This Blog Isn't Dead After All

Egads! Has it been since July that I last posted?! Where have the months gone? Fear not, readers - the Zingerding Blog is coming back in January 2008. Readers? Do we still have readers? Is this thing on? Hello?

What's on the horizon, you ask? Hank and I have been developing a new strategy for the blog. Zingerding.com has been in development and is making headway. In preparation for the site, my bird partner and I will be bringing more value to you with comic strip instruction.

What do we mean by that? Well, we're going to give you all sorts of tips, advice and tricks of the trade for developing, writing, drawing and maintaining your very own comic strips. We'll cover humor writing, drawing techniques, digital tips, character design, comic theory and more!

We know you have some great ideas and we hope to inspire you! Happy new year and we'll see you soon!

What happened to the alligator and bird?

Don't worry Zingerfans, we're still here. Yeah, yeah, Hank and I haven't posted anything in a while. Give an alligator a break. I've been working on the Zingerding website and Hank had to go do this family migration thing.

Anyway, we'll be revving up the blog again shortly with more comic strip reviews, featured new talent and updates about the development of the site with our vision of the future of comic strips! So stay tuned!

Announcing the Future of Comic Strips!!!

Well Zingerfans, I have to admit that we've been holding out on you. Zingerding is not merely a blog. It's a plot to change the face of the funny pages forever. Today we announce Zingerding.com, a new website that will push the boundaries of what the internet can do for comic strips.

Click here to check out

Zingerding.com!

We're still working on the main site so after you get all zinged up, relax and be patient. Sign up on our email list and we'll keep you informed of when we're ready. And if you're a cartoonist, let us know because we want your comic strips!

We'll continue to bring you great and not-so-great strips through this blog but we'll also now be discussing what is to come. Isn't this the most exciting thing since... well, ever?

That's one Killer Whale of a Comic Strip!

Yo Zingerfans! A while back I featured a Pepsi and Pete comic strip advertisement for Pepsi Cola from 1941. Here is a modern comic form ad for Alaskan Summer Ale. They similarly end with drawings of the bottled beverages. Not much has changed there.


-- Click to enlarge.


I'd like to point out a few interesting zings about this strip. If you look at the five panels in the center, they are connected with arrows to guide the order with which you're supposed to read them. Now this has been done in comics before, especially in more experimental comic books where artists have the entire for unusual layouts. Now why are they in this comic? The natural order of reading panels is right to left, top to bottom. The arrows here point us in a circular order as if we are to read those five panels over and over, watching the killer whale do flips.

I'll argue these arrows unnecessary. They certainly are not needed in the top panels as those already follow the natural order, especially with the whale literally going from one panel into the other. And quite frankly, would this read any different if you read the bottom two panels in the opposite order of the arrows? Not much as you still get the effect of a crazy whale-riding rodeo. And then why didn't the artist just flop those two panels anyway? It's not that big of a deal and it's not like it ruins the comic, rather it's just my job to point these things out.

Also, I'm not that much a fan of puns but I like the zinger in this. "Killer Ale", it's not funny but it works!

One other zing. The sound effect lettering says SPLASH and... uh... ? FRASH? TRASH? Probably CRASH but that blocky C threw me off since the S is not blocky.

Zing out!

This one's for the birds! Yay!

Yo Zingerfans! On Monday I pointed out the need for more bird comic strips. I mean, we all agree that there aren't enough birds in comics, right? It's a universal understanding I am sure. So today I bring you The Boids comic strip by cartoonists Campbell and Merrill, first names Larry and Steve (though I couldn't find who goes with which last name).

It's a pretty zing new strip about a robotic bird named 'Flock Unit 2A-6' built to study real birds, and who accidentally gets separated from the robot flock only to end up in the company of feathered friends. The initial batch of strips are still focusing on the setup of this premise. Like other robotic animal strips, the humor somewhat lacks because of this situational approach. This is very natural for new strips so give it a chance already. It's a bird strip after all. Once the characters are more developed, this strip will really zing! That doesn't mean there aren't good ones in there already. This one really tickled my feathers!

-- Click to enlarge

I also dig the art. At first I was a little put off by the execution of 2A-6 himself. He looks more like origami than mechanics but then it grew on me. I zing his simple, iconic visual style next to the more realistic birds. Two wings up from me! What do you think?

