Showing posts with label Cul de Sac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cul de Sac. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Compleating Cul de Sac 2nd ed (2022) ebook debuts for Giving Tuesday

 


Today is giving day throughout the country and we want to raise money for Team Cul de Sac today. To donate please Click This Link! As you know, Richard Thompson died of Parkinson's disease and his friends have worked to raise money for the Fox Foundation's efforts to defeat the disease.

We would also like to give back to you! We have just finished Compleating Cul de Sac 2022 edition. If you donate at least $10 using the link above, we will send you a PDF of the new book.  Remember Click This Link to donate and receive a gift pdf of the book. This offer will continue after Giving Tuesday. We hope to have the print version available by the first week of December

As we receive confirmation of your donation we will send the link to the Google drive file to you. Please remember this is a volunteer effort so these links will probably be sent in the evenings.

Your donation is tax-deductible and 88 cents of every dollar goes to Parkinson's research. To learn about how your donation will be matched today up to 4 million dollars,  please visit HERE! And share this post!

Sunday, November 06, 2022

Coming soon! Compleating Cul de Sac, second expanded edition!

Coming soon! Compleating Cul de Sac, second expanded edition! 80 pages more than the 1st edition. It's the perfect Thanksgiving gift!

Building on the original 2016 edition (designed by Richard's friend Bono Mitchell), editor Mike Rhode and layout designer Barbara Sutliff added additional material done by Richard as dedicaces in his books, more interviews, and the CDS children's theater play, in addition to the over 80 original CDS strips he left out of The Complete Cul de Sac.

We've also included many of the drawings of the CDS characters done for and in remembrance of Richard, and charity ones that have raised money for the Fox Foundation's Parkinson's disease research (after the initial Team Cul de Sac book and auction project by Chris Sparks).

All money from the book will go to Team Cul de Sac for the Fox Foundation. The book will be available to order via print on demand before the holidays.
Dedicace for cartoonist Harold Buchholz
 
 
Team Cul de Sac fundraising drawing by Karl Kesel

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Cul de Sac comic strips and books auctioned to save bookstore


Several thousand dollars were raised today through auctions of Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac original art, books, and other works,to assist One More Page Bookstore in paying an unexpected large tax bill.

As the bookstore faced a Draconian tax increase, books Richard had signed before his death, along with 2 strips newly donated by Amy Thompson, sold to fans of the cartoonist, including one strip to local cartoonist Daniel Boris. A quick calculation is that Richard provided about $2600 in sales or 12.5% of the auction proceeds (but check the math before quoting me).

One More Page was dear to Richard, hosting him for their first booksigning (before the store had even opened), for his first Cul de Sac collection. After he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the store held fundraisers for Team Cul de Sac to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Richard passed away just barely over three years ago.

The store's auction site described the original art as such:

American illustrator and cartoonist Richard Thompson was best known for his syndicated comic strip Cul de Sac. Richard received the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2010. We are huge fans of Richard's work and were thrilled when he agreed to do an event at OMP when we first opened. Over the years, he was a invaluable supporter, promoting OMP and signing countless books to be shipped to fans worldwide.
Richard's wife, Amy, generously donated this original artwork of a panel of Cul de Sac ("Trick or Treat" panel #111031), his strip which focused on a four-year-old girl, Alice Otterloop, and her daily life at preschool and at home. Cul de Sac was published in more than 70 newspapers by the fall of 2007 and was distributed nationally as both a daily and Sunday strip by Universal Press Syndicate.
Bill Watterson, created of Calvin and Hobbes, praised Thompson's work: 
"I thought the best newspaper comic strips were long gone, and I've never been happier to be wrong. Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac has it all—intelligence, gentle humor, a delightful way with words, and, most surprising of all, wonderful, wonderful drawings."
"Cul de Sac's whimsical take on the world and playful sense of language somehow gets funnier the more times you read it. Four-year-old Alice and her Blisshaven Preschool classmates will ring true to any parent. Doing projects in a cloud of glue and glitter, the little kids manage to reinterpret an otherwise incomprehensible world via their meandering, nonstop chatter. But I think my favorite character is Alice's older brother, Petey. A haunted, controlling milquetoast, he's surely one of the most neurotic kids to appear in comics. These children and their struggles are presented affectionately, and one of the things I like best about Cul de Sac is its natural warmth. Cul de Sac avoids both mawkishness and cynicism and instead finds genuine charm in its loopy appreciation of small events. Very few strips can hit this subtle note."

