Comic Riffs

For the most part, a scan of editorial-page cartoons in recent days is a pretty fair indicator of where the cartoonists live.

Across the country, many newspaper artists are drawing tea bags, Toyota brakes and "Who Dat" Super Bowl salutes. From Fredericksburg to Pittsburgh, however, cartoonists near the latest "snow zone" are turning their pens and Wite-Out to the Eastern Seaboard whiteout.

In recent days, The Post's TOM TOLES and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's
ROB ROGERS have drawn some of our favorite snow 'toons.

So whether you're snowbound at home or surviving the slushy commute, here is Comic Riffs's ongoing Gallery of Snowmageddon: The 'Toons of 2010.

ROB ROGERS:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / cagle.com

[ UPDATED: Comic Riffs will update periodically with posted videos as nominated (by comment or e-mail) by readers -- including 2010 midgame nominees]

All Super Bowl fans have their own ways to enhance their viewing of the Big Game. Some shop-happy stalwarts load up on beer and bean dip by the case (especially if you're in a serious "snow zone" this weekend). Others stock up on memorabilia. And one long-suffering "Aints" fan at work was scouring Earth and eBay for black-and-gold Mardi Gras beads.

We here at Comic Riffs, on the other hand -- when not breaking out memorabilia from the lone S.B. we attended in person (hint: up close on the field, Dexter Manley's eyes were on fire that day) -- like to screen some of the best and worst Super Bowl commercials ever. And from zebras portraying football "zebras" for the Clydesdales, to beer-swilling animated amphibians, the CGI-altered animals sure predominate.

So to kick things off, here's one of our fave Bowl commercials, Altered Animal division. And 'Riffs asks: What's your favorite, if not the funniest, Super Bowl ad ever? (Your nominations have been updated with such 2010 entries as ads featuring Brett Favre, Betty White and David Letterman.)

If your nomination differs from the picks below, then -- like Drew Brees connecting with Jeremy Shockey to put the Saints ahead for good -- feel free to fire away.

FAVORITE SUPER BOWL ADS, AS SUGGESTED BY READERS:

Because we here at Comic Riffs can usually laugh at journalism's foibles, we long appreciated the skewering of newspapers by the late, great Jeff MacNelly.

Which is why today, we pause to point out a "Shoe" worthy of the three-time Pulitzer winner himself.

Today, the cartoonist's successors in producing "Shoe" -- Chris Cassatt (his former cartooning assistant), Gary Brookins (who inherited MacNelly's "Pluggers") and Susie MacNelly (his last wife) -- have fun with modern reportage, as Perfesser Cosmo Fishhawk is hauled off to the pokey for refusing to reveal his sources.

In a nod to changing times, Fishhawk now writes for Treetops-Tattler.com, for which he broke a "story" about the real identity of Bo, the White House pooch. He wrote:

"An anonymous source has revealed this shocking fact. When Bo first entered the White House, he was covered with bugs. And we're not talking about the kind with wings and legs. We're talking ultra-sophisticated state-of-the-art listening devices."

Which pressed again to reveal his source, Fishhawk tries giving up the reporter's reliable friend: "Google."

"Shoe" -- created in 1977 by MacNelly, who died in 2000 -- offers Cosmo Fishhawk's stories at the strip's Treetops-Tattler.com.

Disney/Pixar's "Up" continues its sure-footed march toward Oscar gold.

On Saturday night, "Up" won for best animated feature at the 37th annual Annie Awards on the UCLA campus, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Since the Academy Awards began its separate animated-feature category in 2002, most Annie best-feature winners have gone on to win the animated Oscar, too. (A notable exception: Dreamworks's "Kung Fu Panda" won the big Annie last year; Pixar's "Wall*E" got payback come Oscar time.)

The Annies, presented by by ASIFA-Hollywood -- L.A.'s chapter of the International Animated Film Society -- are awarded to animated features, TV and commercials.

