Click here for a large size image of the Loonatics poster.

Brew reader Lee Burack sent in this fuzzy image (at right) with a note:

We ran this graphic of the new Bugs design on CNN this morning, thought you might want to see it, if you haven’t already….
all I can say is, “Good God”.

Read the complete story in today’s Wall Street Journal. What’s your opinion of Bugs new look? Leave your COMMENTS HERE

This Thursday, Feb 17, four of the best alternative comics artists will have a joint… a joint art show in the gallery at FILM ROMAN, that is.Jordan Crane, Sam Henderson, Johnny Ryan and Steven Weissman present WIMP ATTACK 2: THE SEARCH FOR CURLY’S GOLD from 5:30pm-7pm. To see what they are all about, click on each of their names above to sample their work.FILM ROMAN
12020 Chandler Blvd. (2F)
N. Hollywood, CA

CALVIN AND THE COLONEL ran on ABC in primetime from October 3, 1961 through September 22, 1962. It was on Tuesday nights at 8:30. Today it’s completely forgotten.CALVIN AND THE COLONEL featured the exploits of two backwoods animals from the south who had taken up residence in a large northern city. The series was created, and the lead characters voiced, by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who patterned the cartoon after their long-running “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio and television series. Gosden and Correll, two white men, had created and played the parts of the two black leads in the radio version of “Amos ‘n’ Andy”. They felt that, by using animals as their principal characters, they could avoid the touchy racial situation which “Amos ‘n’ Andy” had become in the early 1960′s.
They were wrong.Simply because of Gosden and Correll’s participation, the show has been banned from distribution for 40 years. There is nothing racist about the series. In fact, it’s one of the funniest TV cartoons ever produced. The series was produced for Kayro Productions by Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, whose credits include “Leave it to Beaver”, and “The Munsters”.On Saturday afternoon February 26th at 3:00pm, Asifa-Hollywood will present a screening of several rare color episodes of the series, 16mm prints, some with original network commercials. Special guests from the cast & crew will attend and a Q & A after the screening will include voice actress June Foray and animators Phil Roman, John Sparey and Frank Andrina. The screening takes place on The American Film Institute campus, in the Ted Ashley-Warner Bros. Screening Room, 2021 N. Westen Ave. in Hollywood, CA. It’s a rare opportunity to see these episodes and meet the people behind the scenes.

The Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art in New York has posted an online exhibit of 50 top cartoonists with examples of their artwork alongside a sample of how they drew at age 12. NOW-THEN, a MoCCA online exhibit launches today and is well worth a visit. Curated by webmaster Robert Zimmerman, with a nifty logo by Lou Brooks, Now-Then contains art by many Brew favorites including Dave Sheldon (above), Gary Baseman, Jack Davis, Everett Peck, Bob Stakke and Kristen Ulve.

This is where I want to stay if I ever visit Lousiana.

A respected playwright is writing big Broadway musical versions of both SHREK and BETTY BOOP. “Can he pull it off without compromising his artistic integrity?” So asks this story in Sunday’s New York Times (registration required).(Thanks to Mark Mayerson for the link)

Link (via Viceland.com)

This looks so bad, it might be good… Live action GIGANTOR

I get many many requests about Chuck Jones 1965 Academy Award Winning MGM cartoon THE DOT AND THE LINE. As previously noted, it’s scheduled to be released as bonus material on Frank Tashlin’s THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT in April. As a public service, I want point out its showing tonight (actually 2/13, technically tomorrow morning) on TCM – It’ll screen during TCM’s half hour Festival of Shorts #3, Sunday morning at 5:30am EST and 2:30am PST. This program repeats a few weeks later, Thursday morning March 3rd also at 5:30am EST and 2:30am PST.

Bobby London responds to Alternet.org’s What’s In Popeye’s Pipe?, a piece we linked to earlier this week, which referenced London’s run on Popeye:

The Bolivian Spinach Popeye strip I drew which was referred to in the Cannabis Culture article was, of course, a Miami Vice parody – it was the ’80s, remember? – but, hey, sorry folks, it was just spinach! The cartoon was okayed by very Republican KFS editor Bill Yates, who was not a fan of blatant drug references. If it had been the real dope Popeye was after, the story wouldn’t have been a satire. Dana Larsen apparently suffers from short-term memory loss because this is what I told him when he emailed me about the cartoon last year but, unfortunately, my viewpoints on my own work were rather conveniently left out of the article.To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a boatload of spinach is just a boatload of spinach.

