Cartoonist Ed Dodd (MARK TRAIL) Died 23 Years Ago Today

Twenty-three years ago today, May 27, 1991  cartoonist Ed Dodd died.  Sometime before he died he turned the Mark Trail comic strip over to Jack Elrod.  Ed lived in Georgia .  I know two people who were college students at UGA at the time, who worked for him:  My first cousin Jo.  One time over at her house she showed me an original signed and framed Mark Trail comic strip hanging in her dining room.    And the other one Jack Davis, the most well-known of the MAD artists and also the most well known drawer University of Georgia's  mascot UGA.

Back in my youth I was a fan of Mark Trail.  He was always on a high outside adventure, plus about once a week, on Sunday, he would have an educational illustration on something about nature beings surviving or building a dam or something; always interesting.

I thought it was interesting that Jack Davis, who once worked for Dodd, did a lampoon on Mark Trail in MAD comicbook.

click on image to enlarge and read, wala!

A nature cartoon.  Ed Dodd carefully laid out ecology with nature to show how living things depended on other living things to survive.  A detailed master plan laid out for life to instinctively follow. 

Mark had a dog named Andy.  I remember one time there was some kind of contest about Andy that  Andy's puppies, that looked just like Andy, was offered as a contest prize.  I just knew I was going to get one of those puppies..... I just knew it.  That was about 65 years ago, there is a still a chance that Andy Jr. was lost in shipping and he'll show up any day.

By the way, the above Mark Trail/Andy panel was drawn by Jack Elrod who took over Ed Dodd's position.  You can tell by what Andy is up to, attacking mary-jane growers the political climate of the strip.

Today In History April the 17th

April 17th, 1937 Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd ; Petunia Pig, debut .

Loony Tunes Folks!

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! HELP Magazine comics

The are cartoons sent in to HELP magaine in the 1960s by people just starting in the comic industry.  Some made it and some went on and found their niche someplace else.  The magazine was edited and controlled for the most part by Harvey Kurtzman, creator of MAD comicbook.  Either it attracted the people that don't fit in a box or Harvey selected only cartoons that didn't fit in a box.  He actually accepted a cartoon from me.  That shows you just how lowly his taste might have been.  Fortunately, for those concerned, my cartoon was never published, they closed up before my cartoon was published. 

Oh! Don't forget to click on each image to be able to read what it says.

August the 9th This Day In History

August 9th
1930 Betty Boop debutes in Max Fleischer's* animated cartoon Dizzy Dishes
1974 Richard Nixon resigns presidency, VP Gerald Ford becomes 38th pres

*Max Fleischer (1883-1972) was an animator pioneer who was responsible for BETTY BOOP and POPEYE THE SAILOR.

This Day In History - August 9th

Herman Talmadge was born on this day in history, on August 9, 1913. He died March 21, 2002. Before Herman was a senator or a governor of Georgia, he was a son of a Governor of Georgia. Once there was some kind of big union strike in Georgia that caused some violence. The Georgia National Guard was called out. My father was a National Guardsman. I think Gene Talmadge was probably leaning towards management than the union and the strikers. Members of the guard guarded the governor’s mansion. My father was one of those guarding it. He had strict orders not to let any one in unless they could prove the person could prove he was who he said he was and prove he had official business there.
Early one morning shortly after Daddy’s assignment there up strolled Herman. Daddy refused to let him enter. Which I think caused a little ruckus. But, they couldn’t say a whole lot. Daddy was following orders. Daddy was almost just a few days off from being two years younger the future Georgia Governor. Herman said he understood, and I doubt if he ever thought about the incident again.


Later I heard Herman was a smooth land operator when the Feds were building highways through Georgia. We also had some local politicians that had a crystal ball too, as for as predicting where the highways were to be constructed and to pay inflated prices for the land.
During the Watergate Hearing I felt I got to know Herman very well. And he looked so honest!