Comedian/musician/uber-doodler Demetri Martin has a clear influence from the world of cartooning: Gary Larson's "The Far Side."

"That was the one [who] always had me laughing," Martin told Comic Riffs last year. "I could appreciate his one-liners, and some of my favorites of his stuff don't even have words. The elegance of that is pretty awesome."

As the comedian debuts a new season of "Important Things With Demetri Martin" Thursday night at 10 (ET) on Comedy Central, 'Riffs takes a moment to post Martin doing a few minutes of material this week on "Jimmy Kimmel" (followed by the republishing of our Martin Q&A, for anyone who might have missed it the first time):

DEMETRI MARTIN'S SIT-DOWN STANDUP:

THE RELATED READ:

TV PREVIEW: Stand Up and Deliver: Comedy Central Hits the Mark With 'Demetri Martin'

THE COMIC RIFFS Q&A:

DEMETRI MARTIN, the doodling comedian with his own show on Comedy Central ("Important Things With Demetri Martin"), is not easily defined. In any attempt to fit a description of him on a handbill, you might end up calling him, oh, a guitar-pickin', cartoon-sketchin', observation-riffin', "Rushmore"-lovin', palindrome-scribblin', increasingly ambidextrous, detached New York humor deconstructionist. And that's before he began stretching into feature films.

Comic Riffs caught up with Martin to talk comic sketches, pen sketches and the art of building a show from scratch:

It was more than four years ago that Butterstick first melted our hearts. And at times, perhaps, our news judgment.

As the "all-growed-up" Tai Shan -- aka America's Favorite Bamboo-Eater -- is crated away from the National Zoo to Dulles this morning, soon off to China and out of our lives forever, we can't help through our grizzled journalistic cynicism but to be a little wistful. Must we really endure Operation "Eats, Chutes, Leaves"?

Thing is, when Tai Shan was born at the National Zoo, Comic Riffs -- though an avowed animal lover, having being raised for a coupla years 'round a veritable Dr. Dolittle of a backyard -- grew skeptical of the blanket coverage. See, we were already a veteran of Panda Hyper-Coverage, having in San Diego endured (and participated in) the real-life journalistic version of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." You couldn't crack a news section without an infographic ("Bamboo: Five Great Recipes!") or a comparison chart ("Panda Pounds: America's Greatest Gainer!").

Now, however, what we wouldn't give for a return to those halcyon days -- the bamboo-"salad days," as it were.

(Michael Cavna)

So, as the 'Riffs Official Tribute to Tai Shan, we offer this cartoon farewell. We drew this jaundiced sketch -- "Tai Shan: A Modest Post Proposal" -- soon after Butterstick's birth as a form of cheeky internal critique OF The Post. Within a coupla days, though, it was excerpted in The Post's Style section (an absolutely unforeseen twist, lemme tell you),

Today, as Tai Shan becomes one of the few things exported from the United States TO China (and not the other way 'round), this sketch serves as time capsule. Remember back when a Kanye West interruption was a fairly good PR move? Remember when it was all about the Bush twins and not the Obama daughters? And can you recall when "the Pand" sounded more like a spoof of the iPod and not the iPad? Oh, those were the days, when Tai Shan Fever wasn't just a newsroom epidemic -- it was a fuzzy state of mind.

So it is with this cartoon, Tai Shan, that we bid you adieu. China may soon treat you like such a rock star, you'll think you're playing center for the Houston Rockets -- or are the Chinese search engine that will replace Google.

Through it all. T.S., just remember: It was we who knew you when. You can eat chutes, but in D.C.'s connection to you, Butterstick, you will never, ever quite leave.

CLICK BELOW TO SEE THE ENTIRE FIVE-PAGE "TAI SHAN" SKETCH.

This is not a rant. It's too small for that. You could call it a "runt."

