Barbarella, Cul de Sac - nothing in common

Caroline Small muses about Barbarella here.

Richard Thompson explains the gag in today's Cul de Sac here and noodles about the cover of the next (2nd) Treasury edition here.

Our Man Thompson's new website

Richard Thompson unveils his new website, a fine job courtesy of Chris Sparks...

...although he's getting away from being OUR Man Thompson, sob.

...although apparently I'm driving him to HeroesCon on June 4th - not that we've talked about it lately.

Comic Riffs pushes Cul de Sac to sell out

Cavna thinks it should be an animated tv series based on the new RingTales shorts.

The comments quickly turned surly due to the Post's iffy record of running the Sunday strip haphazardly, as well as not updating the e-version. Our Man Thompson also chimed in with his opinion, for what that is worth.

Richard Thompson youtube interviews direct links

From Chris Sparks' ears to yours -

Richard Thompson and before Cul de Sac audio interview part 1
March 31 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39HC7EtRAA

Richard Thompson & Cul de Sac audio interview Part 2
April 1 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJxH-_a3o7w

jeditrue — April 01, 2010 — Part two explores the early years of Cul de sac, web comics and his editor.

Richard Thompson chats about Bill Watterson and deadlines part 3
jeditrue — April 02, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_GOTmhlc18

Richard Thompson chats about Bill Watterson writing the foreword to his first Cul de Sac collection and him dealing with deadlines and how easy ideas come to him.

Richard Thompson discusses Alice and Petey audio interview part 4
— April 03, 2010 —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-4y2xhYU9k

Richard goes into detail about the origins of Alice and Petey from Cul de Sac!

Richard Thompson discussing the Cul de Sac family and friends audio interview part 5
April 3 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHSrFRafS4

Richard Thompson discussing more of the Cul de Sac gang part 6
April 4 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWKbtWHifEo

Richard Thompson on having Parkinsons disease and the future of Cul deSac ...part 7
From: jeditrue | April 04, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=903XlJk3yPA

In the last part of this long but entertaining interview Richard is talking about
Parkinsons and his plans for Cul de Sac. I hope you have enjoyed the interview. There will be more art drawing videos and a shorter interview this summer.

Cul de Sac to conquer world soon

Having abandoned his plan to conquer the Washington Post by single-handedly illustrating every section, Our Man Thompson has moved on to greener, or at least moving, pastures. According to his blog, three new Cul de Sac animations are out as is a 7-part interview on Youtube.

No wonder he won't answer my phone calls...

New map of Cul de Sac will let YOU visit Alice

Richard's got a blogpost up with a nice watercolor of Cul de Sac land, which if you squint, vaguely resembles Washington, DC. Squint harder.

How to draw Cul de Sac video

Richard's got a blog post up linking to a Youtube video where he draws Alice from Cul de Sac. This is only sped up about 1.5x - the guy's an absolute menace to be standing next to, as he draws and his arms flail around and that razor-sharp pen nib comes within millimeters of you...

Denver Post claims people are happy losing 22 comics

Cavna continues to practice real journalism - Denver Post cuts 22 comics: 'It appears we didn't totally screw up' By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog March 2, 2010 - although I don't think he got real answers. "[Editor] Chavez notes that the first response she received to the polling... was: "You have too many comics.""

Uh-huh.

Denver Post drops Cul de Sac; local IQ immediately drops

Alan Gardner is reporting that the Denver Post dropped 21 comic strips and added... 1. But hey, Pluggers is going to be in color now, so who cares?

Seriously, they dropped some of the best new strips in favor of this tired old lineup, and then adding insult to injury, had the nerve to headline it "We're serious about your comics and puzzles." Perhaps, but if you're going to assume your readers are that stupid, maybe you should have a subheading "But we're more concerned with lining our pockets than putting out a decent paper." Which they might as well be, actually, because they're not going to be in business once the generation voting for Family Circus and Classic Peanuts kicks off.

Check out today's Cul de Sac

Check out today's Cul de Sac. Cartoonist have been saving themselves some effort on redrawing similar figures, at least since photocopiers became common, and certainly today with the prevalence of scanners. But not our Richard - note how Alice and Petey are slightly different in every drawing - and then enjoy that madcap 3rd panel. I think this gag actually works better in black and white too - the 3rd panel looks both more and less busy sans color.

Cul de Sac Christmas sweater contest

Richard Thompson's announced a contest for the most ridiculous Christmas sweater, and you can win Christmas at his house with you in the role of Tiny Tim... no wait, it's actually an autographed copy of his book. Which is nothing to sneeze at.

Richard Thompson on meeting Brant Parker

Geez, I had lunch (or 'linner') with Richard Thompson on Sunday and he never mentioned that he put his story about meeting Brant "Wizard of Id" Parker up on his blog, so every blogger in America has the story before me. It's a good story though, and I'm glad Richard got it down in 'print'.

Richard would also like you to know that you can buy 365 unique Cul de Sac t-shirts.

R. Fiore declares Cul de Sac "the best contemporary newspaper comic strip'

Comics Journal columnist R. Fiore declares Cul de Sac is "the best contemporary newspaper comic strip,' arguing with Bob Harvey over 9 Chickweed Lane. Heretically, I may agree with Bob, as Chickweed is continuing stories with a bit of spice in them; it really depends what I'm in the mood for though.

Coloring Cul de Sac Contest

Richard Thompson and Comic Riffs are sponsoring a color-your-own Cul de Sac contest.

Also Richard's telephone interview by Tom Racine, postponed from San Diego until recently is online.

Nevin Martell interviewed at CBR

Local author Nevin Martell is interviewed about his new Calvin & Hobbes book - "Talking Comics with Tim: Nevin Martell," by Tim O'Shea, Comic Book Recources October 12, 2009.

Martell's got a nice word about Our Man Thompson too - Richard Thompson's "Cul de Sac" has a great artistic sensibility and top-notch writing -- I describe it in the book as "[looking] like Ralph Steadman and Charles Schulz fighting over a pen to draw "The Yellow Kid" crossed with "FoxTrot," with a dollop of Watterson’s wit thrown in for good measure."

Unpublished Richard's Poor Almanack

Richard did a finger puppet of Dan Brown for last weekend that didn't run, but he put it on his blog. Also he notes that the new Cul de Sac book, collecting its second year, is out.

Cul de Sac to appear in B&W in Sunday's Post

Today's newly-redesigned Washington Post Magazine says Cul de Sac, the strip it began and nurtured before syndication is being turfed from the magazine and will run in the Style section, presumably always sans color. Bad decision. You can tell the editors that too, in their upcoming chat on Monday at 11 am.

Just give Richard Thompson all of your money now

As Richard and Andrews McMeel continue to monetize his brain and drawing hand, they're offering a 2010 Cul de Sac desk calendar... 4 months early!

2nd Cul de Sac book is immanent

Our Man Thompson got his early copies today. I believe he's working to attend one of the local comics shows as well.

Lincoln Peirce of Big Nate picks Cul de Sac as best new strip

In the uncredited "An Interview with Lincoln Peirce," Comics Insight blog July 28 2009, the anonymous interviewer asks Peirce (whose Big Nate appears in the Post):

And lastly, what would you pick as the best comic strip launched within the last decade?

“Cul de Sac.” Hands down.

Amen to that.

Our Man Thompson's fan club continues...