I saw this comic and thought "Have I seen this gag before somewhere? Did Jesus beat up Death in an early 'Casey and Andy' strip?" So I looked it up, and boy was my memory wrong. :-D
For context, Casey and Andy are two evil, generally incompetent mad scientists in a gallery of nitwits and world wrecking, comically-poorly-thought-out plans. Adding Satan as a recurring character, and offing Death, barely makes a dent in that place.
Anyway, nice strip. Looking forward to seeing some more of your comic work. Have you considered posting it en-mass sometime?
Many years ago I had a visual dictionary. It had a section on cartooning which featured a two-page spread single-panel cartoon with examples of all those conventional cartoon symbols along with labels for them -- done by Mort Walker. I had concluded that Walker made the whole thing up as a gag just for that dictionary because I had never seen those label-words ("plewds", "emanata", etc.) used or defined anywhere else until today.
Digging a little more, M. D., it looks like many of these terms were merely passed on by Walker, but coined in the 1950s by This Week writer Charles D. Rice! I’m going to have to look into this more…
I’m glad to say that Orville predates Bone’s 1991 public debut by several years—I can document him at least to 1986 and possibly earlier. Which, come to think of it, only means that I was subconsciously ripping off Oliphant and not also Jeff Smith, so I’m not actually sure how much of a moral victory that is.
But you’re right, he does resemble Fone Bone even more than he does Puck!
I love this comic too, especially the Grim Reaper, which made me chuckle more than once. Orville is cute and kind of funny, but ultimately unnecessary and distracting. I didn't even notice the "Flintstones sepulchre" until you pointed it out. Overall, it's so good that I want to share it.
This is such a joy to me, and fun besides! I never thought of Death’s broken, beat up state as a result of an attack by Jesus. The resurrection came with the release of enormous divine power, enough to roll back the boulder, and to burn Jesus image into the shroud. I always assumed that he was close enough to that power to just be broken apart.
I’m really quite flabbergasted by the A.D. correction. Now trying to understand whether I’ve actually never (or only very rarely) seen it written as it “should” be, or if my brain has just quietly been “autocorrecting” how I read it and successfully gaslighting me for years?!
So far, I’ve confirmed that at least Warren Carroll definitely wrote it “incorrectly”, so at least that’s ONE major source in my grade school education. But still. To have never even once HEARD this claim before today? Amazingly disorienting. But glad I’ll never be able to un-notice this again!
I saw this comic and thought "Have I seen this gag before somewhere? Did Jesus beat up Death in an early 'Casey and Andy' strip?" So I looked it up, and boy was my memory wrong. :-D
https://galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=12
For context, Casey and Andy are two evil, generally incompetent mad scientists in a gallery of nitwits and world wrecking, comically-poorly-thought-out plans. Adding Satan as a recurring character, and offing Death, barely makes a dent in that place.
Anyway, nice strip. Looking forward to seeing some more of your comic work. Have you considered posting it en-mass sometime?
Oh my. I … do not have the energy this morning for the conversation that cartoon would require! 😭
Many years ago I had a visual dictionary. It had a section on cartooning which featured a two-page spread single-panel cartoon with examples of all those conventional cartoon symbols along with labels for them -- done by Mort Walker. I had concluded that Walker made the whole thing up as a gag just for that dictionary because I had never seen those label-words ("plewds", "emanata", etc.) used or defined anywhere else until today.
Digging a little more, M. D., it looks like many of these terms were merely passed on by Walker, but coined in the 1950s by This Week writer Charles D. Rice! I’m going to have to look into this more…
Great piece. I love the little claws on Satan's feet.
Thanks! That was one thing I got right! 😄
Orville looks like Fone Bone to me.
And I mean that as a compliment!
YES! Good eye!
I’m glad to say that Orville predates Bone’s 1991 public debut by several years—I can document him at least to 1986 and possibly earlier. Which, come to think of it, only means that I was subconsciously ripping off Oliphant and not also Jeff Smith, so I’m not actually sure how much of a moral victory that is.
But you’re right, he does resemble Fone Bone even more than he does Puck!
OK -- now I'm going to stridently request you do a comparison review of The Picture Bible and The Action Bible.
Since I knew the artist of The Picture Bible very well, that might be a conflict of interest for me!
OK -- then just do a breakdown/analysis of one of your favorite Picture Bible panels/pages.
Surely if you can be objective with your own work you can review a friend's as well!
I’ll put it in the hopper! We’ll see.
I love everything about this, from the cartoon to the analysis (and of course the A.D. self-correction)!
My goodness. Thank you so much!
I love this comic too, especially the Grim Reaper, which made me chuckle more than once. Orville is cute and kind of funny, but ultimately unnecessary and distracting. I didn't even notice the "Flintstones sepulchre" until you pointed it out. Overall, it's so good that I want to share it.
Thanks so much, Christopher. It’s deeply gratifying for me to see this cartoon connect with readers 36 years later!!
This is such a joy to me, and fun besides! I never thought of Death’s broken, beat up state as a result of an attack by Jesus. The resurrection came with the release of enormous divine power, enough to roll back the boulder, and to burn Jesus image into the shroud. I always assumed that he was close enough to that power to just be broken apart.
I’m really quite flabbergasted by the A.D. correction. Now trying to understand whether I’ve actually never (or only very rarely) seen it written as it “should” be, or if my brain has just quietly been “autocorrecting” how I read it and successfully gaslighting me for years?!
So far, I’ve confirmed that at least Warren Carroll definitely wrote it “incorrectly”, so at least that’s ONE major source in my grade school education. But still. To have never even once HEARD this claim before today? Amazingly disorienting. But glad I’ll never be able to un-notice this again!