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INK BLOTS
by ED McGEEAN
New Direction for New Yorker
Bob Mankoff, The New Yorker magazine's new cartoon editor, announced in
the July/August NCS Cartoonist that he is open to new talent and new ideas.
But he warns that the publications standards remain very high. (The few
samples I've seen in the last two years were nowhere near as funny as the
Ross years, but to be fair to Mankoff these issues are from Teena Brown
and Lawrence Larriar.)
He says that they average a couple of thousand submissions
a week, hundreds from the contract artists themselves. It's still a crap
shoot, they buy 15 to 20 cartoons a week, with an average payoff of $1,000
per.
The Dec. 15 issue will be primarily cartoons. Mankoff noted
that it took him two years of submitting every week before he sold them
his first cartoon.
Andre LeBlanc
Andre LeBlanc was awarded the Order of Cruzeiro Do Sul, the highest honor
awarded in Brazil for culture service to the nation in the fields of art
and science. The award translates to the Order of the Southern Cross and
is Brazil's equivalent of France's Legion D'Honneur. LeBlanc received the
award from Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil.
Who is Andre LeBlanc, you ask?
To me, he was one of the best cartoonists in the forties.
About 1943 he drew a four-page comic, "Intellectual Amos," that
was added to CAPSer Will Eisner's "The Spirit" as a replacement
for S.R. Powell's "Mr. Mystic," in the comic book that was distributed
weekly with Sunday newspapers.
Amos was a spectacled, bookish little boy in bib overalls,
who was accompanied in his adventures by a green goblin named, Wilbur. It
was a thoroughly charming strip, with much of the charm, but none of the
vindictiveness of "Calvin and Hobbes."
LeBlanc is one of the few artists I was never able to add
to my collection of original art from those days, so I am unable to show
you a sample of his beautiful art.
High Price for Larson
CAPSer Lee Salem, vice president/creative director of Universal Press Syndicate
called me in reference to the Aug. 23 Howard Lowery auction and the Gary
Larson cow sketch that sold for $5,000.
Lee had sent Larson a copy of my item on this sale and
received a letter stating from Larson stating that he never drew the cow
and that the signature was also a forgery.
When I notified Lowery of this, he was shocked and said
he would call Salem and let me know the outcome.
Ever since auctions became a popular way for the public
to buy pieces of original comic art and the prices for some artists work
caused prices to escalate, I wondered how long it would take for scam artists
to start copying and selling art. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long
to happen. This is the first case I ever heard of, but I am sure that there
have been or will be other incidents.
I would be remiss in not noting that I have known Howard
Lowery ever since he began his business in Burbank. I feel he is very honest
and have bought a small number of originals for my personal collection at
past auctions and will continue to do so in the future.
Howard Lowery is as much of a victim here as the party
who paid over $5,000 (after the additional buyer's premium, taxes and shipping
cost, if any are added in).
©Ed McGeehan. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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