Christmas Moon

Call me cynical, But my favorite part of the holidays is when they end. THAT'S peace on Earth. Happy Holidays to all, despite my attitude!

Holiday Party

My latest from THE COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. (see links)

Feeling Miserly

Given the financial situation this year,Somehow this came to mind..And given the Miser Brothers sections of the old YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS special are classic..

Hopefully the upcoming new special on ABC family will be better than that foul live-action remake they broadcast last year.

And Another Thanksgiving Day Parade

This one I used in THE SALEM (MA) News..I think it's rather timely, given the country's situation.

CBG Thanksgiving Day Parade

My latest installment of FOR ART'S SAKE that appears in THE COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE.
I decided to try and do a comics-industry based take on Thanksgiving day parades.. I admit that maybe this one should have been a little more thought out.

Even More Muppet Fan Art.

My latest from http://www.toughpigs.com/

Check out the site! You'll be somewhat amazed you did!

The Truly Bad Thing About the Election...

Mid-Life Crisis

I turn 46 today. Big whoop.

Death Gets A Holiday

This cartoon is no joke. In (Salem's) neighboring city of Peabody; MA, the city administration, led by Mayor Michael Bonfanti, recently negoiated a new contract with the city's Police Union.

The contract, besides granting a pay raise, also added a provision that- get this-makes Sept.11 a paid holiday in which the police get time-and-a half whether they work or not.

Needless to say, there has been a massive public outrage. Although many agree that the Police should receive adequate compensation for a dangerous job, and that 9/11 should be at LEAST a day of remembrance, making it a union perk- at taxpayer's cost, at that- is both a dishonor and an insult to both the victims AND the heroes of that tragic day.

And of course, both Mayor Bonfanti AND Police Union prez Manny Costa both claim they hadn't anticipated the public reaction. Well, Hello??

Not many people like to cash a check made out in blood..

'Tis the Season....

I love Halloween. It's always a bittersweet time for me. I just don't enjoy it as much as I used to..

I live in Salem, MA, best known for the historic Salem Witch Trails, which this city capitalizes on big time to the point of becoming the "Halloween Capital of the World"

You'd think being in the center of it all, I'd have a great time, right? Used to be I'd make myself a sweet costume, go to a party or two or walk around town in the crowds getting pictures of myself taken by tourists and gawking at all the other costumes, right?

Wrong.

Halloween in Salem has gotten WAY too successful, Way too big..While that's good for the city economy, that's not good for people like me who would like to simply enjoy the holiday.

The crowds are well, crowded, it takes like an hour just to walk a ten -yard distance, the admission price to the best parties has gone up at least fivefold ($100 a person? yeah, RIGHT!!)

not to mention that we're a college town, and that means LOTS of drunken, obnoxious assholes

from all over the place in the mix, which means civility goes flying out the window. The last few years I dared to go out in costume I've been groped, assaulted, and one time, even whipped. Never mind trying to get a cop in a crowd like that.

I just decided that it just wasn't worth the trouble anymore. All the fun had been taken out of it for me. For the past few years, I"ve just gotten out of work before the tourism traffic fouled up the buses and just stayed in my apartment until the following morning. I could always catch the highlights on the news or the Public Access channel later.

Don't let my bad experiences prevent you from having a happy Halloween. Just don't let things get you more than you can handle.

Too much hype.

For Art's Sake: Cosplay

My latest installment of my strip FOR ART'S SAKE from COMIC BUYER'S GUIDE.

I think the month of Halloween is a VERY appropriate time for a cosplay- based episode, eh?

(COSPLAY is when Comic/Fantasy/Anime/Sci-Fi fans design, build,and wear elaborate costumes based on their favorite games, characters, tv shows, etc.)

Bailout For WHO???

This is what the $700 BILLION Finanacial Industries Bailout (with added sweeteners) is going to come down to..and you can bet it's business as usual.

More Muppet Fan Art

As you know from a previous post. I contribute art to the Muppet fansite TOUGHPIGS. These are the latest ones.

http://www.toughpigs.com/

Getting the Ax

I live in Salem, MA, known as the "Witch City" for being the area of the historical "Salem Witch Trails" this tends to get us a LOT of tourists during the Halloween season, in fact,the high point of Salem's Tourism season are the last couple months towatrd Halloween., during which the city runs a LOT of Haunted Houses, Witch Museums, Witchcraft Shops,Fortune-Tellers,(Often on borderline tacky and tasteless) you get the picture.

The latest addition is called THE TRUE STORY OF LIZZIE BORDEN MUSEUM. In my capacatity as local issue cartoonist for THE SALEM NEWS, I offered my take on what the souvenir stand for a museum like that would be..

