The Ephemerist

In case you were wondering what the Thompson Twins (or Jansen & Janssen, as they are called in Dutch) have been up to since 1983, when Hergé died, here’s your answer.  They’re in real estate and doing pretty well for themselves, with six offices across the country, and Snowy endorsing their activities.

Their website is “all rights reserved”, but even in their impressive disclaimer there’s not a trace of Moulinsart or any other property statement. Strange… I’d even say, “Strange”.

Cheverny Castle is widely considered to be Hergé’s inspiration for Marlinspike Castle.  This photo montage proves that point.

(via Tintinmovie.org, which also compares the castle’s location with where actual Marlinspike is.  Quite a hike)

Over the years, Ever Meulen has done a zillion covers for Humo magazine. Some of them are plainly recognizable, for others you need to know it’s actually him. Here is an example of a hidden Meulen somewhere in the eighties, adding all kinds of details to a picture of television presenter Paul Muys. Including a Tintin quiff.

Glamtoonist Maarten Van De Wiele presents the first page of his new comic, I heart Paris. Looks quite intruiging.

(translation for those who are not up to speed with Vondel’s language : “I was born on the first day of the new year, and I immediately made the front pages of the newspapers. Moreover, I was a beautiful baby. That’s why my mom enrolled me in beauty contests. I won ‘Little Miss Spoiled’, the ‘Jet Set Cover Girl’, the ‘I Love Smoking’, the ‘Miss Merry Christmas and the ‘Miss Funeral Home’ contests.” )

Gene Weingarten advocates a no-work day on february 29, at the Washington Post, and regular illustrator Eric Shansby found just the character to illustrate it with.

(from Mike Rhode’s ComicsDC)

Kyle Baker drew this strip for a story on customer service at Sprint, for Business Weekly (february 22).  I guess (well, I hope) the original, paper version is a bit larger in size, as this one is hardly legible.

(courtesy the One that isn’t Mentioned)

Gabriel Gobrera Sastre is a Spanish illustrator and cartoonist who has an ongoing strip in the über-hip Ling Magazine (it’s so hip it ain’t got no website of its own). As sources of inspiration, he cites Charles Schulz, John Satanley (Little Lulu), Elsie Segar, Gary Taxali (obviously), but above all Seth and Chris Ware.

The strip above, which is one of the latest for Ling, explicitly is meant as a homage to Ware and Seth, who renewed and strengthened his interest in present comics. I quite like it, even though I haven’t got the faintest clue what’s going on - the page layout is very tight and inventive, and the dark and threatening atmosphere is very clear.

From march 3 until march 30, the Freud Gallery (198 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JL) presents the artwork from the Inkspot Monologues by Keith Pointing. In this book a dysfunctional relationship therapist uses the Rorschach blot test to help people come to terms with their unsuccessful romantic relationships. Their stories are told through words and pictures, with people’s personalities and more particularly more unsavoury treats are masterfully depicted using elaborated ink blots.

Even though the art is totally different from his “The Man Who” cartoons, these pictures reminded me of the work by H.M. Bateman, thanks to the way sparce pictures and text work together to very accurately pinpoint man in all his smallness.

Later this year, the stories will be published by the Friday Project. Click on for more examples.

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An unexpected piece of comics, from an undated edition of the Book Of Knowledge. It always strikes me that these days, you can’t tell whether you’re dealing with a piece of vintage illustration, or with a clever and ironic take on it by one of those new fangled “cartoonists”. If you don’t know the context, of course.

(thanks for this gem go, as ever, to Van)

Ben of off Scratchin’ Post Comics loves us ! His comics aren’t half bad either (I particularly like the Russian Cat). Cheers !