Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist

Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist
Me at a Comic Con

Sunday 21 November 2010

Comics on the screen

In the early 80s the sight of a grown man pretending to draw comics in the Home Counties with a glove puppet on his hand passed for entertainment. As did a 1965 movie about a New York comic book artist who wanted to bump off his Italian bride.
Yes, of course,  I'm referring to Keep it In The Family and How to Murder Your Wife, both of which used a Comic Artist as the central chracater, but frankly he could have been a bus conductor or an office manager or a plumber or a dentist for all the plot revolved around Comics!

Chasing Amy was a little better- any others come to mind? Any other movies or TV shows that star a Comics Artist? And any which actually need the protagonist to be a cartoonist or illustrator to make the plot work?

The only one I can think of is, naturally, The Avengers (ABC tv) where, in "The Winged Avenger" Emma and Steed came face to face with a frankly potty Comics Artist. This may have been inspired by How to Murder Your Wife, but here it's not just a device, it's the crux of the whole affair. Plus you get to watch Diana Rigg.
Anyway, back to the question!

4 comments:

Peter Gray said...

Condorman Michael Crawford film..:))

Lew Stringer said...

There was 'The Hand' with Micheal Caine as a comic artist. The actual artwork was by Barry Smith apparently! Haven't seen the film myself but it's probably about as close to the reality of real comic artists as those other two you mentioned. (ie: not much).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hand_%28film%29

Fanton said...

Off the top of my head I can think of the low-budget thriller 'The Ambulance', about a comic book artist who gets caught up in a mystery about a disappearing woman. Stan Lee even crops up as his boss!

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800188455/info

NP said...

No more? Really? well i guess the prize must go to The Avengers then, what do you think?