Comic Series
Sundry Comix
Da Boids -1 Page
Nora Talbot -3 Pages
Larry Lagoon's
Fanzine Blues
Larry Lagoon's
Comic Dreams
Larry Lagoon's
Funny Pages
Suzy
by Richard O'Brien &
Bob Vojtko
Low Budget Funnies
by Bob Vojtko
McDonnell's column was one of the highlights of The Buyer's Guide for a little over five years. In 1978, I joined a horde of other cartoonists contributing comic strips that he included in his column. I did several versions of this particular strip before settling on the final iteration (top). Of course, when it originally ran it was in black-and-white.
Below is the first version of the Banquet strip that ran sometime in 1978.
Below is the first version of the Cheap Shot comic strip.
Backstory
David McDonnell began his Media Report column in The Buyer's Guide in 1975.
In his own words: "Brashly, I wrote Alan Light, pitching an every-other-week news column, Bananas Something. I was amazed when he accepted the idea, pending a title change. Thus, Media Report, was born."
Over the years, David McDonnell featured cartoons and illustrations from dozens of cartoonists in his Media Report column in Alan Light's The Buyer's Guide for comic fandom.
Here's a partial list of the contributors:
Larry Johnson
George Erling
John Cosgriff
Fred Hembeck
Tim Lynch
Marc Hempel
Bobby Wright
Ken Hahn
David Mruz
Jeff Martin
Mitch O'Connell
Doug Hazlewood
Chad Draper
Dave Sim
Rudi Franke
Tom Mason
Richard Bruning
Par Holman
Tim Fuller
George Kochell
Bob Murphy
David McDonnell's Media Report ran in The Buyer's Guide for a little over five years. It ended when he signed on as the Assistant Editor for Jim Steranko's Mediascene Prevue magazine. Replacing his weekly column, McDonnell started a new feature called TBG Funnies that ran for several years.
These cartoons ran in the Media Report news column in The Buyer's Guide during 1978 and 1979. Since each one was a stand-alone comic, I experimented with different drawing styles and subjects. Some of the strips included lots of cross-hatching and some were shaded using zip-a-tone screens. For the web, I've removed the zip-a-tone screens and added color in Photoshop.
In the late '70's, I worked in a small art department cranking out cartoons, illustrations, and production art for custom printed T-shirts and jackets. The Blind Hooker strip was based on a joke that one of the sportswear salesmen told us. The time card strip was based on my experience punching in at the shop.