021 #blogjune 2020 - Daan framed the Rabbit in 1988

021 #blogjune 2020

“Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old. ”
- Bill Walton

Song of the Blog:
"'Now if you had prepared 20 years ago,
You wouldn't be a wandering now from door to door.
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?"
- Jessica Rabbit

In 1988 - fresh out of the army - the year I turned 21, there was a headline in one of the newspapers: Comic Magazines in trouble -  The article talks about the changes in the comic book magazine world, with pages being reduced and or being published bi-weekly. The Tintin magazine was even going to be published monthly. I had stopped getting that years before. The new look Eppo WV with its triple comic strip covers and comic frames blown up to poster format in the name of 'art' stopped me from being a fan. With the name change to 'SJORS AND SJIMMIE' it lost my interest completely - it had stopped being 'my EPPO'.



The article in the paper blamed the reduction of the amount of children in families and the fact that TV was entertaining kids, more than ever. I think probably a lot of readers like myself from the early days had grown up and were studying or had a job. I was doing both that year - working odd jobs in the holidays and the weekends ( mostly cleaning jobs) whilst during the week I went to an art academy. It was nice to get back into art and drawing - I just found a sketch the other day that I had drawn for one of my uncle's 50th birthday. Wow - to think I have passed that milestone myself THREE years ago! It's amazing how these little time-travelling blogs bring up memories from the past.

1988 was more a year of music than comics for me - Tracy Chapman's FAST CAR, Bobby McFerrrin's BE HAPPY. There was still some classic George Michael en Michael Jackson and who could forget the DIRTY DANCING soundtrack. Which brings us to movies - yes, I did see the movie and even (still) own the record! Nobody puts baby in the corner, right! But THE movie of 1988 for me, would have to be: WHO FRAMES ROGER RABBIT (and of course Die Hard). So without a doubt I had to buy the comic adaption that year - "The hunt for Roger Rabbit" drawn by the great Daan Jippes (who's mostly famous for his Disney work - and has been a major influence on many Dutch comic book artists). It's still a nice book to look at from time to time and the movie itself remains a true classic. I am surprised that I never bought the 'Sjors en Sjimmie' magazine with the movie on the cover.

014 #blogjune 2020 - Looking BACK

014 #blogjune 2020

 "As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I've got left?"
- David Bowie


Song of the Blog:
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me"
 - Queen

What am I? A writer? A poet? An illustrator? A cartoonist? A graphic designer? A photographer? All of the above?
Was Leonardo Da Vinci too random, when he sketched, painted and or invented? Do you need to focus on one thing to make it work? Is my focus too weak, too scattered… am I wasting time creating a daily blog for 30 days? Is sharing 'caring'?

We are now at the hump of 2020. Things this year seem even more unreal than previous time. Like it is part of some fantasy show we all live in. At the same time, I am at the hump of #blogjune… Halfway… Each day there has been an episode of 'The eRiQ Blog show'. So far, I have created 14 episodes. When promoted on certain groups, one of these blogs might get an average of 40+ views. Is it really worth it, within the bigger picture of life? Should I continue blogging? Or is it because my content is just too weak. Maybe it is time to topple this blog like some disgraced statue… or to take them off the internet like some show or publication that's too offensive for delicate souls?

I know, I have read the articles online… The ones that tell you: "The web is full of information. You need to produce literally the best pieces of content that can effectively engage your audience. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the deep sea of content out there."  And… "Stories that resonate with people most are usually the ones where the storyteller is honest and open about their passion and challenges." - Yet, sometimes I feel like I am inside some story that doesn't seem to resonate at all... as if we are all in the middle of some global 'Jurassic Park' surrounded by dinosaurs out to get us.

So far, this month  I have created two weeks worth of looking at comics - having delved into the world of my personal pop-culture, picking pictures from my younger years. Looking back at the times of being a 'poor' boy, growing up in the 80s, dealing with puberty, divorce and the fear of nuclear war. Am I fishing for sympathy? I am adding photos of my older self, the older 'wiser' me - reflecting… going back down that long road of 50+ years… Nothing comes easy. There have been highs and lows along the way. As a creator, one continuously questions oneself; what is the point of it all? Of course, it would be nice to reach a larger audience…  Because most creators do create something that they want to share; with friends, family or the world. With modern ways, online, the potential is there to reach anyone. Yet these days people get bombarded throughout the day with a plethora of content and any message gets diluted by algorithms that favour advertised content within this torrent of mildly mediocre memes and a landslide of questionable quizzes. I will let YOU the reader, decide.

