Howzit Funnies

Romeo Bear

2012-01-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

A new comic!

New Years Day - Dr. W Edition

2012-01-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

I worked on this one in the coffee shop this afternoon.

It's still the first of the month, so it doesn't seem out of place to still be including New Years comics. Plus, this one seemed more appropriate for the day after the New Years Eve bashes

.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T19:49:00.001-08:00

"With a hat on my head
And straw sandals on my feet
I met on the road
The end of the year."

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-22T04:07:00.000-08:00

Lot of holidays going on and coming up, so here's a toon to celebrate. It's focused a little narrowly in terms of subject and imagery, but it applies more broadly, I think.

Bird - Random Imperfect and Obsolete

2011-12-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Apropos of nothing, irrelevant to anything and beholden to nothing.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

A toon for T-Day!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Have a creepy day!

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T20:55:00.001-07:00

Like everyone else on the east coast, I'm dealing with Hurricane Irene by drinking (I'm sure everyone on the west coast is handling it the same way). Anyway, a case of garbage beer calls for no other accompaniment than your favorite intergalactic space frog, and luckily I had (a) pen (b) paper and (c) intoxication... and thus this drawing of Spadefoot, riding out the storm...

(Spadefoot was a character created by James West and Matt Dembicki. After they did a few installments, I took over for James, and Matt and I finished the last 3/4 or so of the story)

An American Birthday Bird

2011-07-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Happy July 4th! In honor of the holiday, here's a bird for you.

It's not just any bird, though. It's basically the obverse side of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar, minted from 1916 to 1947.

Why that bird from that particular coin? For one, it's a great looking eagle, from a great coin design. It was also the last, regular coin in circulation to NOT feature a president.

Up until the 20th century, it was considered unseemly for a democracy to put its leaders on its coins. That was something that monarchies and imperial governments did. The United States - ostensibly deriving its power from the people - populated its coins with metaphoric figures like "Lady Liberty," "Freedom," Indians, Eagles, Wheat, etc. In 1909, though, they put Abraham Lincoln on the penny, replacing the Indian. George Washington got the treatment on the quarter in 1931, pushing out the Standing Liberty quarter. 1938 had Jefferson replacing the Indian / Buffalo on the nickel. FDR followed suit in 1946, replacing the Winged Liberty (aka Mercury Head) dime.

Walking Liberty held out just a little longer, giving way to Ben Franklin in 1948, who was replaced under expedited circumstances by Kennedy in 1964.

So, in honor of one of the best designed eagles in American symbolism, and the last coin staying true to the American ideal that refuses to idolize power, here's the god damned bird, already.

A Comic for "Another Day"

2011-06-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

"Porter Black" has wrapped up, but isn't done. There will hopefully be a collection of the strips for SPX, and new stories are in the works.

In the meanwhile, this is a comic I pulled together over the weekend, in anticipation of Monday. I make no promises about it, but hopefully it gives you a chuckle to start the week.

Porter Black, # 36

2011-06-18T04:27:00.001-07:00

All good things come to an end.

Porter Black isn't one of them.

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 35

2011-06-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Jerry almost gets the respect he deserves. Harold gets even less.

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 34

2011-06-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

Going down the river.

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 33

2011-05-21T04:44:00.001-07:00

Mind = Blown.

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 32

2011-05-14T08:59:00.001-07:00

Even the best deserve a little disappointment now and then.

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Boid

2011-05-10T17:30:00.001-07:00

You look a little burned out, my friend.

porter Black, # 31

2011-05-07T04:21:00.001-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 30

2011-04-30T04:37:00.001-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 29

2011-04-23T05:58:00.001-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 28

2011-04-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

"And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'."

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew"

Emancipation Day

2011-04-15T03:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Emancipation Day, celebrating the "Emancipated Compensation Act" of 1862, which freed all enslaved persons of DC. Issued nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation, it made DC the "first freed" by the Federal government.

