I was talking to the late, great David Levine one time about how a number of authors harbored early cartooning ambitions. He mentioned that novelist John Updike had been a prolific cartoonist in his college years. I sent Updike a letter expressing interest in publishing his cartoons in Hogan’s Alley, and to my delight he sent me not only the original art (!) to the cartoons presented below, but an original essay describing his passion for cartoons. So Hogan’s Alley #2 had the distinction of publishing an original prose essay by a Pulitzer Prize winner as well as these cartoons:

Among the cartoons was the following one which had no caption, and Updike didn’t recall what he’d intended. So let’s play “Supply-A-Caption.” We’ll let Fearless Leader Craig Yoe select the winner, who will receive a signed (by Yoe) copy of his book “The Art of Mickey Mouse” where he got Updike to write an introduction. Send your caption to yoecomix(at)hotmail(dot)com. Yoe’s decision final you understand. (Very sorry, non-U.S. ITCH readers disqualified unless they want to pay the totally crazy postage).

And before you ask: Yes, I returned his original art. And to compensate him for his efforts, we paid him with some vintage Big Little Books featuring Disney characters (a childhood favorite of his), which delighted him.

We kept Updike on our comp list until he died, and it always made me feel good to know that the great man was reading our magazine and reliving his early passion for cartooning.

Now have the thrill of collaborating with Mr. John Updike by sending those captions for the contest!