That's because our highhanded and harrumphing "runt" for today involves catching up to a recent Huffington Post item that we came across some days back. Comic Riffs is excavating this item days later not because we are outraged, aghast or steaming in a fit of pique (though sh-sh-shivering in this latest snow of snows, we'll take any heat source we can get). No, rather we are simply, purely surprised.

Surprised, because the HuffPost can be a genuinely hilarious place to enter, lounge around and rest your funny bones. Why, when a talent such as Larry David or Albert Brooks is contributing, say, it's world-class funny. (Even if one's politics lean differently from Albert's or L.D.'s, their timing and voice and word-choice are gifts so alluring, one would have to be an intellectual eunuch not to laugh at least a little.) And toward the political middle, there's even "Friend of Comic Riffs" Will Durst, who contributed to HuffPost just last month.)

Which brings us to what we hope is merely freakish aberration -- a calcified deposit of seriously unfunny on the humorous "humerus" that is the HuffPost's funny bone. We all occasionally miss when handicapping what's funny. (Even us? Yeh, there have been oh-so-rare days that even we should be called "Comic Whiffs.") But still: We are compelled to nail this What-the-Hades-Were-They-Thinking? (Or Smoking?) thesis to the HuffPost's front stoop:

In a recent Huffington Post, er, post, the editors gallingly declare that the spoof Scott Meets Family Circus is recommended reading as an example of Big-Time Funny -- a place to get yer ha-ha's out. To which we say...

Ummm, yeah.

Here's the rub, as all you true comics fans know: The ancestral line of "Family Circus" satire is as long as one of Bil Keane's dotted black lines traipsing through a map-happy Sunday.

See, Scott, if you're going to send up "Family Circus," there are at least two sets of gigantic footsteps you must measure yourself against. One, of course (and I'm sure you're way ahead of me, comics fans) is the sublime "The Dysfunctional Family Circus," Its satire was so inspired, its fame lives on. And Comic Riffs's other fave spoofing of "FC" occurs whenever "Pearls Before Swine" decides that Billy should come over and play. (I should note: I've sat with both "PBS's" Stephan Pastis and "FC" co-cartoonist Jeff Keane at the same table and they appear to get along swimmingly. If they did not, I'm quite sure Pastis wouldn't have dared go into Iraq with Keane, where any Bodily Mishaps of Retribution could have readily been chalked up as USO "collateral damage.")

But back to the question of the day: Does Scott Gairdner's attempt to walk in those giant clown shoes of "Family Circus" spoofage succeed? Well, I suppose your opinion largely depends on whether you've ever before stumbled upon "FC" parodies such as "Dysfunctional." If you have, then Scott's efforts -- though not unskilled -- likely read, in terms of creative originality, like a copy of a photostat of a Xerox of a mimeograph. Only blurrier.

Funny? This "parody"? Ummm, yeah. (Although 'Riffs will admit that Grandma does look strikingly like Howard Cosell in profile. Nice call, that.)

So, to make amends to your readers, HuffPost (and we do hope you note your readers' many on-the-money Comments), we only wish that you might hand Albert Brooks or Larry David a Sharpie and encourage either of them to give it a crack. By the time Larry David depicted himself playing a game of "telephone" with PJ, Dolly and Jeffy, we'd be rolling in the aisles. And not just the political ones.

As "Grandma Cosell" herself might say: We're just telling it like it is.

First off, congratulations to the webcomic-slash-cultural-powerhouse that is "Penny Arcade."

In recent days, "Penny Arcade" has had twin victories to celebrate ("power to the PAX!"). First, after nearly a half-million votes, "PA" (mobilizing that mighty-mighty fanbase) led with 36 percent of the vote in the semifinals of Comic Riffs's Official Best Webcomic Poll when polling closed last Wednesday.

Then, just this week, it was announced that "PA" writer Jerry Holkins and artist Mike Krahulik (along with biz partner Robert Khoo) will receive the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards on March 11. (According to the literature, the award recognises [with lofty British spellings, no less] those who have "helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games and help further our art.")

