Friends of THWAK - Mike Arnold

I guess Mike Arnold is much more than just a "Friend of THWAK" as although we have known each other less time than many of the other THWAKsters he has been an integral part of not only the brand new THWAK Bonfire of Insanity Collection book which he contributed art to but also laid out, he was also my co-publisher and lay out man for JOKESTER magazine.

This former Sesame Street animator has been freelancing for many years with many top notch clients such as Nickelodeon, Danimals, A&E, General Mills and Entertainment Weekly, just to name a few. Mike and I met during my tenure at CRACKED magazine. http://arnomation.com/

Check out Mike's appearance in MAD #481 Sept 2007 illustrated by non other than caricature superstar Tom Richmond.

Friends of THWAK - STAY TOONED Magazine

Here's a great read for anyone who is into cartooning, humorous illustration or just reading about your favorites and how they do what they do. Stay Tooned, edited and published by John Read (Gorilla Graphics) http://www.staytoonedmagazine.com/ continues in the great tradition of the publication - Cartoonist Profiles. Each issue is jammed full of cartoons, spot illustrations and terrific interviews all within 88 big pages! It's definitely the kind of magazine where you can really learn about some of your favorites as well as be introduced to others you may not have heard of.

For me this happened after I read issue#3 and learned about an Alaskan cartoonist named Chad Carpenter and his strip Tundra. Not only did I really enjoy the interview but I was so intrigued that I went out and bought one of his books - and loved it! To me it is reminiscent of elements of my favourite strip ever, Gary Larsen's The Far Side. Check it out at http://www.tundracomics.com/

The above MAD flavored cover is rendered by none other than MAD magazine artist Tom Richmond himself, who also has a column in each issue entitled "The MAD Mailbag". This particular issue contains interviews with all the incredible talent mentioned on the cover. Two of which were conducted by John with Sergio Aragones and Jack Davis while at the Jack Davis lecture series in Athens, Ga earlier this year. Check previous post. This issue is still in the works but should be out shortly. Highly recommended!

Friends of THWAK - Scott Gosar

Hey gang, I'm going to be starting a new feature here on the THWAK studios blog called "Friends of THWAK" where I'll be reviewing and commenting on various projects that many of the talented folks at THWAK have been involved with.

Kicking it off is owner of The MAD store.com (www.theMADstore.com) Scott Gosar. Scott has been providing 1000's of customers access to tens of thousands of their favorite humor magazines for close to a decade! Honestly if there's something you are looking for then Scott probably has it in his huge warehouse. With complete runs of MAD, CRACKED, National Lampoon and CRAZY and tons of obscure items you'll certainly have fun finding those long lost vintage magazines. The great thing is that Scott meticulously grades his inventory so if you're looking for Near Mint issues for your collection or plain reading copies - he has it all!

I actually "met" Scott in an online sense when I was perusing around his site back in early 2002. After mentioning my own publishing venture with THWAK I found out that Scott was a talented writer with excellent satirical sensibilities and starting with THWAK #2 was a regular, contributing many articles to both THWAK and JOKESTER. While writing for the Weekly World News (the folks who bought CRACKED) Scott and I took over as editors in late summer of 2003 and got started recrafting the look and feel of the iconic magazine. We certainly had a great time coming up with themes, cover ideas and layouts.

Scott has been continuously adding to the MAD stores' inventory these last few years and also conducted an excellent interview with MADman Frank Jacobs, portions of which are on his website. Look for the full interview in "The JOURNAL of MADness" trade paperback which will be out later this year.

Incidentally the MAD store logo was done by none other than MAD artist Tom Richmond.