If you’ve ordered Darrell Van Citters wonderful Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol book and never received your copy - please read the following. Paypal recently experienced a pretty severe glitch in payments and for those who got caught in the snafu, Darrell has a message for you:

Apparently, Paypal dropped a number of orders after the posting on Cartoon Brew. If you have been expecting a copy of the book but none has shown up, you most likely received a Paypal transaction ID of “0″. That indicates that I never received the order and you were never charged for it. The site still takes Paypal as its primary payment service but we have also added Google Checkout as a backup, should you have trouble. I have no way of knowing who did or didn’t order the book so I am offering free domestic shipping for a limited time to anyone who might have had a problem ordering the author signed book or to those who couldn’t make it to Comic Con. To take advantage of this, click on this link.

Here’s a rare treat for Fleischer Studio fans - or anyone interested in clever, cartoon story-telling: the latest issue of The Comics Journal #299 (August 2009) features a complete reprint of Myron Waldman’s 1943 “graphic novel”, Eve.

Click on thumbnails below to see a few larger images of the cover, title page and an interior gag (the title graphic and interior page here are from my own battered copy of the original publication). This long-out-of-print classic tells the story of a big city working girl who seeks her true love while on vacation in Miami, Florida. It’s cute, funny and surprisingly heartfelt. The drawings are great and the book makes you wish Waldman had continued doing more stories like these, as opposed to the simplistic Casper animated cartoons he’d become synonymous with.

The Comic Journal has posted the entire novel online for subscriber’s only. The hard-copy magazine, which features an introduction by cartoonist Mark Newgarden, is on sale now. This is highly recommended!

That’s the cover for a new project that I’ve been involved with: A Sketchy Past: The Art of Peter de Sève. It’s the first-ever monograph about Peter de Sève’s professional work and it should be on everybody’s Christmas wishlist.

A Sketchy Past is 240 pages in a 10″ by 12″ hardcover format. It’s being released in October by French publishing house Akileos. They’re putting out two versions—one in English and the other in French. It’s not available to order yet, but Akileos has posted a preview page with details about the book and a preview PDF. It will debut officially at Galerie Arludik in Paris, which is holding a retrospective of Peter’s work in October. Events with Peter in the United States will follow shortly thereafter. As always, stay tuned to Cartoon Brew.

Having been a fan of Peter’s work for years, I was honored to be a part of this project. I’m particularly proud of the essay I contributed, and hope it’ll shed new insights into Peter’s approach and style. Make no mistake though. The main attraction here is page after incredible page of artwork. The book includes a generous number of roughs, as well as comments throughout from Peter. The artwork ranges from his New Yorker illustrations to animation work (the Ice Age series, Finding Nemo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) to book covers and everything else in-between. The book is exquisitely designed by Lori Barra, who also designed Peter’s sketchbook that was published a few years ago. Everybody labored long and hard to get the book right, most of all Peter, who has spent the last thirty years creating these illustrations. If you’re a fan of Peter’s work, you won’t be disappointed, and if you’re unfamiliar with his work, prepare to become a fan.

Here are a few spreads from the book. Click to enlarge.

2009 appears to be the year of illustrated books by animation artists. It’s hard to keep track there are so many of them. Below are some of the latest offerings. None of the artists wrote these books, with the exception of Carter Goodrich, who illustrated his own story.

Being a Pig is Nice: A Child’s-Eye View of Manners illustrated by Dan Krall

The Hermit Crab illustrated by Carter Goodrich

How to Train with a T.Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals illustrated by Ward Jenkins

How to Potty Train Your Monster illustrated by Mike Moon

And one that comes out in a couple months: Toy Story: Ride ‘em, Cowboy! illustrated by Lorelay Bove. More details on Lorelay’s blog.

If you are going to the San Diego Comic Con, don’t miss Booth #501, Van Eaton Galleries. Forget the voluminous amount of vintage animation art they have (which alone is worth the visit) - Van Eaton is the exclusive seller of three brand-new animation history books you should own:

1. Darrell Van Citters’ Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol - which I raved about here.

2. June Foray’s autobiography Did You Grow Up With Me Too?

Legendary voice artist June Foray has compiled a new autobiography with the help of our buddies Mark Evanier and Earl Kress. I’ve seen the book and its loaded with great first hand stories from June, loaded with little known facts about her life and career, and wonderful photos that illustrate June’s most famous (and infamous) roles. Rocky, Natasha, and Witch Hazel are as thoroughly covered as the smallest roles (including Chatty Cathy and her Twilight Zone counterpart, Talky Tina). June’s early work with Disney and on Andy’s Gang and her later involvement with Asifa and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; her friendships with Stan Freberg, Jay Ward, Bill Scott, Saul Bass and others - it’s all here in this wonderfully written volume.

