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I created several comic strips
during my ten years as a full-time cartoonist. Listed below are
my favorites, and soon I'll have art and examples you can review:
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E.Z. Wolf: Set in a
mythical southern land of piney woods, small farms, and the town
of Terminus, the world of E. Z. Wolf is populated with a cast of
animal friends and characters. I'm one-half southerner, and the
stories, settings and humor reflect that part of my southern experience
in and around North Carolina, and Eufala, Alabama, my mother's hometown.
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Mellow
Cat: This strip is based upon a real person from La
Jolla, California, who was known around Surfer Publications
as "Mellow Cat," an avid surfer, turned skateboard guru. Mellow
Cat was the first skateboard cartoon strip and appeared in Skateboarder
Magazine from 1978 to 1981.
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Dopin' Dan: I'm somewhat
shy now to talk about Dopin' Dan as my first major underground comic
strip, first published in 1970 (and actually, my only true underground
comic). But the fact is, I was a counter-culture drop out when I
first conceived, and drew the strip — influenced no doubt
by Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Dopin' Dan caught
on, and was immensely popular with the Viet Nam veterans of the
day. An irony of the strip was that the story lines rarely mentioned
drugs—the character's name was a satirical play on the titles
of two other popular "army" comic strips of the day: Sad Sack and
Beetle Baily. My true influences were my father, Capt. Theodore
Richards, a paratrooper who fought in World War II, Normandy, 101st Airborne (Bandf of Brothers)
and Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe. |
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The Forty Year Old Hippie was published for about five years,
from 1976 to 1981, appearing as a syndicated feature in numerous
small, alternative tabloids, and college student newspapers.
Two books were compiled from the weekly strips, The Forty
Year Old Hippie #1 and # 2, published by the Rip Off Press.
The cover on the right is The Forty Year Old Hippie #2, and
was scanned from the original artwork.
This particular cover, and the motto, "Two Hundred Trips
and They've All Been Bummers", are one of my personal favorites.
The idea and image appeared in my mind complete, and fully
formed, and I was able to draw it within an hour—a rare
occurrence for me!
Coming soon will be actual artwork and stories, including
the classics:
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Copyright ©2007, Ted Richards
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| Finally, featured here on tedrichards.net,
after over two hundred e-mail requests over the past year and
a half, we have Mellow Cat. Despite my “underground cartoonist”
background, my most successful monthly strip was Mellow Cat,
which appeared in Skateboarder magazine from March 1978 through
late 1980, a run of almost three years. Most of my readers
were ages 9 to 14 years old, and they’re now all over
30 years old and still stoked on the Cat! The Cat stories
varied from four pages to 1 page strips near the end of the
run. Economics spelled the end of the Mellow Cat series, as
Skateboarder lost advertising revenues and circulation—down
from its heyday as a leading magazine in the 7-Eleven convenience
stores throughout American suburbia.
Stay tuned for more Mellow Cat stories, and a rumored come
back in a new Skateboard magazine.
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