Bun Toons Countdown 2011 – #3. YAY!

This entry into the Top Five is an odd one.  First, it had nothing to do with comic books (though eight out of the top ten Bun Toons did), second, it’s not funny, nor is it meant to be,  and finally, though I wrote it, it’s one of the few Bun Toons this year that I didn’t draw.  Jason Laudadio drew the piece, a wonderfully skilled artist from Toronto and WOW did he knock it out of the park!

It was posted the week that America retired their Space Shuttle program, and that country gave up on putting  human beings in space for the foreseeable future.  This Bun Toon was my comment on it.  A number of news sites following the story of the shuttle’s retirement picked up our contribution to the conversation and it went all viral, as the kids say.

It’s a nice feeling when you do a little heartfelt piece, just to keep the wheels of creativity greased, and tens of thousands of people end up reading it.

Again, round of applause for Jason Laudadio’s art on this story.  Go tell Jason you love him.

As I said before, the Prometheus Toon wasn’t about comic books, so I was very surprised it was popular, but I can never gauge what people out there are going to react to.

AND NOW FOR A BOTTOM FIVE BUN TOON!  

BWAH HAH HAH!

Checking in for the failure side of things is a Bun Toon I was really pleased with when I did it, and my buddy Dan Slott called me up afterwards to tell me it was the funniest one I’d ever drawn.   (I have to keep remembering that mentioning the now-world-famous Dan is name dropping nowadays!  HAH!)

Anyway, here’s one that amused me and Slott, but not that many other people.  It’s about the dying media of newspaper comic strips.   Too dead a target, I suppose.

As I child, I would have LOVED to see Wolf’s World in the paper.   Every day, they eat something new.  A cat, a dog, perhaps an orphan or one of their own, the possibilities are endless.

See you tomorrow with the #2 Bun Toon that turned my comments section into the hottest all-star hangout on the internet for a couple of days…that, AND the miserable failure that was my Bun Toons death scene.

Ty the Guy OUT!

End of an Era Bun Toons. Not so “yay” …

5...4...3...2...1...

Normally I like to give an introduction to these things, but I’ll be saving it for an afterthought.  All I’ll say today is that my friend Jason Laudadio helped out with this one and deserves a round of applause.  And if you click on it, it gets a little bigger, and easier to read and see Jason’s wonderful linework.

Here ya go.

Okay, here’s my afterword:

Holmes Inc. launched last night to rousing success, and I hear the launch of Captain America into theaters was equally successful (I promise I’ll be going this week and bring back a review!).  But there’s one kind of launch we won’t be seeing any more, and that’s the launch of American space craft.

I spent a good chunk of my life watching NASA put things into space.  I’ve been in the room with three actual moon rocks, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell’s space suit at the Planetarium in Toronto many years ago, and still regard it as one of the great memories of my youth.  I can tell you exactly where I was when Neil Armstrong screwed up his great line about “One small step for [a] man, and one giant leap for mankind ” (watching it on a black and white TV in school).  I remember sitting by the radio waiting for updates when Apollo 13 was still up there in trouble.  I remember the Challenger explosion like it was yesterday, and it still puts a lump in my throat.   I remember meeting Marc Garneau after a lecture he gave at Ontario Place, and I remember being told that Roberta Bondar wore one of my “Prisoners of Gravity” t-shirts when she served aboard Discovery.  I might not have gotten into orbit, but one of my drawings did.

The character in the drawing is my dear friend "Commander" Rick Green, Host of "P.O.G" and one of the funniest people still trapped on Earth.

I hope you guys were okay with this commemoration of that magnificent era when American (and some Canadian) know-how literally reached for the stars.  Normally these Toons are a silly, funny bit of fluff, but today, with artist-extraordinaire  Jason Laudadio, I got indulge  my nostalgic side.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your bonus Nasa Space Craft Comic Book Moment:

Did anybody notice this is issue #121?  Damn, that’s a lot of Space Shuttle comics!

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For last week's Dog Poop based Bun Toon, click on the hearts.

For every Bun Toon ever, click on the rabbit's fluffy tail!

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