We are not certain which of these two honors that Holkins & Krahulik hold more dear. (Okay, okay, we could take a wild guess, but we don't want to overly glamourise [is that even a British spelling?] the powerful sheen of Comic Riffs.)

Today, though, comes the true test: The finals of Comic Riffs's Best Webcomic of the Past Decade Poll begin. The seven top-polling webcomics from last week are in the running. They are: "Girl Genius"; "Hark! A Vagrant"; "Least I Could Do"; "Penny Arcade"; "Perry Bible Fellowship"; "Schlock Mercenary"; and "xkcd."

This is The Big Ballot. Polling will close at 11:59 p.m. on Wed., Feb. 10.

So support your favorite webcomic below. As we like to say: It's fast, it's free -- and it helps drive more eyes to some of the best cartoonists working today.

THE BIG BALLOT:

The direct links to the seven finalists are:

"Girl Genius"
"Hark! A Vagrant"
"Least I Could Do"
"Penny Arcade"
"The Perry Bible Fellowship"
"Schlock Mercenary"
"xkcd"

(Note: Just because Comic Riffs is conducting this unscientific and nonbinding poll does not mean we or The Post automatically endorse or share the views of any of these webcomics. Consider this our official disclaimer, O barristers and the readily offended.)

Pixar's film about the original balloon boy (and his curmudgeonly friend) continues to fly to new heights.

On Tuesday, the Academy -- in announcing its nominations for 2009 -- made "Up" the first CGI-animated film to be in the running for the Best Picture award. (In a shift, the Academy named 10 best-film contenders this year.) The only other animated film ever to be nominated for best film was (guesses? guesses?) ... that's right, 1991's "Beauty and the Beast."

"Up" is also the first animated film to be up for best film since the Academy created a separate best animated feature film category in 2001. And if that weren't enough, "Up" is also up for Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing and Original Score (in that last category, it will compete against the animated "Fantastic Mr. Fox").

Thanks to "Up," "Coraline" and the nomination-leading "Avatar," this is the first year that the Academy has seriously acknowledged the industry's advances in 3D effects.

"Up," "Coraline" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" are also up for Best Animated Feature Film; they will compete against "The Princess and the Frog" and "The Secret of Kells."

"The Princess and the Frog" received two Best Original Song nominations for Randy Newman tunes: "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans."

The nominees in the Best Animated Short Film are "French Roast" (Fabrice O. Joubert);
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell); "The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)" (Javier Recio Gracia); "Logorama," (Nicolas Schmerkin); "A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Nick Park).

To mark "Up's" achievement in the Best Film category, Comic Riffs is republishing this interview from last year with co-director Bob Peterson (who also, we should note, voiced Doug in the film, which featured the voicework of Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer),

THE RELATED READ:

The 'Riffs Interview: WES ANDERSON on his fantastic "Mr. Fox."

HANDICAPPING: The nominated animated films of the season.

"AVATAR": Producer JON LANDAU talks blue skin & white-hot hopes.

A LOOK AT "AVATAR": Listening to James Cameron describe a blue future.

C-director Bob Peterson (who also voices Doug) arrives at the premiere of Disney Pixar's 'Up' in Hollywood last May. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

As Pixar's balloon-questing movie, "UP," lands its Oscar noms, it represents just the latest cinematic adventure for its writer and co-director, BOB PETERSON. The animator, a 15-year veteran of Pixar who worked on the Oscar-nominated screenplay for "Finding Nemo," took time to talk comic strips, computer animation and why certain college courses spark a wealth of creativity.

MICHAEL CAVNA: Pixar animator] Angus MacLane told us that John Lasseter fosters a great working environment that brings out the best in everyone. Do you care to contradict that?