A Funny Dog Comic Strip

Yo Zingerfans! This one reminded me of a dog I had years ago. (Actually, he was my roommate but it was like having a dog. A bird with a dog? Ha ha!) This Dog Eat Doug comic strip by cartoonist Brian Anderson made me laugh. Dogs love the smell of all kinds of things I would never put my beak to.


-- Click to enlarge



There are soooo many zinging dog strips out there! How do they compete? Well, I guess I could say the same thing about those human people comics. There are tons of those. We need more bird comics, I say!

Comic Strip Review: Prickly City

Yo zingerfans! Marilla and I are back from our little jaunt to the Pacific Northwest. Boy, moss grows on everything up there - trees, brickwork, signposts, cats. Now back at Zingerding HQ, we're refreshed and ready to bring you some more comic strips!

We'll start out with the syndicated strip, Prickly City, about a girl named Carmen and her friend Winslow, a coyote pup. Created by conservative editorial cartoonist, Scott Stantis, Prickly City most often has a deep political zing. Carmen is a young Republican kid and Winslow represents a more liberal point of view.

The humor focuses on their conversations, usually as they stroll throughout their American southwestern town and landscape. The cartoonist uses this device first associated with Calvin and Hobbes whereas the characters discuss deeper issues in a whimsical setting. In reading the strip, I actually found the political commentary pretty bland, as if it was trying not to be too offensive or one-sided. An approach like this probably helps sell comics but if you ask this bird, it waters down the power of the medium. The strips I liked best were the ones that commented more on popular culture.

But here is a good political one that zings a funny chord no matter your political affiliation. Click to enlarge it. You can read more Prickly City here.

Pig Love. Yes, I said Pig Love.

Yo! Here's a comic strip called Squinkers by cartoonist Sandra Lamb. This one features a couple of flirtatious pigs but that's not what the strip is really about. Squinkers centers on a young girl, her mother and grandpa who live and work on a farm/bed & breakfast. It's a well-drawn strip with engaging characters and storylines. The zingers are sometimes too pun-based for my taste but the humor is generally good. Check it out and read more!

I chose this one from the current storyline. It's not that often that you come across strips about horny pigs zinging up some love. Does this one make you laugh or kinda creep you out? Both for me!'


-- Click to enlarge.



On a side note, Marilla and I will be off from Zingerding until next week (vacation to Seattle). We'll post again on Wednesday the 2nd. In the meantime, check out our archives of comic strip zings.

Attack of the Jumbo Ants!

Yo! Here's a spoof comic by cartoonist Mark Tatulli, creator of Liō, a syndicated strip about a strange young boy. The regular strip is quite offbeat and one of the best new strips to zing into the newspapers. It is told in pantomime, thus having already hit an international audience with relative ease. The humor is dark, often involving strange creatures and questionable situations.

Now check this one out. By the way, Liō is the boy with the single-spiked hairstyle. What's interesting about this comic is that it starts from Liō in the center of the page. Follow the "jumbo ants" from there on out. I like spoofs and it's great to see a syndicated cartoonist attack his own peers with man-eating ants.


-- Click to enlarge.




Marilla promised you funny last
week. What do you think of this one?

Not Another Cartoonist!

Only eight days after Johnny Hart's death, Brant Parker, the cartoonist behind 'The Wizard of Id' passed away last Sunday. The two were co-creators of the strip and longtime friends. Parker also collaborated with cartoonists Bill Rechin and Don Wilder on their comic strips, Out of Bounds and Crock. Let's hope their days are not numbered now.

Brant Parker started The Wizard of Id in 1964 with the help of Hart (as a co-writer) who was drawing the successful B.C. comic strip. Parker drew the strip until 1997 when he passed the pen to his son, Jeff Parker, who draws today's strips.

Here are two 'Wizzard' strips, the first being an early strip drawn by Brant. I could not read the date on this one. The second is a modern one drawn by Jeff. I like how these two compare. It's good to see a certain level of consistency across artists and decades.




-- Click them to enlarge.




One more thing, will you cartoonists stop dying! We don't want to have to make this a memorial blog. In the next post, I promise to bring you a thriving strip by a living cartoonist.