November 18, 2009

• MFN: Cartoonist (1970-1983)

  MFN: Cartoonist: 1970-1983

  Back in 1969, I was the editor of our high school newspaper, "The Panther's Tale". The high school I attended was Rosemead High in Rosemead, California.  I wanted to have an editorial cartoon on Page 2 and we had a contest to pick a cartoonist, however only two people submitted their cartoons. We ran both of them, plus another cartoon from one of the staff members. The next year, when I was a senior, I took over the duties, and three of my cartoons ran in the paper. Following are those three cartoons, plus a couple of rather "racy" X rated cartoons (for language and situations) titled "The Exciting Adventures of Nimrod. Everybody can enjoy the first three. Only those who appreciate satire and are not offended  by the "f-bomb" should read the last two.

  

  From 1970: The character in the first panel, representing the "Class of 74" is Arnold, my cartoon character from 1968. You will think he looks a lot like Tom Wilson's Ziggy. To that I reply: Ziggy looks a lot like Arnold, but he was published later in daily newspapers, and Arnold was created for my high school newspaper. I created Arnold before Ziggy appeared in comics. After Ziggy appeared, I stopped drawing Arnold. I do believe Wilson must have seen one of these high school papers and stole the character. Either that or we both had the same idea for a round headed guy with a big nose at around the same time. Sometime in the future I'm going to post a collection of my Arnold drawings. This is the first time I think I've shown him on the blog. You might notice that the guy on the skateboard is looking right at the crotch of the gal in the miniskirt. For some reason, this cartoon was not censored.

  

  From 1970: The biggest thing happening on campus in 1970 was the efforts of a select group of students, including yours truly, to "bust" the dress code, which was pretty strict. Here is one of my editorial cartoons lampooning the hair length requirements, which stated that boy's hair could not be "over the eyes, ears, or the back of the neck." The guy in the cartoon is wearing an "afro" another popular hairstyle from the late 60s, early 70s, worn by blacks and guys with curly or "kinky" hair. Arnold appeared in all the Panther's Tale cartoons, and he's coming through the gate after running laps in this cartoon.

  

  From 1970: This is the third and final cartoon which we published in the newspaper. Arnold is saying hi to Colleen, a  friend of my sister's, who was a grade behind me. She got a kick out of seeing her name in the paper. There were two more cartoons I drew for the paper, which were censored. I can't find them right now. One showed a guy getting an A for constructing a Lunar Module in metal shop. (We landed on the moon in 1969) The reason it was censored is because Arnold made a gun in metal shop. In the last cartoon,which didn't make it to the paper, a chemistry student is making moonshine.

  OKAY STOP RIGHT THERE

  WARNING: If you can't stand foul language and questionable humor, then don't read any further. If you don't mind seeing the "f-word" in print, and can laugh at humor which makes fun of dismemberment and drug addled youths, then click the images below, and a larger version of these comics which are more easily read will pop up in another window. The following strips were written when I was working in the retail industry, in 1978 and 1983.

  

  From 1978: The Exciting Adventures of Nimrod. In the late 70s, I was quite a drunk and druggie. My best buds were Morgan and Steve, who worked in my garden department at Ole's Home Centers. Eventually I was fired from my position, ostensibly for "wearing a dirty shirt" to work, but in reality because we all did drugs (not at work, mind you, but after work at parties which sometimes caused us to 'call in sick'.) I'm really making fun of myself in this strip. I'm wearing a FedMart badge in the first panel, cause I worked as a manager at FedMart after being fired from Ole's. Steve and Morg were still my buds, however, when I didn't piss them off after a few too many beers, as in the episode recounted here.

  

  From 1983: The Exciting Adventures of Nimrod at "Phlemco". Phlemco is a play on the chain Gemco, where I worked when I drew this strip. The chain's motto was "Membership makes a difference." I was with FedMart till the chain went out of business, and then I was a manager at Gemco. I never cut anyone's head off with a chainsaw, however. This is supposed to be humorous, in the style of Mad Magazine and National Lampoon.

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