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at Comic Book Galaxy: The DinglesBack in 1993, a small syndicate asked me to develop a daily and Sunday comic strip for distribution to daily newspapers. At the time, my editorial cartoons weren’t selling well, and I saw strips as a low-brow means of supplementing my income. The problem was, however, that my plan to "sell out" failed as I worked on the thing - I just didn’t have the heart to draw something I didn’t really like myself.After six months of development, the results were a strip called "The Dingles," a strip about the trials and tribulations of a nuclear family in the throes of constant disintegration. My idea was to see if I could do for the comic form what Devo did for music - set up a scenario where things were constantly getting worse, not better. I finished nearly four months of the strip, and aside from problems with the drawing style and the narrow graphic constraints of the comic format, I was pretty happy with the results. The tiny syndicate tried to sub-contract it out to one of the majors in 1994, but didn’t succeed in doing so before my one-year contract with them expired. Then, in 1996, my editorial cartoon contract with Chronicle Features was about to expire. Chronicle offered me a United Media deal for "The Dingles" if I would renew, but I decided to go with Universal Press instead. To tell the truth, I don’t really want to do a daily strip now that my other projects are going so well. So for now, at least, "The Dingles" are on ice. Here, seen for the first (and possibly last) time, is "The Dingles" as they were meant to be enjoyed, one day at a time. Let Me Read The Dingles! TED'S FAVORITE CARTOONISTS:Lalo Alcaraz - La CucarachaDon Asmussen - The San Francisco Comic Strip Scott Bateman Alison Bechdel - Dykes to Watch Jennifer Berman - Berman Eric Bezdek - Corn Valley Ruben Bolling - Tom the Dancing Bug Bill Brown - Citizen Bill Clay Butler - Sidewalk Bubblegum Max Cannon - Red Meat Lloyd Dangle - Troubletown Derf (John Backderf) - The City Barry Deutsch - Ampersand Tim Eagan - Deep Cover Emily S. Flake - Lulu Eightball Marian Henley - Maxine! Keith Knight - The K Chronicles Tim Kreider - The Pain--When Will It End? Peter Kuper - Eye of the Beholder Aaron McGruder - Boondocks Stephanie McMillan - Minimum Security Kevin Moore - In Contempt Comics Stephen Notley - Bob the Angry Flower Eric Orner - The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green Greg Peters - Suspect Device David Rees - Get Your War On Mikhaela Blake Reid - The Boiling Point Brian Sendelbach - Smell of Steve, Inc. Joe Sharpnack Jim Siergey - Cultural Jet Lag Andy Singer - No Exit Jen Sorensen - Slowpoke Ward Sutton - Schlock 'n' Roll Neil Swaab - Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles Tom Tomorrow - This Modern World Tak Toyoshima - Secret Asian Man Shannon Wheeler - Too Much Coffee Man Matt Wuerker - Lint Trap Jason Yungbluth - Deep Fried All Material Copyright 2003 Ted Rall. Web Design: Bård Edlund. |