Dog Days of January

I was about to finish drawing a Sunday cartoon for "Cafe con Leche" when my dog Cory reminded me that it was time to take our morning run. Great timing, since I probably needed the break just to clear my head. After running about 3 miles, I concluded that I was too tired to draw. My whole train of thought was interrupted.
It's times like these when I remember not to take this stuff too seriously. Yes, I'm probably addicted to drawing my comic strip, but sometimes I just need a break from it in order to maintain a bit of sanity. Being dragged up and down Bayshore Blvd. by a crazed beagle kind of puts thing in perspective. Thanks, Cory!

Changing topics (Soccer)

A couple of nights ago I was in Stout Bar in Midtown Manhattan getting ready to watch a soccer game between the U.S. national team and Sweden. As I reach out to down my Stella, Red Bull New York head coach Juan Carlos Osorio walks in. Now, I'm supposed to hate this guy, being that h is the head coach of my team's (DC United) hated rivals. He stood in front of a group of rabid RBNY fans as I tried to conceal the fact that I'm a fan of DCU. He stared to talk and suddenly I began to realize how cool this dude was. It was a real treat for a true soccer fan to see somebody with that kind of knowledge of the game. After he made his speech, the Colombian-born Osorio made his way through the crowd to meet people. About 5 minutes later, there he was, in my face with his hand extended. I felt like some kind of hypocrite, but I shook his hand anyway. He told me that he hope to see me at some of the Red Bull games, I responded with "Es un honor para encontrarte" (It's an honor to meet you).

Though Osorio was a gentleman, I still hope that my team pummels his team when the season starts.

Good week for black cartoonists

As you probably, I've been involved with the upcoming Feb. 10th black cartoonist action day. Basically, 8 black cartoonists are going to draw the same Sunday comic for 1 day to bring attention to the fact that most comic editors think that we are interchangeable, regardless of or our content.
This week, we've received an enormours amount of media attention. First there was the story last Monday in the St. Petersburg Times, then I saw the story pop up on NPR, Editor & Publisher and NABJ websites. It just gets better. I found out this week that the Washington Post is doing a story about it and there's a possiblity that Newsweek will be putting it in their publication. Whew! That's alll unexpected to say the least, but I'll take it.
Well, I gotta board a flight to New York City to do some promotion stuff. It sucks, I know, but I gotta keep getting the word out. Also, shouts out to my boy Kevin who hooked up the whole Newsweek thing. Good looking out, yo.

Progress

So, the black cartoonists have mobilized. We have a date set for our impending protest/sit-in day and we're getting good press. I gotta say that I never thought I'd see the day when we'd all get together like this. I was wondering if people even noticed the very small amount of black/minority-themed cartoons on the comic pages. At least this brings some attention to the subject, which has been a long time coming.
I think that this day of action might just benefit all cartoonists in general. Maybe comic editors will think twice before deciding to fill their comic pages with the same 'ol stuff. Maybe we can get to see newer cartoons like Lio or Reality Check instead of B.C., Shoe, or Peanuts. Did I mention that the creators of the last three cartoons I mentioned are all dead? I'm certainly not trying to diss the classics, but I'm all for progress. A good cartoonist friend of mine once suggested that if people really wanted to read Peanuts they could just buy one of the many book colletions that Shultz published.
Progress is good. Let's keep it coming.

Fight the power!

Well, I guess its time to let the cat out the bag. For days I've been saying that something big has been brewing for minority cartoonists. Well, time to let the cat out the bag. Some well known cartoonists of color (myself included) are staging a 1-day protest on Sunday, Feb. 10.
I driving idea behind this is that representation in newspapers, or lack thereof. I've been communicating with several black, Latino and Asian syndicated cartoonists over the last few months and there seems to be a general consensus that our cartoons are under represented in the daily newspapers across the country. Generally speaking, most papers tend to pick a few (maybe 2) minority-centered cartoons, regardless of subject matter. This means that essentially all minority-centered cartoons must then fight over 1 or 2 spots.
The basic premise of this whole thing is that, for one day only, we're going to draw the same Sunday cartoon. It was a cartoon idea originally conceived by Cory Thomas from "Watch Your Head." This thing should be good, especially since nothing like this has ever been done before. Further details will follow, but in the meantime here's a short list of some the cartoonist who will be participating...

Cory Thomas “Watch Your Head” (Washington Post Writers Group)
Charlos Gary “Café con Leche” and “Working It Out” (Creators Syndicate)
Nate Creekmore “Maintaining” (Universal Press Syndicate)
Darrin Bell “Candorville” and “Rudy Park” (WPWG)
Stephen Watkins “”Housebroken” (Tribune Media Service)
Jerry Craft “Mama’s Boyz” (King Features Syndicate)

There are other cartoonists that I haven’t mention because I’m not sure of what their status is yet. Anywho, there you have it.

Post-New Year's hangover

Fireworks, champagne toast....now what? It's 2008 and I'm trying to figure out what changes are in store, personally and professionally. I hinted on an earlier post that something big may be happening regarding minority syndicated cartoonists this year. I promise that as soon as I hear something definite you readers (both of you) will be the first to know. All I know is that, for the first time in a long while, I'm excited.
As we speak I'm working on this years marketing plan, which I should start implementing in a few weeks. As soon as I put some cartoons to bed. I wonder what this year is going to be like for newspapers? Things haven't been looking good and can only get worse.