BOB PETERSON: That's absolutely true. There are deadlines here and real work being done and we argue with each other -- and it's a good kind of argument, the kind that moves projects forward. That's because we trust each other. And John absolutely fosters a great [environment]... I'm lucky. I haven't worked much at any other places. There was a pioneering spirit at Pixar that is still here -- people are still excited.

MC: So in college --at Purdue, right? -- you studied engineering but did a comic strip called "Loco Motives." What did you like about cartooning then?

BP: Every day, I did a daily strip. It was a big campus -- 40,000 students. I loved getting feedback -- it felt like you were connected. ... Some of my favorite media is the still cartoon that you can sit and study. You can get amazing metaphors across really quickly. I'm in awe of a Charles Schulz.

MC: So how did you move from engineering and creating a comic strip to animation?
BP: At Purdue, I was getting my master's in mechanical engineering with a specialty in computer graphics. I started out on the technical side of this industry in the early '80s. That's how I got to where I am today. It was fun -- we were working in an industry, even on the engineering side, where we were very aware that it was a time of change.

MC: And from there, how did you get to Pixar?

BP: I would go to conferences every year, and John Lasseter gave a keynote at SIGGRAPH [conference] about 1985 and I saw: He really "got" how to imbue stiff computer animation with the squash and stretch of Disney animation. Already, he had a taurus of fans around him. It took me seven years to find a way in, but I finally got here [to Pixar].

MC: And did you arrive in time to work on the breakthrough that was [1994's] "Toy Story"?...

Nevin Martell, author of the recent book "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes," spent years trying to establish direct contact with Bill Watterson, the famously reclusive cartoonist.To no avail.

John Campanelli, a features reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was recently handed Martell's book. "Instead of doing an article on the book," Campanelli says he "wanted to use the book -- and the announcement of the ['Calvin and Hobbes'] postage stamp and the 15th anniversary of the retirement of the strip -- as hooks for a wider-look article on the timelessness and enduring nature of the strip itself."

The result: Campanelli (as reported earlier today in Comic Riffs) himself hit upon the Holy Grail of many a cartoon-enthusiast journalist: an e-mail interview with Watterson, who the Plain Dealer says hadn't done an interview for more than 20 years. (Not for nothing was Watterson, who lives in Greater Cleveland, known as the J.D. Salinger of cartooning.)

Comic Riffs asked Campanelli, a 12-year veteran of the Plain Dealer as well as a former college cartoonist, how he came to score the interview that so many had futilely sought for so many years:

MICHAEL CAVNA: So, how and when did this interview come about?

JOHN CAMPANELLI: I interviewed Martell, [executive] Lee Salem at Universal [Press Syndicate] and the brilliant Lucy Caswell at Ohio State. Something she told me, that "people still grieve the loss of Calvin and Hobbes. It's genuine," became the theme of the article.

I then e-mailed Watterson a list of questions and -- to my complete amazement -- he responded. I've never had contact with him before.

MC: Were you aware of the dogged attempts by other journalists and authors to secure an interview with Watterson over the years?

JC: Oh yeah. I wasn't very hopeful I'd get a response, that's for sure. But you still gotta try.

MC: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate yourself as a "Calvin and Hobbes" fan?

JC: I'd say a 9, maybe 9-and-a-half. It was an 8 until my son, who's now almost 10 years old, began looking through my "C&H" books a few years back. As with lots of other stuff, when you have kids, you get reintroduced to treasures. And you look at them differently, as a older person, a father, and you gain an even higher appreciation for them. These include children's books, music, some films, and, of course, comic strips. It really is one of those pleasures of having children that no one mentions.

MC: Were any limits or conditions placed on the interview?

JC: No limits, really. When he sent his answers, Watterson mentioned that he trusted his words would be used in context and that the questions behind them would be clear. That's it.

MC: Why do you think Watterson chose to speak now? What might have prompted this interview after all this time: the stamp? The anniversary? In some tangential way, perhaps even Salinger's death?