Three Comics

Three works of mine that were never published.

Welcome To Avenue Q!

This piece falls under nostalgia for me..Thru the TOUGHPIGS site, a number of us had been discussing a New Broadway play called AVENUE Q.. a satrical adult spoof of Sesame-Street type TV shows and many of us were thinking of seeing it..I had gotten the original soundtrack CD out of curiosity and absolutely fell in love with it! A bunch of us actually decided to get together in New York and take in a performance! For me this meant taking a Greyhound from Boston to New York!

This would be a day to remember..to pass the hours before the performance, TOUGHPIGS founder Danny Horn (Bless you, Danny!) had gotten in touch with CRAIG SHEMIN, Muppets writer, one of the heads of THE JIM HENSON FOUNDATION, and husband of AVENUE Q star STEPHANIE D'ABRUZZO! Graig graciously invited us over to the old Henson photo studios for an afternoon of old behind-the scenes stories and screenings of rare Muppets footage, including a tape of most of MUPPET SHOW LIVE from MUPPETFEST! A GREAT afternoon was had by all, and to say that Craig was a charming , gracious, and funny host would be an understatement!

Wanting to do something special for the occasion, and using the photos from the CD as reference, I drew up the picture shown at the top. We went to the show, and it was funny and brillant. All of it. the songs, the actors, the puppetry...God, yes.

After the show, we managed to go meet the cast outside, where I presented the drawing (On behalf of Toughpigs) to Stephanie. The cast were quite impressed. (Not to brag, but it went over BIG)

Sometimes I wonder if they still have-or who does have the original drawing..

The photos posted here are of me presenting the original drawing to the cast after the show..(I'm the fat ugly guy with the stringy hair and the bald spot) The bottom photo is us with the cast.

If you ever accidentally read this, Craig, thank you for a WONDERFUL time.. and forgive me for saying this, but your wife is VERY talented and beautiful!

For Art's Sake

These are samples of my Strip, FOR ART'S SAKE, I've been doing the past 15+ years for THE COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE (CBG) I use the strip to skewer comic books, cartoons, collecting, superheroes, and the industry in general. These are from recent issues.

God,I Love The Muppets!

As whoever may have read my profile may have guessed, I am a MAJOR Muppet fan. I've contributed Muppet fan art to MUPPETZINE, Drawn the E-cards for MUPPET CENTRAL, as well as the website TOUGHPIGS. I was also MUPPETZINE editor Jim Lewis' biggest nightmare for about four years as I was CONSTANTLY submiting stuff to him! (Nearly made it in a couple of times, too! ) I still have all his rejection slips! (And he always took the time to write each one personally-much appreciated!)

I had slowed down for awhile at TOUGHPIGS, but now, I'm trying to get back in the groove and increase my artistic presence on the site, starting with the three pieces you see here.. If you want to see more, check put the archives at http://www.toughpigs.com You'll find LOTS of great stuff there! (Besides the pictures, that is!)

Contest Entry

The CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS in Atlanta; Ga. is holding a contest for a sign to put on one of their outside walls. The piece above is my entry. (www.puppetry.org)

The Daily Show

Today on THE DAILY SHOW with John Stewart: Michael Moore takes jabs at George W. Bush.

Now, wasn't that silly?

Art, My Goddess!

I'm not heavily into Manga, but whether you are or not, one series you should definetly check out is a series called OH MY GODDESS by Kosuke Fujisama. The series is a very hilarious romantic comedy-drama with a good dollop of the supernatural tossed in. Funny, dark, and hearwarming.,Fujisama's artwork is utterly amazing, as he graws some of the most intricate machinery and gorgeous women I've ever seen in ANY comics! The art here is a fan piece I sent over to OMG's US publishers, Dark Horse Comics, and they actually used it in their recent

release of OH MY GODDESS Vol#28! Thanks for the honor, Dark Horse! (The Character, BTW, Is Megumi Morisato, sister of the male lead, Keiichi Morisato)

Welcome To My New But rather Still Under Construction Blog!

Hello, My name is Chris Smigliano, and I'm a cartoonist..Not a famous one, not a steadily working one, and definitely not a rich one, but still a cartoonist, nonetheless..Aside from the occassional freelance job, I've also been doing the strip FOR ART'S SAKE for the nationally -distributed COMICS BUYERS GUIDE for the last 15-odd years and have been doing local issue cartoons for THE SALEM (MA) NEWS for the last eight. I'm not the most open person around, but in this blog, I'd like to be able to share my works and opinions with you, old and new! (The above cartoon is from the latest COMIC'S BUYER'S GUIDE , a tribute to the recently departed comics writer and creator of Howard the Duck, the great STEVE GERBER. )