The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco will be presenting a major exhibit of Harvey Comics artwork, “From Richie Rich to Wendy the Witch: The Art of Harvey Comics” from June 28 through November 30. Casper, Wendy, Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, Sad Sack, Joe Palooka, Little Dot, Little Audrey and many more will be showcased with original art from various Harvey comic books and merchandise by stalwarts such as Warren Kremer (1921-2003), who along with animator Steve Muffatti (1880-1968), defined the Harvey look.

The exhibition features artwork by Warren Kremer, Ernie Colón, Sid Couchey, Howard Post, Fred Rhoads, Ham Fisher, Dom Sileo, Marty Taras, and many more. Image above, a Bill Tytla Little Audrey gag drawing, will not be in the show (but you can click here to see a larger image). Details regarding the opening reception and other upcoming Harvey events will be announced shortly on the Museum’s website.

(Thanks, Karl Cohen)

As written up on the Brew yesterday, Dumm Comics is a new daily comic site launched by some of the today’s top talents working in TV animation. All of the Dumm artists recently worked on Nickelodeon’s El Tigre!, and prior to that, their combined credits include The Buzz on Maggie, Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon, Mucha Lucha!, Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Dexter’s Laboratory, The Ripping Friends and Teamo Supremo, to name just a few.

This past Tuesday, May 20, I conducted an online chat via instant messaging with all the comic artists involved in Dumm Comics: Luke Cormican, Ricky Garduno, Fred Osmond, Katie Rice, Gabe Swarr and Sean Szeles. Our conversation touches on a wide range of subjects: why a group of successful animation artists would choose to branch into comics, artistic influences, Cintiqs, their working process, and what’s wrong with the TV animation biz. To maintain the flavor of our rapid-fire anything-goes IM exchange, I’m presenting the discussion largely in its original form and with minimal edits.

Discussion follows after the jump.
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Skadi by Katie Rice and Luke Cormican

Beautifully drawn cartoony comics are now available on a daily basis at Dumm Comics. The site was started by some of the most talented folks currently working in the TV animation biz (I know because I’ve worked with a number of them in the past), and every weekday one of them presents a new comic: Big Pants Mouse by Gabe Swarr on Mondays, Through the Port-Hole by Sean Szeles on Tuesdays, Skadi by Katie Rice and Luke Cormican on Wednesdays, 1930 Nitemare Theatre by Ricky Garduno on Thurdays, and Earthward-Ho! by Fred Osmond on Fridays.

I recnetly conducted an online roundtable chat with all the Dumm artists involved, and will be posting that tomorrow. It’s a lively and fascinating discussion that you won’t want to miss.

Today’s The Argyle Sweater, Scott Hilburn’s new panel cartoon, recently launched in 130 newspapers by Universal Press.

The Wexner Center for The Arts at Ohio State University in Columbus is opening a show devoted to animator-turned-comic book great, Jeff Smith, in May. The exhibit will include about 70 original BONE pages and covers, work from his recent SHAZAM! series and current RASL project, and work by artists who have influenced him including Walt Kelly, Charles Schulz, Garry Trudeau, Carl Barks, George Herriman, E.C. Segar, and Will Eisner. Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library will be hosting a sidebar show at the same time that features Jeff’s work when he was a cartoonist for the Ohio State student newspaper back in the 80s.

In addition, The Wexner Center will host a number of related panels and events, including a conversation between Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud on May 10th at 2pm; and A Looney Tunes Evening with Jeff Smith, where Jeff will introduce a selection of WB cartoons that most-influenced BONE (especially the Chuck Jones ‘hunting trilogy’), on June 5th at 7pm.

See the Wexner website for more information.

Cartoonist Sherm Cohen (Spongebob Squarepants, The Mighty B) has a great blog where, for the last several weeks, he’s been posting complete comic book stories from the golden age. His latest post is a Milt Gross classic starring Count Screwloose and previous posts include Jim Tyer Heckle & Jeckle (panel above), Sam Spade Wildroot Creme Oil ads, and some of the wildest Jack Kirby, Wally Wood and Dan Gordon comics I’ve ever seen. Check out Cartoon Snap.

The latest compilation book of vintage Harvey Comics, Hot Stuff - Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 3 is now on sale (though the official publication date is technically next Wednesday, March 26). Leslie Cabarga and I present the best stories and art from this classic Harvey series, which features (in my humble opinion) the finest comic art that Warren Kremer and Howard Post ever did for the company. Leslie laid out the book, and touched up the color art and original black & white proofs for outstanding reproduction, I provide a historical overview of the strip in my Introduction, and Harvey expert Mark Arnold contributes an informative Foreword. Check out the amazon link to see a preview of several pages. For 480 pages of devilish fun (only $13.57 on amazon), you can’t go wrong.

Wink-wink, nudge-nudge… An in-joke in today’s Family Circus. The strip’s creator, Bil Keane, is Glen Keane’s father. Jeffy (aka Jeff Keane) is Glen’s brother.