In honor is a little comic. I'm not apologizing, but I will say that it's basically the comic equivalent of "doing it in one take." I opted for timeliness over refinement, though. It's also supposed to be viewed as one long strip, but to upload it in a legible size I had to split it up into 3 pages.

But hey, we all make compromises, I guess.

Porter Black, # 27

2011-04-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

"Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin."

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 26

2011-04-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Way to go, Chum.

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 25

2011-03-26T06:18:00.001-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 24

2011-03-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

There's a coldness all over the world in the world of Porter Black.

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 23

2011-03-12T05:27:00.000-08:00

The "Porter Family" grows...

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Birdy

2011-03-09T18:29:00.001-08:00

Not really apropos of anything in particular, other than it seemed like a good time to toss a bird up.

Porter Black, # 22

2011-03-05T05:13:00.001-08:00

A little bit more about our main man, and some intrigue that's brewing on the home front of the DOJ

(Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 21

2011-02-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

Let's take a moment to see what's up with the titular character of the story, now...

(As always, Story by Art, Art by Andrew)

Porter Black, # 20

2011-02-19T09:17:00.001-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day.

Porter Black, # 19

2011-02-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

Jerry drops some science.

Porter Black, # 18

2011-02-05T05:15:00.001-08:00

Jerry gets all high and mighty and, meanwhile, Harold Loveless's heart is broken.

Sketches

2011-02-03T04:22:00.000-08:00

Some more dog sketches that I did at work. Bonus images include some bare knuckle boxers, from another project that I'm (slowly) working on...

Porter Black, # 17

2011-01-29T04:43:00.000-08:00

Jerry acts likes someone you could almost respect. Also, Kipper snacks are delicious.

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 16

2011-01-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

Unlike what happens in real life, Jerry turns a bad situation into a winning idea...

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 15

2011-01-15T04:39:00.001-08:00

Could Jerry be a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

Dog sketches

2011-01-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

A few loose sketches of some dogs.

Porter Black, # 14

2011-01-08T16:34:00.001-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 13

2011-01-01T16:47:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black Christmas

2010-12-22T17:31:00.001-08:00

The holidays don't give a shit about you, but you know what? Justice doesn't give a shit about the holidays.

Porter Black, # 12

2010-12-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 11

2010-12-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 10

2010-12-04T04:35:00.001-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

bright bird

2010-12-02T04:19:00.000-08:00

... For a bright sunrise...

Porter Black, # 9

2010-11-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 8

2010-11-20T04:01:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Breezy bird

2010-11-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

A bird for a brisk, windy day.

Porter Black, # 7

2010-11-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 6

2010-11-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

Porter Black, # 5

2010-10-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Story by Art, Art by Andrew

This strip contains a boo-boo. I only have access to an older version of the series at the moment, from when Porter was going to be "Peter." Hopefully that won't disturb your enjoyment of the strip, though, one way or another.

Porter Black, # 4

2010-10-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Fourth installment of Porter Black, with some new people to meet.

Also, due to computer issues, posting will probably be sporadic, or at least somewhat irregular. "Porter Black" will hopefully be continuing on Saturdays, though.

Sunday Bird

2010-10-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was at the Richmond Zine Fest in Richmond, Virginia. Matt Dembicki, Steve Loya and myself have done it the past few years, and this year was a typically fine day of art, commerce and beverages. Matt posted a great write-up with photos over on his blog. Steve has some amazing (and amazingly inventive) stuff on both of his blogs that you should check out as well.

Porter Black, # 3

2010-10-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

Story by Art, art by me.

Sketches

2010-10-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a story with my friend Billy. He's re-working it from a one page comic he did a few years ago, which you can see (and read about) at his comic blog.

Anyway, these are a couple of the sketches I worked up when we first started discussing things.

Porter Black, # 2

2010-10-06T04:15:00.001-07:00

Still written by Art Haupt, still drawn by me.