Here are the links to the first week of blogs - in case you 'missed' them :)

006 #blogjune 2020 - Your body is a wonderland

006 #blogjune 2020

“Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
―Lewis Carroll


Song of the Blog:
"Like Alice in Wonderland
The dream takes you by the hand
Inside emotions that you might not feel
If by some notion the dream was not real"
 - Culture Club

Having lived through the last months with all the craziness and its 'new normal', has at times felt like a (bad) dream sequence. As if the whole world has tumbled into some warped wonderland of weirdness...

I was six years old when I first got introduced to Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' through the medium of comics. Inside it still has two of the addresses where I used to live. The top one written by my dad, the other stamped by me. This comic book from 1973 was illustrated by DANY - but on the cover it reads DALUC and TURBO.  It also has some additional artwork by Dupa, Turk and De Groot.  But it was DANY whose style I fell in love with. His stories about Olivier Rameau (Roze Bottel) and the people of 'Dreamland' marked the debut of Dany's first successful and longest running series. Dreamland is very similar to the worlds of L. Frank Baum's Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice.  Dany drew this adaptation of Alice shortly after starting the Olivier Rameau series.

His books of JOKER (Harlekijn) scream to be made into a movie series (great scripts by Jean Van Hamme). And his version of Bernard Prince, in the book  (Le piège aux 100.000 dards) - "De val met de 100.000 spiesen" from 1980 reads like a movie on paper. A totally different direction from the dream-like stories of his other series.



From Classics Illustrated, Marvel Classics Comics to the Grimm Fairy Tales, there have been MANY version of Alice over the years (most people are still predominantly familiar with Disney's animated and live-action film versions). For me however this book of Dany will forever be very impressionable. We also have a little 'Alice in Wonderland' corner in one of our display cabinets... with a copy of the original classic novel and some of the Disney characters -  as part of our little POP 'culture club'. But for me the face of Alice from the Dany comic will forever be with me, from when I was six years old.

013 #blogjune - DUCKFACE

"Happiness is the richest thing we will ever own."-  Donald Duck

Not the biggest fan of the latest cartoon versions of Donald (nor Mickey)

This month, June 9th, marked 85 years since Donald Fauntleroy Duck made his first appearance in the cartoon "The Wise Little Hen". No, not Calimero - allthough he was pretty wise for his age as well. I was chatting to a friend last night, who suggested the topic "It all started with a mouse..." - but Mickey has had so much coverage over the years, it's time to focus of Mr. Duck!

Old cover I found in a box.

As a kid there were always Donald Duck comics around the house and I would read all the adventures of him and his nephews from cover to cover. In Holland these three family members had different names, they went by KWIK, KWEK and KWAK! Plus Donald's of and on girlfriend, Daisy, was renamed Katrien in the Dutch versions.
Our dutch Donald Duck magazine also had great posters, some of which I still kept over the years. Other parts of the magazine were very handy to cut things from to use for primary school projects. I even had a Donald Duck car, but sadly the Donald (not to be confused with the other Donald) did not survive and was replaced with Uncle Scrooge (Who we called DAGOBERT in Holland!)
 

The great wall of Disney in my man-cave... Insert:the almost 50 year old Donald Duck car!

It all became REAL for me when I actually met the Donald in the fur on my first trip to Disneyland in 1977. My nine year old self snapped a shot of Donald, doing his best duck face YEARS before Instagram made this look a phenomenon. I have seen Donald a few times in his "natural habitat", but only managed to get a photo with his girlfriend Daisy 40 years later on our last Disney trip in 2017.

My first ever pic of the Donald (1977) and my first ever pic with Daisy (2017)!

The Donald really needs his own proper Disney movie, I am not talking "Ducktales" here (whoohoo) ... no, a cool origin story done in a pixar animated style. Come on Disney - give this Duck what he deserves! He has been walking around the theme parks for many years, give him the chance to walk on the red carpet to his own premiere! 

Donald sure went through some changes in the parks as well over the years.