A Fool and his Comic

Ever heard of the comic strip Big Nate? It's written and illustrated by a Portland, Maine native named Lincoln Peirce. According to his Wikipedia page, he's "an American cartoon [sic]." I'd edit the Wiki page to say "cartoonist," but how do I know he's not a cartoon? I've never met the guy. Hell, I wanted to write "[sic]" after his last name, too, but apparently it's actually spelled "Peirce," not "Pierce." All I'm saying is, my Spidey Sense is outta whack on this one.

I don't know how widely Big Nate is syndicated in newspapers but as part of the GoComics stable, I'm guessing it's seen by quite a few people. When I occasionally flip through the criminally misnamed "funny pages," Big Nate is a beacon of mild entertainment, one of a scant few such dim lights in the cold, black, humorless night that is today's newspaper comics section. That is to say, I don't love it, but I'm not physically repulsed by it either. Sometimes I feel something like a smile approaching when I read it.

Not June 19th, though.


Look familiar? It should, assuming you're familiar with one of history's greatest works of literature: Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes. (I understand if you never return after clicking that last link, as a C&H search engine is a transmogrifier that converts spare time into spent time.)


I don't know if the Big Nate strip is a less funny rip-off, a less funny accident, or a less funny homage. But without some clearer nods to its source material (for example, if Peirce's strip had appeared on the anniversary of the C&H strip's original publication date), I'm ruling out homage. It's possible Peirce was channeling Calvin and Hobbes accidentally, not realizing where his oh-so-clever inspiration was coming from, which happens to the best of us (even The Beatles; I'll let my dad elaborate on that one). I hope that's the case.

Either way, this reminded me a lot of my last post about sampling. Sure, everything's stolen, and I bet someone will point out a comedian from the '50s from whom Bill Watterson stole this bit (as a matter of fact, judging by the search engine, Watterson recycled his original strip with slightly enhanced colors four years later...is it stealing if you steal from yourself? As John Fogerty of CCR knows, yes, sometimes; once again, I defer to my dad on this explanation). But it's much less palatable when no personal spin is added, especially when these are two artists using the same exact medium. And it's worse when no explicit credit is given. Cite your sources, Peirce, if that is how your name is really spelled.

Edit, July 3, 2011: Whoops. In the second sentence, I originally called the creator of Big Nate "Leonard Peirce," but his name's actually Lincoln Peirce. I guess the "fool" in the title is me, too! Also, someone has since edited Peirce's Wikipedia page to reflect his job as a cartoonist rather than a cartoon. Looks like I'm making a difference in the world.

Huge Bird

Yesterday, there was Big Bird. Today, there are Big Birds.

Since I sent out a challenge to Facebook daring all comers to try drawing Big Bird in MS Paint, a couple of brave souls have taken up their digital drawing tools and shown me what B.B. looks like in their heads.

Kyle Courcy, who does a comic called Cereal With a Fork for Boston's Weekly Dig and blogs over at this other place, showed me his "oddly morose" version, explaining his technique thusly: "Basically I drew a body around a yellow drumstick."

I don't think there's anything odd about his moroseness. This is the "before" picture: Bird before he stopped caring about the haters, threw on a pair of pink legwarmers and a splash of blue and pink mascara, and truly embraced his fabulous side.

Now here's another "after" image in the style of mine. Stasia took the touchscreen for a test run, insisting she could draw Big Bird from memory. Turns out she was more than half right, but being more talented than I am wasn't quite enough to fill in every blank. Her version is certainly fabulous, so see if you can spot her mistakes:

Anyone else care to contribute? Go ahead and look at pictures while you draw, I don't mind.

I Sell Comics!

The sun was shining until almost 7pm today. That plus my recent 100th post calls for a celebration. It's time for the unveiling of a new monkey picture:

Could we be entering a new Gorilla Age of Comics here? Only time will tell. But if so, I've got our t-shirt image ready.