You're a Sad Man, Charles Schulz
There's been considerable debate in blogs I read over Schulz and Peanuts, a biography of Charles Schulz written by David Michealis. Roleplaying game developer Robin Laws reviews the book: Schulz and Peanuts, by David Michaelis, is a completely absorbing, stunningly researched, pain-scorched biography of the last century’s most influential cartoonist. Charles Schulz's genius was built on traits common to great artists: unstinting discipline, narrowness of focus, solipsism, arrogance, self-doubt, independence, ... read more
Comic Book Editor Has Trouble with Rejection
I tried selling comic book stories in the early '90s, requesting the submission guidelines for several dozen publishers. My pitches received form letter rejections from Marvel, Malibu Comics, Innovation and Now Comics. I've kept all of this stuff, which I ought to put online. Most of the companies are long gone. An unnamed submission editor at Marvel Comics told me that my "line work is stiff or heavy; loosen it up." This was difficult advice to follow because I'm not an artist and had sent them a written ... read more
Cease-and-Desist Letter about Dilbert Parody
After seven years publishing on the Web, I received my first cease-and-desist letter. It was sent by United Feature Syndicate this week because of a Dilbert parody that was linked by a user on the message board for Cruel Site of the Day. The message contained HTML IMG tags that linked to externally hosted graphics containing parody versions of the Dilbert comic strip. I didn't see the parodies -- the cartoonist apparently got one of these letters before I did and removed the graphics -- but they were described as ... read more
