. Excellent find, Victoria!

 
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Creature Comforts: For What, Nuts?

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic, Funny on April 20, 2009 at 1:38 pm

For their latest animation, Animal Planet and Aardman Animations (creators of Wallace and Gromit) interviewed the average (ok, some of them unusually lazy) working stiffs in America about working, birds, and love, then set their real responses into a claymation feature called Creature Comforts US: For What, Nuts?

This one is precious (check out the background):

I don’t think I spend a lot of time trying to convince my boss that I’m dedicated cuz that just gonna lead us down the road to more trouble like asking me to do more work … and also, I don’t want to be in those meetings that they have for where all those dedicated people go to …

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sefa.

 
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Caption Monkey 58: Win This Original Laugh-Out-Loud Cat Comic Panel!

Posted by Alex in Caption Monkey, Cartoon & Comic on April 14, 2009 at 8:34 am

My, my, my - it has been a month since we last had a Caption Monkey contest on Neatorama! Thankfully, our pal Adam Koford reminded me of my lapse (sorry, guys) and even provided the image (and prize) for today’s game.

Funniest caption (as judged by the esteemed Mr. Koford himself) will win the original Laugh-Out-Loud Cat panel above, with the winning caption inked in. Contest rules are simple: Place your caption in the comment section below - one caption per comment, but you can enter as many as you can think of.

For inspiration, be sure to visit Adam’s blog. Good luck!

Update 4/15/09 - Wow! Great submissions, guys! Adam has picked the winner … Congrats to Orkahm52 who won with this gem:

 
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The Kind You Don’t Bring Home to Mother

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic on April 9, 2009 at 4:48 pm

Sure, werewolves are frightening when the moon is full, but the rest of the month they’re just ordinary people! "The Kind You Don’t Bring Home to Mother" is a werewolf comic without the werewolves, created by Ryan Estrada, the artist behind the Neatorama comic.

I had an ill-fated romance in India a few years back. I was on a plane to Mumbai to pick up my girlfriend, who had decided to travel the world with me, despite her parent’s protests that she was seeing a foreigner.

It was a long flight, and I was nervous, excited, and scared. So I decided to draw a comic just to pass the time. I gave myself a completely random jumping off point: to make a werewolf comic without a werewolf in it.

But with all that was on my mind, the comic subconsciously became about a relationship, with lycanthropy basically being a metaphor for cultural differences, and the characters came to represent where I was in my relationship.

Though the girl dumped me shortly after I got off the plane, the comic stuck with me.

Link - via ryanestrada

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ryanestrada.

 
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The Urfs Webcomic

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on April 6, 2009 at 7:42 am

Our pal Mike Jacobsen and Phil Selby of The Rut have created a fantastic new wecomic called Urf. It’s about life on Planet Urf, which is a lot like Earth but slightly different, and is filled with Urflings, who face problems similar to that of us humans, but with slightly different solutions!

Because it’s tax season, let’s take the issue of taxation. As you know, tax is universal - it also exists on Planet Urf albeit in a slightly different form:

… Urflings also care about the environment, and are facing some sort
of an oil crisis there as well:

… and let’s not forget about science! Urflings are a curious bunch -
they’ve got their own Super Collider in action to solve the mysteries
of particle physics:

Definitely check out the rest of the trio’s latest creations - and be
prepared to be utterly engrossed by the Urflings: Link

 
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Humans! A Public Service Announcement

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic on April 1, 2009 at 11:49 pm

Humans! is a short animation by Reza Rasoli, Greg Gunn and Casey Hunt of Three Legged Legs. It’s done in the style of a PSA - and while you may not agree with the gloom and doom depiction of humans as parasites, it’s still a very interesting (though a bit gory) animation.

Hit play or go to Link [aniboom] - via Cool Infographics

 
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How We Get Breakthroughs in Science

Posted by John in Cartoon & Comic, Science & Tech on March 25, 2009 at 6:34 pm


This panel from Zach Weiner’s webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal reveals what I’ve always suspected about physicists.

If you’ve never read SMBC, you’re missing out on a treat. Check it out.

 
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Reinterpreting Little Red Riding Hood

Posted by Queuebot in Cartoon & Comic, Video Clips on March 25, 2009 at 1:59 pm


[YouTube - Link]


For a school assignment, Tomas Nilsson decided to create this animation of the story of the Little Red Riding Hood, in the style of Röyksopps Remind Me music video.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by xpresscm.

 
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March MODOK Madness

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet, Cartoon & Comic on March 24, 2009 at 2:21 pm


Image: Ray Alma (who went as MODOK himself on Halloween!)

I’m fascinated with blogs that focus so narrowly on a single topic as to become a universe of their own. Take, for instance, this one called MARCH MODOK MADNESS - which as you can tell from the title is dedicated to everything MODOK (technically, artists’ renderings of the supervillain.

Oh, and for those of you who don’t know, the name stands for Mobile/Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. And so far I haven’t seen Ms. MODOK in the lineup: Link

 
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Neatorama Update & Laugh-Out-Loud Book Signing by Adam Koford

Posted by Alex in Cartoon & Comic, Neatorama Only on March 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm

Hi guys! I'm still alive - just really, really busy with work (wow - just checked: I haven't posted nearly anything in about a week!) Regular postings by yours truly will commence soon. Thank you to the rest of the Neatorama authors who picked up my slack :)

Mystery Sale - All mystery sale orders have been shipped as of the Thursday. If you live outside of the US, your package may take up to a couple of business weeks to deliver (the postal service is usually very quick, it's customs clearance that is slow). Interesting discussion at the forum on this topic.

Upcoming Queue - I have a backlog of neat posts from the UQ that should've made it to the Front Page but didn't for some reason or another. If you've recently posted to the UQ but didn't get your post promoted, you may be pleasantly surprised in the next couple of days.

Call for models and designers - Thank you for everyone who submitted their applications! Unfortunately, we have fewer spaces than qualified applicants, so we have to make the painful decision to whittle down the picks to just a few of you. I have the final picks pretty much determined, and will email them in the next day or so.

Neatorama Layout - We're testing different layouts on Neatorama, so you may see new ads, search bar, etc. floating in and out.


Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #1083: Ape Lad [Flickr]

Laugh-Out-Loud Book Signing - Our friend and favorite illustrator Adam "Ape Lad" Koford will be signing copies of his new book The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out, published by Abrams ComicArts and featuring an introduction by John Hodgman) at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles (7522 Sunset Blvd) 3 to 5 pm today. Go say hello!

Top 10 Blogs - Gerard Vlemmings of The Presurfer, one of my favorite blogs on the Web, was asked by Blogs.com from Six Apart to pick 10 funny, weird, strange, and interesting blogs. We're honored to be one of 'em. The other 9 are also excellent: Link - Thanks Gerard!

 
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If Frank Miller Drew Peanuts

Posted by John in Arts & Crafts, Cartoon & Comic on March 13, 2009 at 9:08 pm

Here are a few panels of Charles Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts, as though they had been written and drawn by Frank Miller in the style of Sin City. By deviant art user ninjaink.

Link via Popped Culture

 
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