The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

What Stephan Pastis Does While Waiting for his Tuna Sandwich


Stephan Pastis, the genius behind Pearls Before Swine, orders a tuna sandwich for lunch, and amuses himself unconstructively by doing this.

Today's Poor Almanack


Here's a slice of desperate graveyard humor for the imploding newspaper business. If they could only reposition themselves as something more necessary, newspapers might survive. Did you know that you can clean glass with a newspaper and white vinegar?

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Mardi Gras Parade 2009


The First Family makes its way down Wilson Blvd on Fat Tuesday (photo thanks to Jennifer Hart, Arlington), and they're followed by Gov. Palin, below (photo thanks to Bono Mitchell). I appreciate these as I was stuck at home and missed all the fun. My daughter Charlotte represented the family, kindly chaperoned by Mike Rhode and his daughter Claire.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Awaiting the Parade


Sarah and Barack can't wait to meet you at the Mardi Gras Parade, Tuesday at 8 pm, Courthouse to Clarendon on Wilson Blvd in Arlington.

Wouldn't this make a good illustration for a kinda scary children's book?

My thanks to Bono for the photo!

Oscar (R) Repeat


Here, I posted this last year, but too late to do anybody any good.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Today's Poor Almanack


This isn't entirely true. I did see Wall-E. And this may be the clumsiest lettering I've done, at least for this month.

When Worlds Collide, Part Five


Here's the grisly finale to our little story.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

When Worlds Collide, Part Four

I'm proud to have done the first cartoon featuring an assorted jellies caddy. 

Mardi Gras Parade 2009

You may remember the above from last year.

Here's this year's Clarendon Mardi Gras poster. Various diverse hands have been constructing larger than life versions of some Almanac finger puppets to amaze and amuse the crowd.

Barack Obama, left, the magnificent Bono Mitchell, right.

When Worlds Collide, Part Three


Is that thing a tiki head, an Easter Island head or Abraham Lincoln? I just figure it's a pretty off-putting restaurant tchotchke and not at all condusive to fine dining.

You'll note "lowering" was changed to "glowering" in the final version, if you have time for such things.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

When Worlds Collide, Part Two



Since I've got nothing to say and no time to say it, I'll just post the week's Cul de Sacs. Here are Tuesday's and Wednesday's. A commenter on gocomics suggests the P.J. stands for pepperjack, which seems reasonable.

Monday, February 16, 2009

When Worlds Collide


This week the Otterloops go to P.J.Piehole's Family Restaurant, which I stole from the Poor Almanac. It's my futile attempt to better integrate my personality.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

A Valentine's Day Public Service.


And some advice; if you're on a deadline and in a hurry, draw candy. It's quick 'n' easy!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Fridge Funnies

I did this in March '04. It kinda wrote itself, and seemed to make sense. In some interview years ago Maurice Sendak said that in Dickens' books everything is alive; the chair is alive and the table is alive and the fire in the grate is alive, etc. This takes that idea to ridiculous extremes, I hope.

So a coupla years later I did another fridge cartoon. It got a little convoluted, though I like the final balloon. And I like the implication that the photograph is several rungs above the comic strip on the social ladder, and that the comic strip is a little wiseguy in a derby. I'd planned on doing some more chatty fridge-clutter cartoons; they're like those old animated cartoons from the 30s where all the books on the shelves would open up and the characters would spill out and do funny stuff.  But they're hard to draw and to think up and I'm lazy. For some reason I have no trouble drawing most of your major appliances. Stoves, washers and dryers present no difficulties. But refrigerators defeat me.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Five




As Alan Gardner kindly pointed out, today is Cul de Sac's 5th birthday. Which has me worried, as Alice is only four, so I've somehow screwed up the math again. Above is the first sketch and the drawing used on the Post Magazine cover the week it debuted. Originally it was going to be on the plastic bag holding the paper too, but that didn't happen. Which is a relief, as it might've scared away Post readers and depressed sales.

I like the sketch a lot, and I wish I could draw the strips so loosely, but somehow drawing things in little boxes cramps looseness and forces the lines to behave.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Oont


I stole Oont from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Don't nobody tell!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Gutzon


I'm confident that this is the only instance of a comic strip using Gutzon Borglum for a cheap laff.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Today's Poor Almanack



Here's what's filling up space in the Post Style section today.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Blowhard's Reading Corner


Comics aficianado, scholar & journalist extraordinaire Chris Mautner asked me for a list of the books on my bedside table, which I'm assumably reading, for the weekly What Are You Reading over at Robot6. 

These are the books on my bedside table, though some are by my drawing board, because I sometimes read when I’m in the middle of a deadline. I left off some of the books my daughters have left there so nobody'll think I'm reading Twilight, Horse Adventures or Captain Underpants (which, ok, I've read four times).
  • The Art Forger’s Handbook by Eric Hebborn. Hebborn was a Cockney art forger and master of various art techniques who died under mysterious circumstances in 1996, and an entertaining writer. I figure this is a good skill to fall back on in case this whole cartoon thing heads south.
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I’ve never read much Dickens and I started this a year ago and I’m enjoying it very slowly.
  • Ojingogo by Matt Forsythe. I just keep picking this up and looking through it over and over. It’s like a great silent animated fantasy you can hold in your hand.
  • Harvey Pekar: Conversations, edited by Mike Rhode. I’ve never read enough Pekar either, but I get a great introduction to the man in the 25 years of interviews Mike’s gathered here.
  • Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. I reread this every few years, like I’m doing now, because it’s the greatest comic novel every written, along with A Confederacy of Dunces.
  • Diaries: The Python Years by Michael Palin. Oh, this is fun to read! John Cleese says that Palin never shuts up, just yaps all the time. You can pick this up, read a few day’s worth of entries, and put it down a much happier man.
  • Ordinary Victories, Parts 1 & 2 by Manu Larcenet. I wish I could draw comic realism as well as Larcenet, and tell a story so interestingly.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Booboo Revealed


This is either a booboo, a technical glitch or an editorial oversight, I drew a misdirected pointer, or "tang", on the final balloon, making it appear that it was being spoken by Mom, then drew a corrected one pointing to Alice. But I forgot to expunge the one to Mom. I'm sorry, ok?