Betty Boop, a singing showgirl cartoon character, made her debut on the screen on this date in 1930. She was the creation of film animator Max Fleischer (he also created Popeye). Her cutie dancer/showgirl icon still sells today.

There Is a Message Here

On This Date

January 7 – On this date in 1912 NEW YORKER cartoonist Charles Addams was born. You may have seen THE ADDAMS FAMILY on TV. That was a by-product of his cartoons in the NEW YORKER magazine. He died September 29, 1988.

Another person of interest born this date is Monty Calhoun. Monty says I am a good writer but can’t spell worth a damn. That is just a bunch of buhh Sheit!

What's UP Chuck?

On this date, September 21, 1912, Chuck Jones was born. Chuck is most famous for being the life line and creative force of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

Maybe he should have been named Henry Human…or maybe Harvey Human… Herman H....Herbert?

Winnie's Pah's Birthday

On this date* in 1882 A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh, was born.

When I think of Winnie the Pooh I think of Eeyore the Donkey. When I think of Eeyore the Donkey I think of Carl, and elderly man who lives around the corner.

Carl, like Eeyore talks in a deep slow voice. Carl is tall and slim. He is 87 years old. He is a very kind humble person… very gentle.

I have know Carl long before he moved to this neighborhood. He was my father-in-law’s good friend, and sort of a running buddy years ago.

Carl owned a lot of land, sold it, and is now on the board of directors of a bank he partly owns but you would never know it, as kind and gentle as he is. He and his wife live in a humble house in and older neighborhood.

Carl is almost blind now. I see he and his wife at the grocery store and always talk to them. He walks along with her, holding on to the buggy. I don’t think he can see beyond 15 or so feet in front of him.

One morning while Willow and I were walking I saw ahead of me Carl in his driveway looking for the morning paper, or I think that what he probably was doing. He turned around and slowly walked up his driveway to his house.

When I got even with his house, he was already inside. I saw the paper in the gully away from the driveway.

I thought if I carried it up and rung the doorbell it might scare them – it was before daylight. So I placed it in the middle of his driveway, so the next time he walked down it would be plain view.

Later I was thinking as tall as Carl is, it might be hard for him to bend over in the ditch and get his paper when it ends up there. So, now every morning, on our walk, I always make it a point to go by Carl’s and if his paper is in the ditch, I put it in the center of the driveway. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.

My next door neighbor is and elderly lady, I always get her paper and put it on her car hood in her carport so she won’t have to walk long or bend over. The elderly neighbor on the other side of me, when it rains only, I put his paper up under the overhang of his house so it won’t get wet.

I am the morning newspaper Leprechaun!

*History Channel Page-A-Day calendar.

How True!

Dilbert with the truth. Scott Adams knows.

Guilt Trip

(click to enlarge so you can read the words)
This Dilbert cartoon gives me a guilt trip. What about you?

The New Yorker Cartoons - the best!

Yesterday I dropped by one of my son’s house to let out the dog. While there, I flipped through about the past 4 or 5 The New Yorker magazines. You just can’t beat the cartoons in The New Yorker. Maybe Playboy magazine would run a close second, but The New Yorker would win.

In high school at the drug store magazine rack I used to enjoy flipping through The New Yorker looking at the cartoons. Back then Charles Addams’ gruesome cartoons lured me to the mag. But with or without Charles Addams’ cartoons, The New Yorker cartoons rule!

The Shit-Zu Gang

In yesterday’s Atlanta Journal was an article about several stray Shih Tzus dogs on the lamb at townhouse development in Marietta.

There were four of the little pampered-looking dogs, one got ran over which then narrowed the pack down to three… now another, which leaves two, and one of those is pregnant. So far, the Cobb County Animal Control have tried and tried but have been unable to catch them. Some of the people in the neighborhood put out out food for them.

I don’t know if they remind me of street gang of yuppies or a Gary Larson cartoon.