I’ve tried not to mention ARF III (out next Spring-ish) yet as I’m still out there on the streets pimping and publicising Arf I + II and don’t want to get people confused. (And have you GOT Modern Arf and Arf Museum now?!?-let me know what you think, I can’t tell you how much your feedback and encouragment means).

But, anywho, here’s my first hint at what you’re gonna see in Arf Forum (oh, I wasn’t gonna tell you the name of Arf III, but there you have it, Arf Forum). In each volume of Arf I try and highlight a totally unknown genius cartoonist. In Modern Arf it was Hy Mayer. In Arf Museum it was Charles Bennett. Arf Forum will have a couple including Ted Scheel. I just found the below 1931 cartoon by him, It’s not his nutty surreal genius side that I’ll be showing in the book but a damn good cartoon none-the-less. It has the perfect set-up and punch line. It’s almost like a math problem. 1+1=2. Or it’s like this, panel one: first “character”, panel two : second character. Then panel three: badda-bing, panel four: badda-bang, then the grand finale, panel five: badda-boom! So simple, so direct, not an extraneous line to distract, either. Pure cartooning. Not pure genius, you’ll have to wait for the book to see that!

(click to enlarge)

— admin