Rabbit Bye Bye Bun Toons. No Yay.

We bunnies stick together, mostly because we can’t get this horrible gooey stuff out of our fur.

I try not to pass gas at a polite dinner party, or police cruisers on the highway, but there’s no denying the passing of a era with the discontinuation of fellow bunny creator, Matt Groening’s LIFE IN HELL strip.

At least the name BONGO lives on in the comic company that publishes the Simpsons (and occasionally employs me), and the name Akbar lives on as a really cool font.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now your Matt Groening Bunny Bonus Moment.

When I did my first Simpsons comic, lo those many years ago, the editor asked for a photo of me so they could “Simpsons-ize” my portrait in the back of the Halloween issue.   Because I’ve always been a bunny, I sent them a photo of me in a bunny suit.  This is the image that ran in the back of TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #8, drawn by Bill Morrison, I suspect.

The Ty-Bunny, disguised as the Bongo-Bunny, on the inside of a Bongo Comic.  The universe collapses upon itself.

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For last week’s Bun Toon, click Sherlock Holmes above.

For every Bun Toon ever, click the bottomless rabbit on his furry bits.

Simpsons Comics #180 by Ty the Guy, eh?

It’s been a few months since I played in Springfield, and I have an issue of Simpsons Comics out this week (or last week in some markets), but this time, I didn’t play in Springfield.

I played in Canada.

Bongo doesn't put the writer/artist credits on the cover anymore, so it's not that well known that I do these from time to time. I'll mention here that I wrote and drew this issue.

Yes, that’s right.  I was delighted that the fine folks at Bongo let me move the Simpsons to Toronto, Ontario, Canada (my home town) for one issue.  Those who live here know Toronto has more donut stores per capita than any other city on Earth.  It’s kind of weird that Homer has never been here for that reason alone, but we also have bacon, poutine, really, really violent hockey on TV round the clock and adorable animals on all the coins.    It kind of makes the Big Smoke (that’s the T-dot to you poor philistines who have to live eleswhere) the perfect location for Homer to live, and by the end of this story, he agrees.

Head out to the yer local comic stores this week to see what FINALLY brings Homer and the gang back to Springfield after Homer finds paradise under the CN Tower.  And if you like this ish, you may be happy to know that I’m starting to draw my next one in a week or so (from another Templeton script, it’s like I only work with very specific writers).

Ty the Guy OUT!

 

Here now, your BONUS Simpsons in Canada Moment:

You have to love that Marge is sensitive to the folks in Quebec who don't love the national flag...

What am I up to?!?

I get asked this a lot.    I usually have about nine projects in the air at any one time, and as a result, I’m always behind on about three of them…but I’m STARTING to get caught up on some of it, so I thought I’d share (almost) everything I’m working on this week.

Back row: Suzie and Edgar. Front row: Sweet-pie, Dave and Lois.

Just finishing up a script for an issue of the Simpsons Comic, it should be done by the weekend.  Great fun, the family visits Canada again, and as a Canuck, I get to poke fun at some of my fellow country-men.

It’s been announced here and there that Marvel is publishing ONE LAST Harvey Pekar story for their upcoming Strange Tales series, but I’m not sure it’s been announced that I’m the one drawing it.  So I announce it here.

You can't see Harvey on this cover, he's hiding behind Hulk.

I’ve read Harvey’s script for this issue, and it’s one of the funnier things he ever wrote, and I’m bleeding with excitement to start laying this out on the weekend.   Drat him for dying like he did, but I’m honored and delighted that he made a point of asking me to do this before he died.  Yer a mensch, Harve.

For the next couple of hours I’m doing final production on a CANADIAN SHIELD cover for the fine folks at HEROES OF THE NORTH. I did a pin-up of their character PACIFICA a couple of weeks ago, and dove in for a second blast of illustration fun.  That’s today’s playtime.

Later today, I’m inking some pages over GIBSON QUARTER pencils for a new comic book (that I created and am editing for the Toronto Cartoonist Workshop) about the great grandchildren of the Master Detective, and their 21st Century adventures.  I’ll try to get some of the pages and cover for this mag up asap, it’s being published in about four weeks.  AHH AHH AHH AHH !  Deadlines!!  Whether you’ve never read a Holmes-style story, or  you’ve been an addicted Baker Street Irregular for years, you guys are going to LOVE this comic, trust me.  The premiere issue will  launch at FAN EXPO at the end of the month.  Much more on this as the day approaches.

Promo image from THE GAY CAVALCADE. Hoverboy, Uncle Orval, and "The Chief" seem to be upset about something...the Chief is likely drunk, as the character was often played for racist laughs.

And I’ve be looking over some old Hoverboy footage with the Hoverboy production staff… NEWLY DISCOVERED  “GAY CAVALCADE” episodes…the Hoverboy puppet show from the early sixties.  They need some editing and some cleaning up, but it should be ready for the Hoverboy Museum in the next couple of weeks.  FOUR entire episodes were found UNCUT!  Can’t wait to show ’em to you.

And though it shot LAST week, I think the TV program I co-hosted for Space:  the Imagination Station about graphic novels should be airing in the next week or two.  Check your local listings (in Canada) as they say.

And that’s not counting my teaching, raising my children, or my work with blind orphan girls.  ENOUGH TALKING TO YOU GUYS, I’m back to work…but before I go….

If you haven’t seen the DC UNIVERSE ONLINE game promo for the new game “WHO DO YOU TRUST?”, then go HERE immediately!  I mean NOW!  This is the BEST I’ve ever seen in super-hero CGI.  Not kidding, it makes Arkham Asylum look like Pong.  I thought everyone had seen this trailer by now, but it turns out a bunch of folks haven’t seen the glory.  Go, enjoy.  Bring popcorn.

