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I found this unused art for a t-shirt design I created around the time of my last Zombie Boy comic book series. The shirts were never printed but I thought this design would be fun to share. As you can see, Zombie Boy was quite a bit different back then!
In the fall of 1977, I approached my home town newspaper, The Milton Press Gazette, about the possibility of publishing a comic strip. For a year or so I had been creating editorial illustrations for them and I was pleasantly surprised when they gave me the opportunity for my first comic strip to see print.
McTavish premiered on December 8, 1977 and it ran for a few months. McTavish is a broken tooth walrus with a wife and a young son and a group of arctic pals, including a polar bear, and an annoying group of Kittiwakes. The jokes came courtesy of one of my father’s ventriloquist joke books (he was a ventriloquist for many years), so they were about as corny as they get.
Here are several McTavish strips that I clipped from the newspaper (the originals are long gone). Don’t be too harsh on my teenaged cartooning skills!
Many Christmases ago I published a mini-comic based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, featuring Zombie Boy in the part of Ebenezer Scrooge (naturally). I gave it out to a few friends at the time and it has languished in my files ever since. This year, I want to share it with you, dear readers. I hope as you read this, it will bring a glimmer of that holiday spirit to your heart. Consider this my gift to you this fine season. Happy Holidays!
Many of you may know that I dedicated my first collection of Zombie Boy comic strips to Tex Henson. Tex was my friend and mentor, who brought his valuable experience, knowledge and levity to my life. He inspired me to draw more, live fuller and make the most of each day that I’m given.
After graduating from high school in Dallas, Texas, William “Tex” Henson moved to California, where he joined the Disney Studios. At Disney he was part of the story team who brought Chip ‘n’ Dale to life. Some of the films he worked on are Peter And The Wolf, Pecos Bill, Mickey and the Beanstalk, and Song Of The South.
Tex is caricatured as a scientist in “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met”
In New York, he worked for Paramount Studios, primarily as a storyman on Casper the Friendly Ghost. Following this, he was sent to Mexico as a supervising animator for Jay Ward Studios, working on The Bullwinkle Show. A second studio was created to focus primarily on commercial animation, where he was part of the team that created Trix The Rabbit for General Mills.
In his later years, Tex kept his hand in animated projects including The Mad Magazine TV Special, and Easter Egg Mornin’. Tex also taught college and art school classes in the Dallas area.
I met Tex in the early 1980s when I was attending art school. Me and several of my classmates where engaged in creating a short animated film and Tex came by one day to visit the campus, and came around to see what these “animation kids” were up to. In the 1990s, he was instrumental in helping me establish an animation studio, and he trained a staff of animators to create several animated projects. Tex and I became dear friends. He was a mentor, a wizard, a showman, he was never at a loss to tell an embellished story as only he could. His memory was remarkable, his storytelling was unmatched and he could regale you with unforgettable anecdotes from his long and prestigious career and life. Although he lived until 78, I was always convinced he would outlive me, so full of spark and vigor he was.
At some point, Tex and I were involved with several projects of our own, including comic book stories and strips. Below is a concept Tex created for a comic strip poking fun at our friendship, titled Tubby and the Old Timer. Tex always claimed I looked like a little owl and his sketches of me are hilarious. His interpretation of himself is just as over the top. They were crafted with love and respect and I treasure them.
Miss you, Tex!
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The uber-talented Ben Vincent created this time-lapse video of himself drawing me live in Sketchbook Pro. He caught me in mid-laugh, a condition I seem to be in often according to him. Ben is a world-renowned artist, illustrator and caricature artist, and a long time-friend and colleague who I share a studio with. I hope you find his work in progress as delightful as I do.