London was a pioneering underground cartoonist (The Air Pirates) and a founding contributor to the original NATIONAL LAMPOON. His most recent credits include storyboards and writing for DEXTER’S LAB and POWERPUFF GIRLS, and character design (King Neptune and Mindy) for THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE. He’s still drawing great strips for Playboy (DIRTY DUCK) and Nickelodeon Magazine (CODY). His time (a 6-year stint, 1986 – 1992) on Thimble Theatre starring Popeye (“my billing….lots of people drew POPEYE, but I drew THIMBLE THEATER“) returned a refreshing Segar feel back to the strip. A collection of his Popeye strips are available on book form, under the title MONDO POPEYE.

One book missing from Amid’s 2005 shopping list (below) is Martha Sigall’s LIVING LIFE INSIDE THE LINES: TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF ANIMATION.You know Martha from her appearences on camera in various animation documentaries and Looney Tunes audio track commentary. She’s one of the last survivors of Termite Terrace. She joined Schlesinger’s studio as a teenage ink & paint girl in the 1930s, became life-long friends with Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin and the entire Looney Tunes staff. She moved on to work with Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera and Tex Avery at MGM in the 1940s and enjoyed stints at UPA, Snowball (Beany & Cecil) and Melendez. She had a ring-side seat for the history of Hollywood animation and loved every minute of it.Now all of her wonderful memories of those days have been collected in this marvelous book, which goes on sale April 1st. I’ve already had a sneak peak and I highly recommend you reserve a copy now. A hardcover collectors edition is $50. but you can get the paperback edition for a $20. ($13.60 on Amazon.com).

The Animation Guild is holding a Golden Awards Banquet on April 9, 2005 at Pickwick Gardens in Burbank, California. This event honors animation veterans with fifty years in the industry of screen cartooning and related fields. This year’s honorees began their careers between 1943 and 1955. The list of honorees includes:

John C. Ahern, Frank Andrina, Gerard Baldwin, Robert Balser, Carole J. Barnes, Kathy Barrows, Vincent Bassols, Howard Beckerman, Oliver “Lefty” Callahan, Paul Carlson, Rudy Cataldi, Cornelius Cole, Janis Cornell, Fred Crippen, Tissa David, Gene Deitch, Robert Dranko, John Emerson, Edward Faigin, Becky Fallberg, Ray Favata, Eve Fletcher, Rita Giddings, Lee Guttman, Victor Haboush, Ed Hansen, Martha Harrison, Bud Hester, Willie Ito, Sam Jaimes, Chris Jenkyns, Don Jurwich, Louie Kachivas, Darlene Kanagy-Brown, Sammi Lanham, Don Lusk, Bill Matthews, Burny Mattinson, Peggi R. Matz, Charles McElmurry, Jimmy T. Murakami, Ann Oliphant, Lew Ott, Doris A. Plough, Lloyd G. Rees, Rick Reinert, Robert Allen Revell, Beverly M. Robbins, Joanna Romersa, Carmen Sanderson, Mel Shaw, Marcia Sinclair, Charlene Singleton, Ken Southworth, John Sparey, Herb Stott, Iwao Takamoto, Cliff Vorhees, Manon Washburn, Merle Welton, Robert “Tiger” West, Gwen A. Wetzler, John Wilson, Alan Wilzbach, Fred Wolf. Special Award: June ForayUnderline denotes those honorees whose attendance has been confirmed as of 2/8/05. They expect most of the rest to confirm in the weeks ahead.

If you want to attend the banquet, tickets are $37.50 each with a choice of New York Steak, Chicken Marsala or a Vegetable Plate. For further ticket information, please contact Dave Brain. Any questions, suggestions or if you’d like to advertise in their program book, please contact event organizer Bob Foster at bfosterla@aol.com or check the Animation Guild website.

I knew there was more to it than meets the (pop)eye.
What’s In Popeye’s Pipe? (via Alternet.org)