Well, I think it's exciting. My first cartoon is in this week's NEW YORKER. I can now eat at the Algonquin. Many thanks to Julia Suits, Emma Allen, and Colin Stokes. It seems a talking mouse is a good way to start a cartooning career. In a few weeks on my podcast I'll talk about my journey as a cartoonist. But for now, enjoy.
Very nice. You are talented in so many areas.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Ken! My pet rats and I are proud and delighted to have such a pro-rodent writer published there.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Ken. I know this is a longtime dream finally realized.
ReplyDeleteWow, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Ken
ReplyDeleteCongratulations.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! You've got a good track record when it comes to pursuing your dreams and actually achieving them. Next: heavyweight champion of the world!
ReplyDeleteHopefully the first of many!
ReplyDeleteBack to the...y'know.
https://www.art.com/products/p15063519259-sa-i6848738/peter-arno-well-back-to-the-old-drawing-board-new-yorker-cartoon.htm?upi=PGR6M00&PODConfigID=8419447&sOrigID=704673
I had to look up - "Is there electricity in a cable cord?" I really still don't know...
ReplyDeleteWell done, Sir. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteWow! Congratulations, Ken. I know that was a long-time dream of yours.
ReplyDeleteOnly took a few decades....
ReplyDeleteWriter, Director, Producer. The Jeffersons, MASH, Cheers, The Simpsons, Frasier. WGA Award, Emmy Award. Mariners announcer.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that? A cartoon in the New Yorker? Well, now I'm listening.
Congratulations, Mr. Levine!
OMG!!!! How great is that?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
Congrats! I seem to remember this is a long-sought goal of yours. Good for you. (Hey, I’m a cartoonist, too. I draw the Phantom Sunday comic strip for King Features Syndicate. I’ve been reading your blog for many years.)
ReplyDeleteFriday Question
ReplyDeleteIn your recent post on West Side Story bombing in theatres, you wondered if blame could be laid on the pandemic and people not wanting to go to theatres. Many in the comments seemed to back up this idea. My own comment was that young people just don't go to see musicals and wait until we see the returns from Spider-Man. Well, Spider-Man crossed the $1 billion mark already. I know there seems to be, at least in the comment section, superhero movie fatigue, but since Spider-Man had huge returns and when I saw it the theatre was full, does this blow a hole in the "People are afraid to go into a theatre" theory? Can we just admit that even Speilberg couldn't save a musical?
Congrats Ken!
ReplyDeleteMy dad was also a cartoonist. He was a head animator for the Max Fleischer cartoon studios and later Paramount. He did more Betty Boop cartoons than any other animator and created her little dog, Pudgy. Among his other credits were Popeye, Superman, Little Lulu and Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Hope you love cartooning as much as he did!
I looked up Myron Waldman, what an amazing list of credits. I'm fascinated by the Fleischer studio cartoons and the surprising emotional pull of the stories. I see your dad is credited for Hawaiian Birds, that's one of my favorites. PlutoTV has a 24/7 vintage cartoon channel and they often show Fleischer classics and Betty Boop. Apparently the Fleischers wanted a 3-D effect in the animation and it's striking how some of the 30s work achieves that effect.
DeleteMae Questel is featured as Rosalind Russell's neighbor in the 50s drama A Majority of One, also with Alec Guinness, and she's wonderful.
I'm also a longtime fan of Little Lulu comics and the daffy stories of John Stanley. I recently read the new bio of John Stanley and it's a great overview of his life and comics-making of the time. Sadly he profited very little from his storytelling magic and inventiveness in creating new characters since the companies who hired him owned the work, I hope your dad fared better.
You have made it to the cartoonists' pantheon!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
Well now you join Steve Martin in a cartoonist career. Wow 🤩 good going!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations. Your second act is far more fruitful than mine.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very big moment Ken -- congrats!
ReplyDeleteJoe Barbera's first big break was getting a cartoon published in Collier's. So now you're on your way!
As my mom said every year, "Maybe this year will be better." Thanks for sharing this great news as one of the best things about 2022.
Congratulations, Ken. How amazing is that! You're a true renaissance man.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to your cartoon:
https://youtu.be/bY-h3spBAgI
JK. It's very good.
New Yorker cartoons will be funny again!
ReplyDelete"It's a Ziggy!"
