Twenty Years of Trouble

Last night The Boy and I went to see a friend of his, Lloyd Dangle, give a presentation at the Cartoon Art Museum. (Yes, it has been a week full of art. We are very fancy this week.)

The Boy introduced me to the comic strip Troubletown a couple of years ago, and I've been laughing (and cringing inside because it's painfully true) at this comic strip ever since.

Most of you are very, very familiar with cartoonist Lloyd Dangle's work, even if you don't know his name. If you've ever felt under the weather and picked up a package of Airborne at the drug store, Lloyd is the guy who drew the art for the packaging, with the sick people and the little crazy germs. (Personally, I think the art is the best thing about the product, since it certainly hasn't ever kept me from catching a cold.)

Anyway, Lloyd is a really cool guy, kinda quiet and maybe a little shy, but he's got a wicked sense of humor and tells it like it is. His comic strip Troubletown is twenty years old this year, and if our politics keep on going the way they are, Lloyd will never run out of things to draw.

Lloyd gave a presentation about himself and his work, where I learned a lot about:

a. Michigan (I did not know that it is called The Mitten! How cute! I guess that lack of geographic awareness is part of what happens when you grow up in California, in addition to not knowing what snow is).

b. Why Ronald Reagan may not have been the president many fondly remember now. But how Bush will keep artists working for decades to come.

c. What to do when crazy people send you mail that looks like it could be a bomb.

and d. How to draw a cartoon likeness of John McCain. (It involves a potato. I am not going to give away the secret...you'll have to learn for yourself on the tutorial on his blog.)

Aside from all of that knowledge, I also got my own copy of his newest book, Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from This Mess, which is amazingly prophetic yet hilarious. Not only do I have the book, but it is autographed, bears not one, not two, but three anniversary stickers that proclaim "Cartoons that Kick Ass," and it is signed to his Core Fan, which I now apparently am.

I don't know what responsibilities lie in being someone's Core Fan but I am going to find out and then do my darnedest to live up to my new role.

(So start reading Troubletown and buy a book. Especially if you are from The Mitten.)