SCAPEGOATMAN COMICS
Like all Chicago baseball fans, I was watching that fateful night in 2003 when tragedy struck our team in the playoffs yet again.
I loved comics as a kid, and the curse of the goat along with the name of that poor soul who many people wrongfully blamed for the whole mess blended together in my brain...Superman -- Spider-man -- Scape Goatman!!!
After that, the bad gags just poured out like rain at a doubleheader. I found artist Ed Raza to draw the strip, and took it to a printer along with some of my favorite "Quirks", and Scape Goatman Comics were born! It was 2004, and I took some copies to a local sports convention, and sold 30 in three or four hours! I was elated, but also bummed out, too, because along with all the happy folks that thought it was a great idea, there were a few true blue fans who gave me the evil stink eye.
I didn't want to be known only as a guy who made fun of Chicago sports teams. So I shelved Scape until I thought that the wounds had healed, and when I could get all my projects together, to let everyone know that I am not about negativity, I just like to poke a little fun at everyday life. Hopefully, scapegoatman.com will prove that to even the most loyal fans. I just sold 300 copies at the Chicago Comicon!
I want to hear your questions and comments. Would you all like to see a second issue?
Purchase the full issue #1 now!
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QUIRKS COMICS
THE ORIGIN OF QUIRKS
When I heard the news, I thought to myself, what are all the papers around the world going to do with the corner of the comic section that Larsen had occupied for years? Maybe I could be the one who took over, with my own style of humor! I could never be as imaginative or draw as well, but I felt I had kind of a knack for droll gags. Hey, my jokes had been making people gag for years!
The ideas came so easily, I couldn't draw them fast enough. But my cartooning was so primitive at first, I was ashamed to show them to anybody but my closest friends. I kept at it, and my art got a little better, so I took the first 100 I drew (that's right, 100...I didn't know you were only supposed to send in 24), and I sent them off to all the comic syndicates. I got rejection forms from every one of them, but on the letter from King Features Syndicate, Jay Kennedy, the President of the company, actually hand-wrote that, basically, he thought the jokes were decent, but my art needed to improve.
I tried taking an art class taught by Denis Kitchen at the Discovery Center, but it was cancelled at the last minute, so I just drew up the best cartoons I had ever drawn and sent them in. I was deadly certain I was going to be rich and famous in no time. I even bragged a little to my friends, something I hardly ever do. Never heard from them again.
Sooooo, another project got tossed in the bottom drawer...until now! At Scapegoatman.com, you can see the original first Quirks, and some of the new ones I've just drawn. If there is a professional cartoonist out there who would like to work pro bono on this strip with me until we can get a deal going, PLEASE EMAIL ME IMMEDIATELY!!!
Hope you like them!
Back in the early 1990's, the world was shocked and saddened to hear that Gary Larsen was retiring "The Far Side". I was never a huge fan that ran out and bought books and calendars, but I always read it when we got the newspaper, and I really appreciated the originality of the strip. Some of them, like the Mummy in the toilet stall, or the kid trying to push the door in at genius school, make me smile every time I think of them.
When I heard the news, I thought to myself, what are all the papers around the world going to do with the corner of the comic section that Larsen had occupied for years? Maybe I could be the one who took over, with my own style of humor! I could never be as imaginative or draw as well, but I felt I had kind of a knack for droll gags. Hey, my jokes had been making people gag for years!
The ideas came so easily, I couldn't draw them fast enough. But my cartooning was so primitive at first, I was ashamed to show them to anybody but my closest friends. I kept at it, and my art got a little better, so I took the first 100 I drew (that's right, 100...I didn't know you were only supposed to send in 24), and I sent them off to all the comic syndicates. I got rejection forms from every one of them, but on the letter from King Features Syndicate, Jay Kennedy, the President of the company, actually hand-wrote that, basically, he thought the jokes were decent, but my art needed to improve.
I tried taking an art class taught by Denis Kitchen at the Discovery Center, but it was cancelled at the last minute, so I just drew up the best cartoons I had ever drawn and sent them in. I was deadly certain I was going to be rich and famous in no time. I even bragged a little to my friends, something I hardly ever do. Never heard from them again.
Sooooo, another project got tossed in the bottom drawer...until now! At Scapegoatman.com, you can see the original first Quirks, and some of the new ones I've just drawn. If there is a professional cartoonist out there who would like to work pro bono on this strip with me until we can get a deal going, PLEASE EMAIL ME IMMEDIATELY!!!
Hope you like them!
MYTHICAL CREATURES OF THE 21ST CENTURY COMICS
MYTHICAL CREATURES ORIGIN
I stepped back, a little shocked. What the heck could have set off the alarm? There wasn't even another car that driving past, not a cat, a rat, or even a lightning bug! I wandered back to bed, muttering "Must've been a gremlin!" And that's how "Mythical Creatures of the 21st Century" were born!!!