ReplyDeleteIn the Seinfeld episode The Cartoon, Paul Benedict (who played Bentley on The Jeffersons) is the New Yorker editor Mr. Elinoff. Delightful actor, did you ever meet him, Ken?
DeleteQuotes
Mr. Elinoff : Miss Benes, cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer.
Elaine Benes : Well, you don't have to dissect it if you could just tell me why this is supposed to be funny.
Mr. Elinoff : Oh, it's merely a commentary on contemporary mores.
Elaine Benes : But what is the comment?
Mr. Elinoff : It's a slice of life.
Elaine Benes : No, it isn't.
Mr. Elinoff : A pun?
Elaine Benes : I don't think so.
Mr. Elinoff : Vorshtein?
Elaine Benes : That's not a word. You have no idea what this means.
Mr. Elinoff : No.
Elaine Benes : Then why did you print it?
Mr. Elinoff : I like the kitty.
Congratulations! I am envious of all of your talent. If I tried to draw a cartoon, it would only work as a satire on stick figures out of proportion to each other.
ReplyDeleteDo you enter the Cartoon Caption contest? I still do although I know it's fixed. How do I know? One week, the cartoon showed a string quartet with three of them crushed by a monster truck, and the violinist saying something at the microphone. The winner was "We will now play 'Pimp My Ride of the Valkyries.'" Mine was, "Will the music critic from Motor Trend please report backstage?" Now, come on. I wuz robbed.
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteAnd by featuring a fascist rodent, look for the film version to lure a certain Disney star out of semi-retirement!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHooray!
ReplyDeleteAnd you may now have as many New Yorker cartoons as E. B. White !
https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/medium/poster/5.5/8/break/images-medium-5/new-yorker-april-23rd-1932-eb-white.jpg
Congratulations, Mr. Levine! And may we all enjoy a New Year that sees peace, good health, and the return of commonsense and sanity.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Ken. Could a new animated sitcom being in the offing?
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Ken!
ReplyDeleteMost people have one career. You've been a TV writer and director, screenwriter, baseball announcer, DJ, playwright, author, and now a cartoonist in the New Yorker.
ReplyDeleteAll that's left is for you to release a song.
Chapeau!
ReplyDelete"It's been on my list for years!"
ReplyDeleteDanm you, Ken! Now I'm going to have to buy that issue. What a sneaky way to get me to read that publication. How much did they pay you to shill for them? Damn you!
ReplyDeleteM.B.
Ken
ReplyDeleteA big Thumbs up!!
Next step: Sic this mouse on Zuckerberg and Bezos.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. Congraulations
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
ReplyDeleteOh, this is amazing! Congratulations, Ken!
ReplyDeleteWow, love the humor.
ReplyDeleteMiss Parker's ghost nods with approval. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite the renaissance man!
ReplyDeleteCongrats Ken!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the FQ above on Westside Story. I believe people are saying "seniors" are not going to theaters. Seniors were a good part of the target. Too bad, this senior went to see Westside Story and loved it!!!
Congratulations Ken.
ReplyDeleteGreat job there, Ken!
ReplyDeleteI finally found web comics a few years ago - well, almost a full decade ago - as a way to get my cartooning out there. Granted, unpaid, but still something.
Good One Ken,
ReplyDeleteThis one is "of a kind" with this CLASSIC:
"On the internet no one knows you're a dog" (1994).
@ Fred C
ReplyDeleteThe statement about seniors not seeing West Side Story and that they are the target audience, means that the movie should have never been greenlit. But I am glad you enjoyed it.
@ Andrew
That Seinfeld clip shows that Elaine violated one of the rules of comedy. That rule is that comedy should be grounded in reality. While it is true that not being tall is a complaint, it is something that shouldn't be taken by a complaint department. Note that complaints usually take a build-up and result in multiple lines in a comic strip. Blondie does them to perfection.
@ Michael
You weren't robbed. There is no way Motor Trend would have a music critic.
Just seeing this after being away from online life for a few days, so congratulations!
ReplyDeleteVery nice, dare I say "cute" too? And I love your little signature in a bubble under the caption.
ReplyDeleteI think that's great. I had an aspiration at the age of 14 to be a single-panel gag cartoonist, later in college submitted some to the National Lampoon. So, well done.
ReplyDelete