Dan Meth’s Influences

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on

One man’s influences is another man’s Comic Con Want List. Say what you will, the man has good taste!

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  • doug holverson

    Is there a scorecard of who’s who and what’s what in here? For instance what is that polychromatic polka-dot beast from? I vaguely remember it from my grade school days. Was that Frank Miller, the Des Moines Register political cartoonist version, about a quarter way in there? And what is the nature of he illustration of the non-Harryhausen cyclops a little over halfway in?

    Will watch this all again after work.

    I’m amused at Sam Henderson popping up in here. We were peers in Small Press Comics back in the ’80s. He did Captain Spaz and I did Captain Saucer. He went on to appear in magazines and storyboard Spongebob and even had “Magic Whistle” plugged here. I went on to ace the ‘unpassable” electronic aptitude test and fix $800,000+ machines for the USPS….

  • JP

    Wow. I think Dan Meth and I should be best friends. That video had just about everything I’ve ever liked… right down to the Plastic Bertrand music!

  • http://www.danmeth.com Dan Meth

    Thanks so much for posting, Jerry! If there’s one place on the internet where people understand the impact of a lifetime of cartoon appreciation it’s Cartoon Brew.

  • Michael R.

    Awesome! I love this guy’s taste!

  • http://www.petercampofiori.com/ Peter Campofiori

    Were we separated at birth? Dan Meth Rocks!!

  • CMcC

    Ditto

  • Chuck R.

    That was lots of fun. I know it’s pointless to quibble over something as fun and freewheeling as this, but I couldn’t help noticing that he paid homage to pretty much every Random House easy reader illustrator (Eastman, Seuss, even Stan Berenstain!) except my personal favorite —Roy McKie!

    Dan, when you get a moment, check out Snow and Summer and see if you don’t agree that McKie totally rocks.

  • http://www.ronimation.com Ron

    As a college friend of Dan Meth I can agree that most of those are my influences too. Good work Dan!
    I have a question. About 2:40 in there’s a shot of a kid with black hair wearing a black and read checkered coat shouting “got it”! with a reddish dog in front of him. What is that from? It looks cool. I want to check it out.

  • Gobo

    Dan Meth’s been going through my bookshelves and movie collection! Gah!!

    So much cool stuff here that influenced me hugely. B.Kliban, Jules Feiffer, Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s, Brian Froud, MAD, Tintin, Seuss… that was a trip through my whole childhood. The only kids’ books I didn’t see that had a big impact on me were “Drummer Hoff” and “Seven Chinese Brothers”. Oh, and Pinkwater.

  • http://www.sternio.com Sternio

    Wow, that is an awesome collection of inspiring images. Was that the Galaxy Explorer I spotted in there?

    I’d have to say one of my influences was Dan’s comic “Meth” in the Daily Orange back at Syracuse University.

  • Mark McD

    “I have a question. About 2:40 in there’s a shot of a kid with black hair wearing a black and read checkered coat shouting “got it”! with a reddish dog in front of him. What is that from? It looks cool. I want to check it out.”

    I believe that’s the British “Dennis the Menace” comic strip. In one of those amazing coincidences, it debuted in “Beano” in 1951, just a few days before Hank Ketcham’s version first appeared.

  • Some Chick

    I am about 78% totally with this guy.

  • Shecky

    Who wasn’t he influenced by?

  • David Cuny

    > For instance what is that polychromatic polka-dot beast from?

    “Put Me in the Zoo” by Robert Lopshire, an “I Can Read It All By Myself” book. The creature shows a pair of kids all sorts of tricks it can do with its spots. They convince it to join a circus instead:

    http://www.amazon.com/Put-read-myself-Beginner-Books/dp/0394800176

    The same character appears in “I Want to be Somebody New”:

    http://www.amazon.com/Want-Somebody-New-Beginner-Books/dp/0394876164

  • Ben

    Everything I love is here, LOL! Although that bear with polka dots is escaping me. I remember that book’s pictures very well, and it brought back memories, but I can’t remember the title. I just remember the bear going through different colored spots until he was happy.

  • http://www.thedavecartershow.com Dave Carter

    You were close guys… The “I got it” checked shirt boy is ACTUALLY Roger The Dodger. The subsequent character with the wild hair is the British Dennis the Menace. Unbelievably my Dad threw my Beano, Buster Monthly, Whizzer and Chips Annuals out last Sunday!!

  • http://doubleben.blogspot.com Emmett Goodman

    That’s a wealth of information right there. One’s influences is like a trip around the world. Dan Meth’s soul must be cute, charming, precious, twisted, perverted, introverted, happy, healthy, desperate, etc.

  • Gobo

    Watching it again, I keep seeing new stuff. The T&C Surf Shop game for NES?! Wow.

  • Mick Collins

    Wow, Dan Meth and I have a LOT of the same influences (we diverge on some of the ’80s stuff); there was stuff in there, like the Mickey Mouse Disco LP, that I was sure no-one cared about except me (and the only copy of “Beat Beat Beat” that I ever saw was the one I bought). I’m willing to bet, however, that he can play music far better than I can draw…

  • Barry McGuire

    Not to be a jerk, but with those amazing influences, how can he still not make good drawings?

  • drmedula

    I think every artist should do one of these… and I suspect about 20% of the influences would show up in every single one! (I felt a little jolt of happiness every time one of MY faves showed up, and I don’t even know Dan Meth’s work!)