June will be at the Van Eaton booth in person to sign copies from 5 PM to 6 PM on Friday, 4 PM to 6 PM on Saturday and 1 PM to 2 PM on Sunday. Signed copies will also be available from Van Eaton after the show - advance order accepted now.

3. Mark Arnold’s Created and Produced by Total Television

Arnold’s book on Total Television lays out the full story on the studio behind Underdog, The King and Odie, Tennessee Tuxedo, Go-Go Gophers, Twinkles the Elephant and many other TV characters of the 1960s. Often thought by some to be the work of Jay Ward, Total Television’s output was indeed produced at the same Mexican studio (Gamma Productions) that Ward used. Arnold untangles the history of the studio (which includes Gerneral Mills, Peter Piech and even Terrytoons!), the shows they made, the voice talent they employed, and the licensed merchandise that ensued. A complete episode guide is included. A must for your TV-Cartoon bookshelf.

See you at booth #501.

Wow!

If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Animation director Darrell Van Citters (Renegade Animation) has written and self published one of the best animation books of the year. Scratch that… one of the best animation books ever! Van Citters has documented the creation and production of the classic UPA TV special Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol with thorough details (wonderfully written I might add) and lavishly illustrated with rare production art (the book layout is superb). This is a must-have for anyone interested in animation history - and specifically, if you have any interest in UPA, animator/director Abe Levitow, songwriters Jules Styne and Bob Merrill, artists like Corny Cole, Gerard Baldwin, Bob Singer and others, not to mention actors Jim Backus, Morey Amsterdam, Jack Cassidy, Paul Frees… you will want this. Van Citters dug up rare behind the scenes photos, cels, storyboards, backgrounds, pencil sketches… a treasure trove of art material that alone justifies the purchase. It gets my highest recommendation.

If you want to see pages from the book, check out Darrell’s Magoo’s Christmas Carol webpage, where he is taking advance orders for a special edition of the book signed by the surviving cast and crew.

The book will go on sale July 23rd at the San Diego Comic Con. You can find it exclusively at the Van Eaton Galleries booth and Darrell will sign copies on Friday and Saturday at 11am and 3pm each day (animator Bob Singer will join Van Citters to sign on Saturday). You can pre-oder autographed copies here. Buy this book. Order it now!

Following on the heels of last year’s successful graphic novel anthology Who is Rocket Johnson?, Disney story artists and directors have teamed up once again to self-publish What is Torch Tiger? The new book will debut later this month at Comic-Con (booth #2302) and is limited to 1,300 copies. The line-up of artists is impressive to say the least, with a cover painted by Paul Felix and contributions from the following:

Steve Anderson
Aaron Blaise
Paul Briggs
Kevin Deters
Rob Edwards
Mike Gabriel
Nathan Greno
Don Hall
Byron Howard
Trevor Jimenez
Mark Kennedy
Joe Mateo
Nicole Mitchell
John Musker
Jeff Ranjo
Aurian Redson
Jeremy Spears
Lissa Treiman
Josie Trinidad
Chris Ure
Mark Walton
Dean Wellins
Stevie Wermers
Chris Williams

Pin-ups by:
Andreas Deja
Andy Harkness
Jeff Turley
Jin Kim
Shiyoon Kim

More details are available at TorchTiger.blogspot.com. Below are some exclusive preview pages provided to us by the Torch Tiger team. Click on any of the images for a closer view.

Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra is quickly becoming the the hub in LA for awesome animation and illustration-related art shows and programs. If you haven’t already noticed their ad on the right side of the Brew for tonight’s show, take note. From 7-11pm tonight, they’re hosting the opening for Kevin Dart’s art book project “Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7,” in which Dart concocted an imaginary Sixties female super-spy and developed an entire history around her film career. In addition to Dart’s artwork, the book project includes contributions from other artists, many of whom work in animation: Bill Presing, Bob Logan, Bobby Pontillas, Brigette Barrager, Brittany Lee, Chris Turnham, Clio Chiang, Daniel Arriaga, Don Shank, Elizabeth Ito, Horia Dociu, Joey Chou, Jon Klassen, Josh Parpan, Justin Parpan, Megan Brain, Scott Morse, Sean Szeles, Stephane Coedel, Ted Mathot, and Victoria Ying. Full details about tonight’s event on the Gallery Nucleus website. If you can’t pick up the book at Gallery Nucleus tonight, it can also be ordered from the Fleet Street Scandal website.

Here is a trailer for the project, directed by Stephane Coedel and Kevin Dart: