Back in the day ('91?, 92?), when I was a struggling cartoonist in NYC's East Village I managed to get by with a little help from my friends. That included Mark Newgarden, who hired me to paint the original art for Nicktoons Bubble Gum cards over at TOPPS and graphic designer Ty Cumbie who hired me to photograph my friends for the covers of books about psychological disorders. It's been a while since I'd seen any of them, but recently I ran across two.
These were guys I performed with frequently at Ludlow Street's NADA basement theater starting back in '88 or so when it was called Funaboules... I suppose this was my intro to publishing.
The studio post has just delivered my copies of The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics!, a big, fat anthology of old kids comics (mostly) from the 40's & 50's by greats like Suess, Wolverton, Feiffer, Frazetta, Ditko, Kirby, Wood, Barks, Hoff, and more.
I was delighted to write a short introduction to the volume.
The book is really huge (This review tells the story pretty well) & is filled with wonderfully weird stuff. A great companion to Speigleman & Mouly's better spelled The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, with a longer intro by pal Jon Scieszka.
The Knuffle Manor Studio is awash with unopened correspondence and full email boxes (have to get around to answering that nice Nigerian guy about how to share his fortune), but I thought I'd give a quick update as to my recent west coast trip.
While primarily a family visit, I did get to soak up some of the great cartoon-based attractions in Northern California.
First stop, Santa Rosa, home to the fantastic Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center, where we stayed as guests of "Sparky" Schulz's power-packed widow, Jeannie. I've told you how cool the museum is before. This time, in addition to the great Peanuts cartoons there was a show that featured lovely Pogo, Krazy Kat, & Cul de Sac comics along with other jewels.
Jeannie was kind enough to have a few cartoonists over for drinks and a game of pentaque, and we spent a fun, long lunch at Sparky's ice-skating rink with the talented Paige Braddock, who let us in on some top-secret upcoming Peanuts stuff (very exciting).
San Francisco was a short stop, but fortunately we made it to the Cartoon Art Museum, which is currently holding a show entitled STORYTIME! that features some Elephant & Piggie on the same wall with a brand new BONE story. The curator Andrew Farago and Shaenon Garrity gave me a tour of the place which included a great Beatle Bailey show & fantastic stuff from the permanent collection such as a SPIRIT page, Hilary Price gag, & lovelyVirgil Partch drawing. It's a cool place that's definitely worth the trip.
Other highlights included a meeting with University Games about upcoming Pigeon stuff, dinner with pals Daniel Handler & Lisa Brown, and a tour of Dreamworks from awesome art director David James.
A great, exhausting visit.
While away, the good news kept coming.
Elephant & Piggie's Can I Play Too? was #10 on the NY Times Bestseller list 2 weeks ago.
City Dog, Country Frog spent the last two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List (coming in at #2 and #6). A spy tells me it will be on at #5 this week, for the 10th week in a row. Both Jon Muth and I are thrilled.
Thanks to all for the support!
Two nice reviews for upcoming work just came in as well.
Kirkus loved Elephant & Piggie's next adventure,We Are In a Book!(due out in about a month). In a starred review, they said of the 4th-Wall-Breaking tale:
"Emergent readers just beginning to grapple one-on-one with the rules of the printed codex will find the friends' antics both funny and provocative: Just who is in control here, anyway? As always, Willems displays his customary control of both body language and pacing even as he challenges his readers to engage with his characters and the physicality of their book."
The Horn Book's review of late September's Knuffle Bunny Freeremarks on the:
"many smart and effective design choices this series has made, hip and homey in equal measure."
and says:
"parents who have watched their kids grow up along with Trixie may shed a tear."
Huzzah!
Next week, pals Mac Barnett & Dan Santat begin auction one for Eyewitness Reports to benefit 826LA. My work will be in that one, so make sure you go and bid!
Oh and just for fun, someone seems to have posted a favorite old Sheep in the Big City commercial:
Pals Dan Santat & Mac Barnett have created OH NO!, a fun book about a science experiment gone terribly wrong.
Now, they've done something terribly awesome. In conjunction with the book, they've asked a slew of pals like Tony DiTerlizzi, Mr. Warburton, Sean Qualls, myself, and many more to create our own EYEWITNESS REPORTS of the events cataloged in OH NO! The art will be auctioned with all the proceeds benefiting 826LA, the Los Angeles wing of the very cool national organization that provides tutoring, writing workshops, and other important services to kids for FREE!
Here's mine take on the extraordinary events of a giant frog rampaging around town:
What are ya waiting for, check out the amazing art on-line or in LA, and bid some!
I've just returned from a quick break to some exciting news regarding City Dog, Country Frog.
The New England Independent Bookseller's Association has just named it Children's Book of the Year. As New Englanders, both Jon & I are thrilled by the nod from some of our favorite booksellers. Jon Muth will be accepting the award at the NEIBA convention on Sept. 30th. I, unfortunately, can't make it as I'll be on the road promoting the publication of Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (more on that tour later).
City Dog has also managed to stay on the the NY Times Bestseller list this week, jumping up to #2 and being joined by Elephant & Piggie's Can I Play Too? at #9. Huzzah! and thanks to you for that.
In other news, the New Yorker blog has just posted about board books & the Pigeon and has some nice things to say.
I'll soon be off on another jaunt, this time to California, where I'll be visiting two museums I'm excited about:
San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum, which is holding a Storytime! exhibit including work from Elephant & Piggie along with Bone, Little Lulu, and more cool stuff!
And the always spectacular Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. No public appearances, I'm afraid, this time, but I will be reporting back on what happens. I'll be on the road again in late September visiting the East, West, and points in-between.
Here's a batch of fan mail faves from the old mail bag. We've got it all this time, from the adorable to the indecipherable. But, they're all awesome!
One of my favorite Piggie drawings of all time!
Love this. These are the endpapers to a longer book with other characters. But the kid still snuck the Pigeon into the endpapers! Awesome:
