My Life with MAD Magazine, Don Martin, Sergio Aragones & Antonio Prohías

Apparently, Fans of MAD Magazine, of whom I consider myself one, never forget the first edition of the magazine they encounter.  Well I can’t remember the first issue I came into contact with...

Before I’m accused of being not a true fan of the Magazine, let me explain why.  My first encounter with the usual gang of idiots came not through the Magazine, but the Paperbacks.  Whilst walking through a market in Devon, England, during the summer of 1984, I came across  “Burning MAD” & “MAD in orbit”.  These two books would cement my love for this Iconic piece of American Humor...

After purchasing these two books,  I went through a stage of finding numerous MAD paperbacks,  that it has completely slipped my mind when I must have thought, “Hey you enjoy these,  why not try the magazine.”

Three names really stick out when remembering these early purchases:

Sergio Aragones – Brilliant Pantomime Humour,  Wordless delights that highlight the Gentle Humour of being Human...  One of the first I remember is the MAD Look at Motorcycle Cops, where a Police Officer approaches a Car driven by a Formidable looking Woman...  Thinking better of it,  The Officer then approaches the other side to harangue her more timid looking, but obviously not driving Husband...  Sergio still writes for MAD today and also has other projects,  I’d seriously recommend checking out FANBOY,  a Comic series he did with Mark Evanier...  Further details  about him can be found at http://www.sergioaragones.com

Antonio Prohías – I Loved Spy Vs Spy,  I was too young to understand the Cold War content,  I just loved the hilarious ways the White and Black Spy’s would try and eliminate each other with their over-elaborate Booby-Traps...  Further details here:  http://www.spyvsspyhq.com/

Don Martin – My favourite was definitely The King of Onomatopoeia, Mr Don Martin.  No one epitomized MAD’s dedication to Visual Humor more than this, apparently, Quiet and Shy man from Patterson, New Jersey.   Although his strips invariably relied on Slapstick or Wordplay for the punchline, The anatomically challenged individuals he drew, with their Bulbous noses, Hinged Feet and elongated Limbs and fingers, drew (Pun intended) the readers in because they looked so bizarre and funny...  Like Sergio and Antonio, Don’s Cartoons could be wordless, (Except for the aforementioned Onomatopoeia) and are a delight to revisit again and again. One of my favourite Strips from the early paperbacks I encountered,  was the tale of a man on a bus who steals the seat of what looks like a frail old lady,  this lady then gets angry and twists this man’s head round... what follows is two fellow passengers twisting his head round constantly as they don’t like him staring at them,  one passenger takes pity on the man, but unfortunately it ends with him spinning out of the bus like a helicopter... Unfortunately my description of it does little justice to the humour and I’ve been unable to find a copy of it on the net or anywhere else.

Unfortunately the paperbacks and the magazine I owned have all bitten the dust,  fortunately Sergio Aragones work is still included in MAD and ‘Spy vs Spy’ is still there but not written by Antonio Prohías, (Who died in 1998,  Don Martin Died in 2000)  Luckily many of the old strips are available in new Books being released,  like the one  in the picture below.

This book contains many of the strips I remember and some new ones too...  Unfortunately not the one on the bus mentioned earlier.

Thank you Sergio,  Antonio & Don,  without you all I may not be the Visual Humorist I like to think I am today...

Ten Years of The Children’s Book Festival

October 14^th 2005 - 0515 hrs, A Lonely Poet boards a train taking him from Cork to Dublin…

OK, this is a slight exaggeration. I wasn’t lonely.  I was alone, due to my wife being unable to join me on my journey.  I was however too excited as I was travelling up to Dublin to give my first ever session for the Children’s Book Festival, the annual, countrywide celebration of Books and Reading, for DunLaoghaire-Rathdown Libraries.

It is now over ten years since this happened and I have done The Children’s Book Festival every year since then and it is the reason I really look forward to October.  The Joy I derive from boarding a Train on a brilliantly Autumnal day with the intention of sharing things I’ve created with a wonderfully receptive audience, who I hope enjoy it as much as me, is such that I find it difficult to put into words.   But nevertheless, the Joy is immense and it is down to this wonderful festival.

It started with me just reading my Poems to the Children, but it has grown to include Songs with me and my guitar and now I’m illustrating for the Children and getting them to illustrate too. Every Session is different, and the Audience participation sections are a total joy & splendidly received.

Thanks to this Festival I have been all over the Country of Ireland, as well as DunLaoghaire-Rathdown,  I’ve been to:

Westmeath, Cork City, Cork County, Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Mayo, Kilkenny, Clare, Monaghan, Donegal, Kildare and many more great places.

I’d like to Thank all the Library Services, and Librarians, that have facilitated me and allowed me to share my Art,  and I’d also like to send a Thank you to the organisation that created and puts on this wonderful festival, Children’s Books Ireland.  Also I'd Like to Thank Eileen O'Sullivan, who was Cork City Children's Librarian in 2005.  She gave me my first performance as part of Cork 2005, which made way for my sessions with the Children's book Festival.

This year, on the day of the tenth anniversary of my first performance, 14^th October, I was Reading, Drawing & Singing at Westmeath Libraries.  My Wife, who has also been a participant for this festival, came with me this time, and we decided to make a bit of a break of it.  We stayed at Hodson Bay, Hotel on Lough Ree, and had a most relaxing time, Bird Watching and Chilling out at this most scenic of places…  In the middle of this was two wonderful performances of Songs, Verse and Illustrations for the Children of Westmeath…

Looking forward to next year’s festival…

More information on the Children's Book Festival, please use the following link: http://www.childrensbooksireland.com

Here’s a Few Photos from various Children’s Book Festivals through the past ten years…

New Picture Books - Four Wacky Tales & The Dog Of Edward Aloysius Grey

This Blog has been neglected far too long...

I shall now make amends by telling you all about my latest writing and illustrating Exercise...

Four Wacky Tales – Written and Illustrated by Paul H. Tubb

Out now from Emu Ink comes four tales in one handy collection from the Creative Mind of Comic Poet and Humorous Illustrator Paul H. Tubb…

Each of the four tales are hilarious, illustrated, rhyming stories, that feature odd characters and even odder scenarios.

All four are perfect antidotes to boredom for Children of all ages.

The four tales are:

Ten Princesses – Prince Edwin doesn’t want to be Prince, so he comes up with a plan to change his position, but he needs help to achieve it.

The Dog of Edward Aloysius Grey – Take a trip through the mind of a Crazy Canine. (Also Available in Paperback at the Link Below)

Scaring Jeremiah – An Old man tells scary stories to Children, but there is one Child he’s unable to scare. He wants to scare this Child so much that he comes up with an unorthodox idea to help him… Will it work?

Jeremy Doesn’t Like Jam – Jeremy has to convince his Jam obsessed mother that he doesn’t share her passion for Jam, but she just won’t listen to him. Who will she listen to?

All four narratives are available individually to rent from Emu Ink, or to purchase as an entire collection. Click on a links below for more information.

   

Here is a picture of me with my new paperback version of the Dog of Edward Aloysius Grey

200 Years Since the Birth of Mr Lear

As a practitioner of the art of turning the world upside down using verse and illustrations, it would be churlish and infantile of me, especially during his bicentennial year, not to recognize the Debt I owe to Mr. Edward Lear…

The debt I owe him is not a question of influence, I love reading about the exploits of toeless Pobbles and Cross Species Weddings, but if I’d never had read a single word written by Mr Lear I’d still owe him the debt, for the simple reason that no one is as synonymous with Nonsense Literature, Nonsense Verse and Nonsense pictures as Edward Lear.

Theodore Geisel may have examined life through the wrong end on the telescope, but the telescope was set up and polished by Mr Lear and for this, I am forever grateful…

So this year is 200 years since Edward Lear’s birth and numerous events are in the planning.

There are two wonderful sites dedicated to Lear’s work and other nonsense writings and I would suggest all pop along to take a look. To those unfamiliar with Mr Lear’s work, these sites are great places to become acquainted… The Sites are:

http://nonsenselit.wordpress.com/about/

And

http://leardiaries.wordpress.com/

Events planned for the bicentennial are also listed within the first Blog….

And if you’re wondering what the fuss was about, let the following video point you in the direction of some wonderful Nonsense…

Sherlock Holmes Related Post 3 - How Cumberbatch's Holmes Survived the Fall, The Clue?

According to Steven Moffatt, there is a clue in the final episode of Sherlock that helps solve the, 'How Did Sherlock Survive?'  Question...

I believe, after watching it twice, second time whilst rewinding and pausing,  that St Paul's Cathedral is the Clue...

The first attempt Jim has of persuading Mr Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes that he should jumpyou can clearly see that the Dome of the Cathedral is directly behind Sherlock... (See below Jim is walking away from him then turns to face Sherlock)

He starts giggling and jumps off the ledge towards Moriarty to inform him that he's not going to jump whilst he can change Moriarty's mind...

After Moriarty shoots himself we see Sherlock step back on a ledge and whilst on the phone to John we clearly the dome of the Cathedral is level with him... (See Below)

This is what I believe...

Sherlock Holmes Related Post 2 - House of Silk, Irregulars, Sidney Paget, Holmes related Cartoon

In the world of Modern-Day versions of Sherlock Holmes, Anthony Horowitz’s House of Silk has been pushed into the category of old news, thanks to Messrs Cumberbatch and Downey Jnr’s versions of the Worlds Greatest Detective.
So being a finger-on-the-pulse, up-to-date kind of guy, I’ve decided to write about House of Silk…

I have to be honest, before House of Silk I never read any other Book written by Anthony Horowitz, or watched much Midsomer Murders, so I didn’t know if it was a good fit, although my optimism was put in place by an endorsement of the Conan-Doyle estate… So I was relatively confident I’d enjoy it…

And I did… I thought it was well written, engaging, longer than any Conan-Doyle, Holmes Novel but that didn’t seem to matter… I thought it was a very good addition to the canon, and will enjoy a re-read as soon as I feel it needs to be read again…

But, I do have two problems that I would like to mention:

the first concerns the Baker Street Irregulars, the scruffy little urchins that are occasionally called in to help Mr. ‘Olmes, due to their inconspicuousness, underrated intelligence and loyalty… Well I get the impression that Mr. Horowitz isn’t keen on them or their use within the canon…

They are used within the story, but there are consequences because of their use, also Wiggins comes across as quite rude, uncaring and flippant when talking to Holmes. This is something I’d never have deduced from Study in Scarlet, or their other appearances in the original stories. Horowitz seems interested to highlight the dangers that Holmes places these homeless urchins when they help him… Using their appearance as a sort of moral, don’t put them in danger, message… This is a message that may have a place, but not in a Sherlock Holmes Story…

I suppose in a way I’m biased in favour of the irregulars, as my introduction into the worlds of Sherlock Holmes came in the form of the Arthur books written by the hilarious, and sadly missed, Alan Coren and also a Children’s BBC television series entitled the Baker Street Boys, that detailed the life of these lovable scamps as they solved crimes… I can’t find any clips on-line but I did discover that the future Ian Beale was in it…

And the second problem I have, is one I am almost embarrassed to mention… It is not anything within the control of Anthony Horowitz and therefore it is not an improvement that can be made by him… But I still believe the story would be better presented with some Sidney Paget style illustrations… Obviously with Mr. Paget being deceased since 1908, I’m not suggesting we channel his artistic spirit via a medium, but somebody who could produce Paget type illustrations would have been nice to have…

The reason I believe it would be an improvement, I suppose, is because of my role as illustrator and cartoonist to my own literary efforts, I guess I’m just pro-illustration… But also I do really like the illustrations of Mr. Paget, he was after all the man who placed the Deer Stalker hat in our collective connection with Sherlock Holmes, Conan-Doyle never mentioned. Also the first stories I owned of Sherlock Holmes contained no illustrations, future purchases did and I believe the illustrations add something yet remove nothing from the experience…

So all in all, the book is a pleasant and engaging read that will be read again… Congratulations Mr. Horowitz.

P.S. I would like it clearly noted that I would certainly never put myself forward as illustrator… I would not be able to manage the lifelike, intrinsic type work of Sidney Paget, you can view some of his work here, The closest I can come to a Sherlock Holmes Illustration is the terrible pun illustrated below…

Cartoon For Valentines Day

Cartoon For Valentines Day