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Figure THIS one out.

Happy Birthday Caroll Spinney

Caroll Spinney, Muppet performer behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, as well as being one of the few surviving members of the original SESAME STREET cast, turned 82 today.  Talk about being an old grouch!

Salem News: Trashing Trees

Just DAYS before Christmas, the Department of Housing and Community Development forced a number of struggling homeless families currently being put up in local hotels under placement services to literally get rid of any Xmas trees and decorations those families managed to scrounge up, citing the reason "fire hazard", leaving many children devastated and the community in an uproar, doubting the legitimacy of the DHCD's reasoning. (This NEVER came up before. Why NOW?) So for now, all the decorations are in the dumpsters. My cartoon as published in the 12/23/2015 SALEM NEWS.

It's All Too Much

Well, what KIND of holiday greetings did you expect from ME???

CREATIVE CHARACTERS 2015 Holiday Card

This year's annual holiday card I drew for Brigid Kaye and the staff for her media company CREATIVE CHARACTERS, based in Philadelphia. The "20" on the ice is meant to indicate the company's twentieth anniversary. For myself, this is the TWELTH consecutive year of illustrating their card. Happy 20th anniversary, Brigid!!

Salem News: Attack of the Balrog

The saga continues: The KINDER-MORGAN corporation wants to install a rather large and pipeline through a good length of the North shore area, much of it woodlands. Many of the landowners in those areas, some of them already suffered damaging effects of previous related works thru their properties (with no compensation, either) are absolutely against the pipeline, to the point of not speaking to or allowing any corporate officials or even surveyors on their land. No telling how this will go next, but there is a possibility Kinder-Morgan may try eminent domain. My cartoon from the 12/17/2015 SALEM NEWS.

Miser Wars

It's the season for old Christmas TV specials, a new STAR WARS is coming out..do the math.

Salem News: Debt To Society

A bill is under consideration to have people held in prison pay for their prison costs, but given the low pay of prison work compared to the costs themselves, the saying "Paying your debt to society" takes on a whole new meaning. My cartoon from the 12/14/2015 SALEM NEWS.

You See A Lot Of These Around the Holidays…..

Mystery Solved

For those of you following THE MUPPETS series on ABC and have been wondering: Why hasn't Walter appeared yet?

KRAMPUS!

At last, something about the Xmas season I can enjoy…..

Happy Hanukah!

Some Romantic Evening

TOUGHPIGS Sesame Street/Comics Mashup Contest: The Final Round

In my last post, I showed the first eight entries to the TOUGHPIGS Sesame Street Comics mashup contest. These are the ones that made the final round and the outcome. You can see ALL the entries (mine and everybody else's) at www.toughpigs.com.

First up: Editor's Pick.

And the overall winner. I came in at fourth place, but I AM getting a signed copy of the SESAME STREET comic book published bt APE entertainment, so I'd call it FAR from a loss.

TOUGHPIGS Sesame Street/Comics Mashup Contest Entries: The Runners-Up

The Top Muppet fan website I often do artwork for, TOUGHPIGS, ran a contest for the best artwork combining SESAME STREET Muppets with elements of comic book /strip characters. Twenty artists entered around forty pieces and I contributed twelve myself. The runners-up were announced on the site today and these are my pieces that made that  category..(I'll post any further winning pieces, if any, in a later post.)

After Thanksgiving Dinner

Salem News: Thanksgiving 2015

My cartoon from the 11/26/2015 SALEM NEWS. In a way, the paper itself proved the point of my cartoon. When I bought the paper this morning, it was HUGE, at least FIVE TIMES as thick as it normally is because of all the Black Friday sales flyers and inserts (which I promptly tossed into the recycling bin) shoved inside. Them's the times, I guess.

Salem News: Tobacco Revenue

For the high revenue Massachusetts cigarette taxes-among the highest in the nation-are getting, very little of that revenue is going to smoking cessation and education programs. My cartoon as published in the 11/19/2015 SALEM NEWS.

Salem News: Massage Parlor Bill

A chain of Massage Parlors is trying to get the Sunday Blue laws pertaining to their industry repealed, but without the pay scale that other workers get. My cartoon as published in the 11/16/2015 SALEM NEWS.

Chewbacca? No. More like Chew-Bunga..

Captain Caveman goes "Star Wars". Unga Bunga.

Groucho Barx

I'm sure SOMETHING like this has been done before…

Deadly Therapy

Based on the 2015 THE MUPPETS tv series. When you work with Miss Piggy, you need SOME major way of dealing with stress.

When Puppeteers Have Children

I admit this is based on theory. But I wouldn't be surprised if this was a common occurrence.

Darkwing Duck

The error…..er, TERROR that quacks in the night.

Chip

This Muppet character first popped up on THE JIM HENSON HOUR, as the technician behind the pirate TV station known as GORILLA TELEVISION, with his cohorts Ubu and Zondra, He was a background character in MUPPETS TONIGHT(!) and finally gets prominence in the current ABC'S THE MUPPETS. He was based on the current series' developer/creator BILL PRADY, who started his career working for Jim Henson.

Happy Halloween, Doc!

Salem News: Pipeline Wars

The controversial Kinder-Morgan pipeline project around our Massachusetts area is steaming up. The company is paying the lobbyists big bucks and the opponents who don't want the pipeline tearing up pristine property and land`are both preparing for battle. Article 97 is an amendment the opponents hope that will bring this controversy under Federal Court scrutiny. My cartoon as published in the 10/30/2015 SALEM NEWS.

Salem News: Early Plows

Over 70,000 people are expected to show up in Salem Halloween day. Roads may start closing as early as NOON in order to accommodate the crowds. HOW will the city handle it? My cartoon from the 10/29/2015 SALEM NEWS.

Salem News: Giving Vets A Break

Even sadder considering how many Vets can't even FIND homes-much less get the benefits they deserve. My cartoon as published in the 10/28/2015 SALEM NEWS.

For Art's Sake: Model Problem

Cover and the first of three stories from an "ashcan" comic I produced many years ago for self-promotion at conventions. My apologies if some of the humor seems too risque.

For Art's Sake: Good God, Charlie Brown!

I know PEANUTS satires are nothing new.( this one appeared in the COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE in 1997) I'm not sure how I came up with this one, but I do know that although I thought PEANUTS was a good strip, the treatment of Charlie Brown often was a bit too much for me to take. (maybe due to I got a TON of that similar treatment in real-life during my own childhood) I've always wondered (or wished) what would happen If good ol' Charlie Brown ever reached his limit. (which sadly, seems to be happening with real-life people way too often these days) In any case, since the PEANUTS movie is coming soon…I really liked how I drew the last panel, with my talking easel Monet giving that Schulz-like smirk.

Crazy Cat Lady

Get Out Of Town! It's The Witching Clown!

Halloween is coming…..

The Lonely Asparagus Sketch: Epilogue

Even if you've seem the old Carol Burnett MUPPET SHOW episode, you may have to check out Jim Henson's Purina Dog Chow commercials online to fully understand this one.