Porter Black, # 1

2010-09-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

New comic series, written by Art Haupt and drawn by myself. First strip in the set...

Dr. W - man (?) of letters

2010-09-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice long Dr. W story for your nice, long work week.

Owl

2010-09-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

A midnight owl for a sunny day. This was one of the images I was playing with for a role in "Shh - You'll Wake the Dead!"

Dr. W makes breakfast

2010-09-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

A Dr. W toon. It's a riff on a Harvey Kurtzman "Hey Look!" cartoon about eating an egg, hence the title.

An October Evening Walk

2010-09-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Granted that it's September and not October, but it's also another comic from "Shh! You'll Wake the Dead!"

It'll be at SPX this weekend, so if you're in the area stop by at Table W8!

Another bird...

2010-09-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

... of the sort that is socially appropriate to give to people.

Flower power

2010-09-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing too much here. Just a 3 page comic I did for no particular reason, and with no particular place in which I intended to put it. So, here 'tis...

A Final Thing

2010-09-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

Yet another toon from the mini-comic, "Shh! You'll Wake the Dead!"

Ben Backstay

2010-08-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

Another comic I drew for "Shh - You'll Wake the Dead." Ben Backstay is an old sea song that I thought had a good combination of gruesomeness and humor.

Dr. W page

2010-08-25T04:42:00.001-07:00

One of the middle pages from a longer Dr. W story. W was writing a letter when some bullies snatched it away, ultimately causing all the letters to fly off the page and re-form as a monster. Some hijinks ensue, and the wordy monster traps the bullies. Here, W frees them, but in the process the monster turns on W.

Makin' Plans

2010-08-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

This owes its existence to my friend Billy. I took it off of a little back-and-forth that was on his Facebook page and that I thought was kind of funny. I just put it into toon form after that.

More birds and comics

2010-08-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

After SPX last year, I started on a comic for a "Day of the Dead" show. I didn't end up doing the show, but I did finish the book... "Shh! You'll Wake the Dead!". All the comics involve skeletons, skulls, the dead or something in that vein. This is one of the pages I did (which, maybe coincidentally or not, also involves birds)...

Bird in the bush

2010-08-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

Been a bit of a while, but in gearing up for SPX on September 11-12, I decided it was time to ramp the blog back up. Kicking things off not with a comic, but a bird.

Trickster!

2010-05-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

"Trickster" is a brand new comic anthology of Native American folk tales. All of the stories were written by American Indian storytellers who contributed a tale from their tribe's culture. The stories were then drawn by a wide variety of comic book artists. It's a beautiful, full color book that is getting great press and reviews from Publisher's Weekly, the American Library Association and the School Library Journal, among others.

I was lucky enough to be involved, drawing the story of the Yehasuri, the little mischievous Indian people of Catawba legend.

This Saturday (May 15), there's a book release and signing party at Big Planet Comics in Vienna, Virginia. Information about the signing and party is here.

To order the book, check out the listing at Amazon.

It really is an excellent anthology, and I urge you to check it out. You won't be disappointed!

Dr. W

2010-04-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

On the danger of combining pastries and heights...

Another shot from the Doctor

2010-04-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

It's good for what ails you.

Dr. W

2010-03-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Dr. W is a character I've been playing around with for sometime, now. I talked a little about the comic in the interview I did with the Examiner. Anyway, here's a one pager starring the good doctor...

The Brewmaster

2010-03-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a page from a comic I'm working on with Matt Dembicki, about a famous D.C. personage....

Latest

2010-03-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

Been a little slow, here, I realize, but that will soon change as a number of projects start coming together.

Check out an interview I recently did with Examiner.com for some more information and the general scoop!

The interview

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

A 'toon from a Halloween comic that I put together, but didn't get to print.

SPX

2009-09-21T04:58:00.001-07:00

Less than a week to SPX! Here's the cover for the "Howzit Funnies" shebang.

