The Gilchrist brothers Muppets comic strips from the 80s continue to inspire me. The perfect way to unwind after a hard day’s work. Super simple in content and style, they still make me smile. Or maybe I should say they make me smile because of their simplicity. Or is it the innocent sweetness reminding me of my childhood?
I really like Guy Gilchrist’s drawing style. The characters are boiled down to the essentials, interpreted in a personal way. The weight of the ink lines are well balanced, the volume of the characters is solid. You don’t find a single superfluous line. Every line has meaning.
I love these collection books. The strips are pure black and white, which makes you appreciate the ink work a lot more. I got them through Amazon from various second-hand bookshops. Cheap, fast, carefully packaged. I like to think about how these books were once in somebody’s home. There’s a history to these items.
The only thing I miss are the half and whole page strips that I used to collect from various magazines as a child. Does anyone know if there are collections of these available? The final strip of the Muppets series according to Muppetwiki:
Guy Gilchrist worked on many comic strips, like Nancy and Sluggo, Mudpie, Today’s Dogg and The Muppets. He even helped create The Muppet Babies cartoon series back in the days.
Guy Gilchrist is also a country musician. You can check out what he’s up to these days here. Everything in this post is ⓒ The Jim Henson Company.
Thank you for the kind words. That was a long time ago. THAT was the last Muppets Sunday. Wiki was right. God bless you, and see you in the funny papers.
Guy
You’re most welcome Guy! Thanks for dropping by my site. I don’t know how you found it but I’m thrilled you did! I used to collect your strips as a child whenever I stumbled upon them in newspapers and magazines. Back in those days I think I liked them simply because they contained my favorites, the Muppets. Today, as someone making a living out of cartooning myself, I see other qualities too. What I like most about your Muppet strips is that you had your own way of drawing them. The same goes for Roger Langridge’s Muppet Comic Books. The Muppets seem to do better in comics when the artist actually made his or her own interpretation, and not only copied them the way they look on screen. I find the Muppets very hard to draw. I still need to work out that magic formula for how to graphically translate them onto paper. In my own way.
Long ago or not, your Muppets strips continue to inspire. I wish you a prosperous and creative 2013!
Andreas