I immediately realized that this idea would make a great Quirks cartoon, and scribbled it down, then went back to sleep. The next day, I created "Bleeper, the Car Alarm Gremlin"! A few days later, I lost my keys, and I thought up "Kent Findum, The Car Key Leprechaun"! A couple weeks after that, I was really tired at work for no reason, and "Lethargia, The Energy Vampire " was born!
After a while, I began to figure that this was too big of an idea, that I could create a whole gang of characters in the same vein, and came up with the concept for a calendar featuring all of them. I paid an artist to draw twelve of my best creatures, and started writing poems to go along with the art.
Then I went to the library to check out the internet (yes, I was still too cheap to get the internet at home!). I copied down all the calendar publishing companies I could find, and sent them my copyrighted ideas. Not one of them was the least bit interested, that is, of course, I wanted to put up the money to print it myself!
And so, another George creation was buried in the bottom drawer, only to be resurrected for scapegoatman.com!!!
Hope you like them!
Late one night, back in the early 1990's, while I was working on "Quirks" cartoons, I was startled into consciousness by the blaring of a car alarm outside my apartment. I jumped out of bed, ready to scream angrily at the punks who were responsible from the safety of my second story window. I reached the glass in a flash, but before I could yell, I realized that there was absolutely no one out there. Not a soul.
I stepped back, a little shocked. What the heck could have set off the alarm? There wasn't even another car that driving past, not a cat, a rat, or even a lightning bug! I wandered back to bed, muttering "Must've been a gremlin!" And that's how "Mythical Creatures of the 21st Century" were born!!!
I immediately realized that this idea would make a great Quirks cartoon, and scribbled it down, then went back to sleep. The next day, I created "Bleeper, the Car Alarm Gremlin"! A few days later, I lost my keys, and I thought up "Kent Findum, The Car Key Leprechaun"! A couple weeks after that, I was really tired at work for no reason, and "Lethargia, The Energy Vampire " was born!
After a while, I began to figure that this was too big of an idea, that I could create a whole gang of characters in the same vein, and came up with the concept for a calendar featuring all of them. I paid an artist to draw twelve of my best creatures, and started writing poems to go along with the art.
Then I went to the library to check out the internet (yes, I was still too cheap to get the internet at home!). I copied down all the calendar publishing companies I could find, and sent them my copyrighted ideas. Not one of them was the least bit interested, that is, of course, I wanted to put up the money to print it myself!
And so, another George creation was buried in the bottom drawer, only to be resurrected for scapegoatman.com!!!
Hope you like them!
THE MOONCHIES
THE ORIGIN OF THE MOONCHIES
I immediately thought, "Hey - wow - cool!" Originally, I was going to call them "Moonies", I don't remember why. But that's what some cult leader from Korea called his followers, so the Moonchies were born!
I was really into Conan-type stuff back then, so instead of developing him into a cute Saturday morning TV star, I made him into the leader of a group of forest-dwelling creatures who were attacked by evil robots!
Their maniacal cyborg leader wanted to tear down the forest and build a city, but the Moonchies and their pals liked the forest the way it was (even then I was into the environmental stuff!).
The Moonchies were the first cartoon characters I ever created. Back in high school, I was just messing around, sketching goofy cartoons, when, out of nowhere, I drew this little alien teardrop head with a star on top.
I immediately thought, "Hey - wow - cool!" Originally, I was going to call them "Moonies", I don't remember why. But that's what some cult leader from Korea called his followers, so the Moonchies were born!
I was really into Conan-type stuff back then, so instead of developing him into a cute Saturday morning TV star, I made him into the leader of a group of forest-dwelling creatures who were attacked by evil robots!
Their maniacal cyborg leader wanted to tear down the forest and build a city, but the Moonchies and their pals liked the forest the way it was (even then I was into the environmental stuff!).
QUOTEBACKS
QUOTEBACKS
Books filled with famous quotes have always been popular, but the vast majority of avid readers have already heard or read many of them before. QUOTEbacks makes even the most celebrated quips and witticisms seem fresh and original by adding a funny new comeback to the end of each one!!!
Have fun, be silly but most of all, be humorous and creative!
Challenge your friends and family to top your response.
quotebacks.com
Do you have a funny comeback to a quote, silly saying or proverb?
PROVE IT TO US!!!!
Books filled with famous quotes have always been popular, but the vast majority of avid readers have already heard or read many of them before. QUOTEbacks makes even the most celebrated quips and witticisms seem fresh and original by adding a funny new comeback to the end of each one!!!
Have fun, be silly but most of all, be humorous and creative!
Challenge your friends and family to top your response.
quotebacks.com