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Richard Thompson panel at 2011 Heroes Con

Heroes Con is going on this weekend in Charlotte, NC. Richard Thompson's mother was an orphan in the town, and the con is held right across the street from the former orphanage space.

We went down twice together, at the invitation of con owner Shelton Drum and his right-hand man, Dustin Harbin. Richard had a great time. Last night I stumbled across a recording that I had forgotten about, so I put it online.  I haven't listened to it since recording it, but here's Richard talking about Cul de Sac, and Parkinson's Disease.

Heroes Con 2011: Richard Thompson A Celebration


Published June 4, 2011


10:30 AM
Richard Thompson: A Celebration
Room 209 


Is Cul-De Sac the best comic strip being published today?
Perhaps, but one thing is for certain, it is the best drawn and the
funniest. Okay, that's two things. Please join Mike Rhode and
some fellow strip creators as we sit down and examine the art of Mr.
Thompson. In addition to discussing craft and daily deadlines, we will
see if Richard can provide any insight as to whether poor Petey will
make it through the entire soccer season without having a psychotic
breakdown. Ahhh, total Bliss (haven).

With Craig Fischer and Team Cul de Sac's Chris Sparks.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Cul de Sac play returns to Encore Stage tonight

Cul de Sac

Encore Stage & Studio 

Thomas Jefferson Theatre


 Thru Sun, June 12
$10-$15 buy tickets
Call 703-548-1154 to order

 official website

Four-year-old Alice Otterloop and her older brother, Petey, learn about friendship and the importance of being yourself in this world premier play adaptation of Richard Thompson’s nationally syndicated Cul De Sac comic strip. When Alice decides to help Petey become more exciting she risks sending Petey further into his shell. With the help other their parents, teachers, and new and old friends the Otterloop children just might be able to learn something from each other. We recommend this production for ages 4 and older.
Dates:
And here's my pictures from the lobby display:

















Wednesday, May 25, 2016

More on the new Cul de Sac play by Amy Thompson and Encore Stage

by Mike Rhode

Yesterday, the Washington City Paper posted my interview with Amy Thompson and Sara Duke on the new Cul de Sac play coming to Encore Stage and Studio next month. They didn't use all of the photographs that Amy provided, or a couple of little bits from the interview, so we present them here for the world's rabid Cul de Sac fans.




Mike Rhode: Richard’s characters are children, but sometimes they are Peanuts-like children, wise beyond their years, as opposed to actual children. Having met people in his family, I can definitely see some of the sources for the strip. Amy, you neglected to mention that you’re often the model for the mom.

Amy Thompson: [laughing] Sometimes…





MR: Did you take inspiration from any previous strip adaptations like the Peanuts cartoon shows or Annie the musical?

AT: I don’t think they’re comparable in the same way. There’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but that’s a musical and I knew I didn’t want to do this as a musical for children’s theater. If I was doing this for professionals who could sing and dance, I think it would make a great musical. This has a couple of random songs, but isn’t a musical. One thing that I did think about is a stage adaptation of Maurice Sendak called Really Rosie. It was based on The Sign on Rosie’s Door and The Nutshell Library. They took the words from Nutshell Library and had ready-made songs. He did it with Carole King and that was a Broadway show. They also did it as an animated special, and I researched it more and read the script and heard the cast recording. That had the same kind of resonance because the main character Rosie is a drama queen. It’s all about “me and you’re going to be part of my little show.” That was something that I thought about.


Sara Duke: I love the detail she put into this. The plates look right. Everything on their kitchen table is perfect.




MR: Could you see using older people in it?

AT: It could be played by people of any age. The main drawback would be that it is for a very large cast the way it’s written right now. You couldn’t do it with a professional theater because it would cost way too much money. It would have to be reworked.

MR: What are you plans for the play in the future?