TY THE GUY OUT!

Here now, your COMIC BOOK moment of ZEN

Wizard World Toronto, a little convention art, and the GREATEST CON SKETCH OF ALL TIME!

Uncle Ty's Convention Sketches. Ready in just FIVE MINUTES

I just got back from Wizard World Toronto, and boy, are my arms not tired.

Not because I live in Toronto (and the flight back wouldn’t affect my shoulders, get it?)  but because I spent the weekend, not sketching particularly much.  No more than thirty  sketches over a three day weekend, and at a big convention, I usually do fifty on the Saturday alone!   At first I

One of my less embarrassing con sketches of Kara Zor-el.

thought it was me…did I have a piece of meatloaf hanging off my face?  Did I wear my misanthropy on my sleeve too obviously, or was it the whiff of urine on my street clothes?

No, it was happening to almost everyone at Toronto Wizard Con, (other than Dale Keown and Richard Pace, who seemed to have a crowd around for a while on Saturday, and Adi Granov, who had a minor crowd on Friday).  The attendance was thin, and mostly wrestling fans there to see the Iron Sheik and his pals.  It’s always a bad sign when you start doing sketches for the other con guests or dealers because neither they, nor you, have anything else to do for the next ten minutes.

Too bad… The Wizard folks were nice to us.  LOVELY volunteers, good people…they set up my bootcamp lesson/con panel and promoted it (surprisingly well attended, thank you), and were handing out the water and smiles.   It was Wizard’s first big convention in Toronto, and I was rooting for them.  Let’s hope there’s a few tweaks

Fans love Batgirl. And a lot of fans like her bum. I do what I'm requested...

and fixes before next year rolls around, and the thing rivals San Diego in the future.

The low point came on Saturday when some douche-twerp couldn’t resist the demon on the shoulder telling him to pull a fire alarm.  It emptied out the convention center in the middle of Saturday afternoon—taking nearly an hour to sort out whether we were burning up in a fire, or doing the world’s biggest HOKEY POKEY.   Not everyone came back when it was over.   Hats off the perished souls of Wizard Con Toronto, 2010—you will be remembered.

Highlights include:   being seated next to Gail Simone and Her Mysterious Husband, with Dave Ross to my left, and Kent (Planet of the Apes) Burles to my right.  With things a tad slow, I got to hang with the legendary Gail Simone and Her Mysterious Husband, and  got to see Dave Ross’s new pencils for an amazing Star Wars comic he’s working on, and  laugh with the always

A very non-Adventures style Joker. Dig that crazy haircut.

charmingly French Canadian, Yanick Paquette, and drool over piles of just gorgeous AGENTS of ATLAS original art by my buddy Leonard Kirk.   Len is one of those illustrators I’m openly jealous of, partly because he does THE best convention sketches on the planet

The rule with me at a con is, you get the sketch for free, but it’s done in five minutes.  That way, everyone who wants one gets one, and I give back a little for the fans.  You guys deserve it.  But we artists rarely get to see our con sketches after we let you have ‘em.   About one out of ten, I pull one off that I wish I could hold onto…it captured just the right gleam in Joker’s eye, or the right gesture as Robin jumps off a building.  I sometimes ask if the fan could scan it for me and send me a copy when they get home, but after twenty years of doing this, I have less

Must...eat....brains...unless....there's....donuts....

than a dozen scans of con sketches to show you, and hardly the best of the best.

Zombie Homer is the only one from this year,  as I used to think my BONGO contract forbids sketching the Simpsons, but Ken Wheaton (fellow toiler in Springfield) informs me, I can doodle inside published Simpsons books, just not regular sketch books and on blank pieces of paper…  Ken had a PILE of copies of TREEHOUSE OF HORROR: DEAD MAN’S CHEST for people to buy, so I did more Simpsons doodles this weekend than anything else.

As promised, here’s my favorite con sketch of all time, and the recipient was lovely enough to send me one.

A once-in-a-lifetime-art team.

It was in Paris, and I was seated in between Bernie Wrightson, Neal Adams, and Scott Hampton.  A group of BATMAN artists were touring through Belgium, France and Switzerland and enjoying all the lovely sauces we got with every meal, when some Euro-fan asked if Mr. Wrightson minded inking

Another Paris sketch from '92, featuring Tintin and the original appearance of ELSEWORLDS T-SHIRT BATMAN, seen last month!

the Batman portrait/sketch I had just done for him.  Watching my meager sketch be inked by Bernie was mind blowing enough, but then watching Scott Hampton add those moody water colours, I came this close from stealing the image back for myself…I have the scan though, and I share it here with you guys…the word’s only Templeton/Wrightson/Hampton collaboration.

Neal Adams did not participate in the sketch, but I have something better from Neal…something I’ll show you guys in a future post.  I have to keep the suspense going SOMEHOW.

Ty the Guy

Oh, and PS:  This week, I’m promoting this new Simpsons collection, NOW ON SALE.  I’ve got a fun pin-up inside, and the rest of the book is okay too, I suppose, if you like hysterical comic books.

In hardcover. Kirby says: "Don't Ask! Just Buy It!"

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Stay Tuned…

When Ty finished drawing bloody body parts for Dexter: The Early Cuts, he had to return to drawing yellow people for Bongo…but now that’s all done.  He’s thinking of taking a few days off before he launches into his next set of projects.  So, that means some new pages for me to put up once he scans them.  And–he was thinking aloud about what he could do for entries in Art Land…something about some NEW stuff…

Keiren