Four More

2009-09-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Another couple of the 4-panel funnies. The first one underwent some pretty extensive drawing changes... originally it was a very sparely drawn comic. I decided to beef it up with some more physical cartoonininess, though. The second one I thought of while waiting for a bus at Logan Airport. I had the idea for the words to the last panel and I was shooting through ideas for other panels when I came up with the gag. I forget why I chose a turtle, exactly, but I do remember that I didn't have enough money for the bus (or rather, I had a wrong, but cheaper, ticket, and no additional money). The driver let it slide, though.

On My Way

2009-09-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

"On My Way" was a fun Funny to do. Came up with the initial bit, worked on how many different ways I could wring it, and then at the end finally turned the joke in against itself for a punchline. It was fun to draw, too, because the narrative and the images are pretty separated until they converge at the punchline of each verse. It's pretty long, but these are the first three pages to give you a good gist of the thing...

Black Rooster Reel

2009-09-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

This one is a little sedate, I admit. Here, no one is really talking... are they not really thinking, either? Feeling? In the Summer-Autumn seasonal transition the Rooster is the flip side of art-as-communication, playing with what's behind the door and around the corner; outside the window, under the water and behind the button eyes.

All Beasts

2009-08-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

I essentially started this one with just the first four panels. I had a vague sense of where to go from there, in that I wanted a steady undertow of violence and damnation, but I didn't have anything solid. As I played with it I ended up scraping together a dozen different "marches and tunes," to give it body and form and make it work.

In a lot of ways, though, for all of the violence in the story, it's really about the winter.

Here are the first two pages...

Another Day

2009-08-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another Funny, very much about August in D.C...

The Professor

2009-08-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

I started this comic with the story structure and words. One of the things I worked very hard to avoid was to just illustrate a song or a poem. I always worked with a very fixed notion of making comics, using words and pictures and panels. Certain conceits like rhyming and rhythm provided structure and functioned as starting points, but I was always focused on the idea that I was making comics. I had to scrap a lot of ideas at one point or another because I felt that they were too illustrational... To be a Funny, it always had to be about the interplay of words and picture, words vs. words, and pictures to panels.

Four Panel Fun

2009-08-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

In some ways, "Bear Bar" and "Fat Frog" were designed as the antithesis of "Hang On," posted below. "Hang On" was something of an effort to create a rollicking, crashing, pile-on of jokes, rhymes and pictures that's (barely) guided to an almost abrupt ending.

These two comics are examples of some four-panel toons that pull in the opposite direction. The pacing here is almost metronomic. I tried to pare things way down, to just four panels, minimal words and almost primitively cartoon images. The original drawings I felt were primitive, but not necessarily in the right way, so I re-drew them. I'm happier now with the somewhat inappropriate pairing of arch-cartooniness to the writing. These four panellers were actually pretty tough, I found. It was difficult coming up with suitably cold, forthright text that methodically works up to a punchline. Matching it with a cartoon that plays off of the text, rather than illustrating it, was equally tough. I had to scrap a bunch of them because they erred in one direction or the other, but of the ones I kept I feel like these two are particularly strong.

Hang On

2009-08-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

"Hang On" was really the first "Howzit Funny." It was one of the first that was written, drawn and completed. It's been re-drawn since I first put it out, but the re-working was strictly technical. Anyway, when I put together the first photocopied comic I made it the first toon, and when I made the finished collection I kept it first. It's always been the standard bearer, so it's fitting that it kicks things off here...

Howzit Funnies

2009-05-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

"Howzit Funnies" is a group of collected cartoons done by me, Andrew Cohen.

The comics use a rhyming, musical form to track out the beats of comic book rhythms, hijinx, doodads and jazz. The tempos and tones roam over the map, but they're always situated by the "Howzit Funny" style and outlook.

This blog is a place for you to see samples of the Funnies, find new Funnies, and maybe discover the Funnies for the first time. If nothing else, hopefully you find them funny.