AT: There are no plans. I hope to publish it. If everything goes well, I would like to approach somebody about publishing it so it could be done anywhere.








SD: The production team discussion about the toad zombies was really amusing and included: how do they move, what do their costumes look like, can they crawl on top of each other, how do they interact…?

MR: Did Richard ever draw them?

AT: He drew one. There was one picture of a toad zombie, and there was one picture later that his artist collaborator Stacy Curtis drew of a bunch of them. You don’t really know what happens with the toad zombies, so I got to make that up.




Thursday, December 06, 2012

Get a Cul de Sac ornament for 50% off tonight

Richard Thompson has an ornament of Alice dancing on the manhole cover for sale at Cafe Press. Tonight you can get it for 1/2 price ($6.25) by putting in the code SPRUCE at checkout. I assume Richard still gets his full share of the sale.


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cul de Sac test run in Winston-Salem Journal

Ask SAM: Straight Answers
By: JournalNow Staff | Winston-Salem Journal February 22, 2012
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/feb/22/wsmain02-ask-sam-straight-answers-ar-1957387/

Just on Sundays at first, replacing the cancelled Elderberries.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Local cartoonists and the 9-11 comic strip

Comic Riffs recently ran an article about comic strips doing a 9-11 commmemorative. We've got four strip local creators, so I asked them - are you doing a 9-11 strip?

Donna Lewis of "Reply All":

Yes. :-)

USA Today has a preview panel here and they included a panel of mine. :-) (very honored).


Richard Thompson of "Cul de Sac":

No, I didn't do one. I couldn't find a graceful way of putting a 9-11 comment into the small world of Cul de Sac that didn't diminish the commentary and the strip. The one cartoon on 9-11 that's stayed with me over the last decade is a Tom the Dancing Bug from a few weeks after the actual event. It's here. I couldn't offer anything as eloquent as that. For what it's worth I'm going to post three old cartoons I did on 9-11 on my blog.

Gene Weingarten, writer of "Barney & Clyde":

Yep, we have one.

Kevin Rechin, artist of "Crock" could not be reached for comment.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Cul de Sac and Reply All pick up papers

Congratulations, friends!

Meet Lizzie, the latest addition to the Pioneer Press comics page lineup (this is an interview with Donna)
By Molly Guthrey, Pioneer Press 08/27/2011
http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_18763817?nclick_check=1

'Cul de Sac' returns to E-N; Sunday strip that ran on a trial basis in 2008 chronicles the life of a chatty preschooler.
By René A. Guzman
 San Antonio Express-News August 28, 2011
 http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/article/Cul-de-Sac-returns-to-E-N-2141635.php


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cul de Sac ranking in Knoxville News-Sentinel poll

The Knoxville News-Sentinel published its comic strip poll which had Cul de Sac ranked.

Cul de Sac was 10th with women, but not in the top ten for men.

For Under 18, it was number 5.
For 18-34, it was number 8.

It didn't place in the top ten for anyone older than 35.

Overall it was number 19 with 202 loving it and 419 hating it.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Richard Thompson's popping up all over the place


You can see a poster he did for Arlington's Mardi Gras - St. Patrick's Day extravaganza.

Tom Richmond's drawn a caricature of him leading the pack to the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben awards.

We launched the Team Cul de Sac blog tonight to try to get more regular updates about this great project out to you.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Some more Richard Thompson book dedication drawings

My buddy Doug has four shots of drawings in Cul de Sac books up at his Dougintology blog. The drawings appear to be by Richard Thompson, but if he offers them on e-bay, I'd ask for a certificate of authenticity.

Hey, readership, what's the word for 'book dedication drawings' in French?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Photographs of Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac booksignings

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Here's a set of the pictures of recent signings that Richard Thompson did for his new Cul de Sac book. One groups is at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, and the other is at the new One More Page book store in Arlington. The images are labelled for Creative Commons so they can be downloaded.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Dec 20: Cul de Sac booksigning

Richard Thompson will be at a new bookstore on December 20th at 7 pm in outer Arlington, or outer Falls Church. The bookstore isn't quite open yet so it'll actually be in the condo's gathering room next door. I'm chauffeuring, so see you all there.