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I have had this vague memory of watching a movie about a cartoonist when I was a kid. I knew that it starred Jack Lemmon, and I can vividly remember the main character working on a comic strip with pen and ink. It was a revelation to me at the time that comic strip artists work on large pieces of bristol which is later shrunk down. Up until that time, I can remember looking at the newspaper comic strips and thinking, "Wow, how do they draw in such tiny squares." This movie set me straight.

After an internet search I learned that the name of the movie is "How to Murder Your Wife" (1965) and that it was available on our Blockbuster website. After reassuring my wife that she was safe, I ordered the movie and we watched it tonight. There are some very funny scenes and it was neat to see how the main character projected his Walter Mitty fantasies and everyday frustrations into his comic strip. However, it is full of 60's era "dames are gonna be the death of us" chauvinist humor and a very dumb resolution to a courtroom scene.

The comics that you see in the movie were actually drawn by cartoonist Mel Keefer, a cartoonist who is actually still working today. Here is one of the strips that appear in the movie.

I wonder if anyone has put together a list of movies with cartoonists/comic book artists as characters. I can't actually name very many. It might be interesting to compare the way that they are portrayed in different eras.

If anybody else knows of any others, I'd be glad to hear about them. I think they made one about Robert Crumb, called "Crumb", but I haven't ever seen it.

Years ago there was a comedy called "Duck Factory" on tv about a cartoonist studio. It didn't last long, but if I remember correctly it was Jim Carrey's first acting gig.

I've never seen it, but there's a 1981 movie called The Hand where Michael Caine plays a comic book artist.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082497/

American Splendor stars Paul Giamatti as Hervey Pekar, so in effect he's playing a character and the writer/artist of the comic American Splendor.

Bob Newhart had a show for a while where he was a former comic book artist/writer, and they wanted to revive his character, which made him happy until he saw what they were doing to him.

I remember they had an episode where Sergio Aragones and a few others were at an awards show or something.

"Bob" was Newhart's third successful sitcom. He plays Bob McKay, the creator of the righteous comic-book superhero "Mad Dog", currently a frustrated greeting card artist. In the opener, Chuck Terhorst, chairman of the American-Canadian Trans-Continental Communications Company (AmCanTranConComCo), decides to bring back Bob's comic book. Unfortunately Bob's new co-worker wants to turn Mad Dog into a vicious, crazed vigilante.

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cynlee wrote:Bob Newhart had a show for a while where he was a former comic book artist/writer, and they wanted to revive his character, which made him happy until he saw what they were doing to him.

I remember they had an episode where Sergio Aragones and a few others were at an awards show or something.

I wonder if there are any clips on YouTube or anywhere else.

Sergio has also appeared in a few movies from the 70s and 80s. I'd really enjoy seeing clips of those too.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OqFp9MMLGMU

All I can find is this very brief clip of Jack Kirby. "Bob" didn't last long, and I think they even changed it at one point away from the comic book aspect, which was a shame.

Supposedly people didn't like Bob in this one as it let him act like someone "different" (i.e., not like his last two shows).

I LOVED the episode near the beginning of the series where he goes totally off on how they changed "Mad Dog" into a blood-thirsty out for vengence killing machine.

15. 01/29/93 "YOU CAN'T WIN" (017)
Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner, & Phoef Sutton

Bob can't get excited about the comic-book industry's awards show,
feeling it brings out the worst in all the nominees. [The following
comic book artists appear as themselves: Sergio Aragones, Bob Kane,
Mel Keefer, Jack Kirby, Mell Mazarus, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri]

Shayla ............ Christine Dunford
Brett Dillon ...... George Newbern
Monica ............ Rika Hofman
Jean .............. Elizabeth Anne Smith
Custodian ......... Nick Shields

OH! And there's this from Wikipedia: Writer Mark Evanier also worked on the show.

Cartoonist Paul Power was a regular on Bob. He played one of the guys in the comics bullpen. One episode was about Bob going to a comics awards and there were real comic book creators there-- Sergio, Mark Silvestri, Bob Kane, Jim Lee, Kirby, and maybe a couple of others.

Paul was also in the movie Rundown with The Rock. He was the one who beat up The Rock with a bean bag gun. Originally, Paul was supposed to beat him up with his hands, but someone forgot the mat and no one wanted to fall on the hard ground.

There were also a couple of TV series that featured episode about comics. Remington Steele had one that revolved around a comic strip artist murdered by his assistant.

My favorite author, Max Allan Collins has written a couple of murder mysteries about comic strip syndicate detective. One revolved around the Superboy character, and another around the Ham Fisher/Al Capp feud. As usual with Max's works, there is a lot of historical research and many characters based on real people.

Sounds like some fun stuff to look into. Thanks everybody!

Condorman is one of my favorite movies. It's Disney comedy about a cartoonist who the government hires to become his creation "Condorman." It stars Michael Crawford (the phantom of the opera) and was really cool for me when I was 11 years old.

Here's a clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkJqjwrjZU4

I haven't watched it since the 80's but I "remember" it made me laugh a lot.

Peace, maka

"My World and Welcome To It"-- loosely based on James Thurber (Starring William Windon)-- he was a writer and a cartoonist. The show was funny, and they used Thurber's art, but it could never compare to the real stuff he wrote. "The Dog Who Bit People" is my all-time favorite short story.

Good Old Mugs.

Best cartoon-- where two guys are sword fighting, and one chops the other's head off and says "Touche!"