Glenn Fleishman

My next big project is about comics, artists, printing, and the future of cartoons:

How Comics Were Made: A Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page https://howcomicsweremade.ink

I’ll cover from how artists draw their strips (on paper and on screen) to print production to the outcome as reproduction, from the 1890s to the present.

Kickstarter, Feb. 2024; planned pub. date: October 2024. Sign up for an email when the project launches: https://buttondown.email/howcomicsannounce

Mark Kaufman, designing

How Comics Were Made: A Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page

Sep 5, 2023 at 10:54pmWeb
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 5, 2023
I’ll be interviewing cartoonists, historians, and print production people over the next few months as I pull the book together in anticipation of the Kickstarter campaign. I’ve already spoken with Lynn Johnston (“For Better or For Worse”), Brian Walker (“Beetle Bailey” & comics historian), and “Derf” Backderf (graphic novelist, My Friend Dahmer), emailed with Garry Trudeau, and have other interviews lined up. I’ve already collected so much raw visual material!
Show threadChristopher GriffithsSep 6, 2023
@glennf Please please please promise that you’ll try to include Bill Watterson. I mean, I’ll be buying a copy regardless, but Calvin and Hobbes means more to me than the Bible. Watterson painted the borders of a lot of my world view.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@cjgyt Here's hoping! I am a couple degrees away. Would love to talk to him and get permission to use materials.
Show threadChristopher GriffithsSep 6, 2023
@glennf Oh man. Fingers crossed!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@cjgyt I am hoping word of what I’m doing will seep out and folks who are interested in sharing stuff will help vet me to other people—definitely already happening a bit. I have so much excitement about this!
Show threadTony CliffNov 9, 2023
@glennf you might talk to Dave Kellett who, among other things, I think interviewed Watterson for the STRIPPED documentary. I’m confident he’d also be a good resource, more generally.
Contact info at the bottom of this page: https://www.sheldoncomics.com/about/
About - Sheldon® Comic Strip

Sheldon® Comic Strip
Show threadTony CliffNov 9, 2023
@glennf ha ha ha, I should have read the whole reply thread first. :)
Show threadGlenn FleishmanNov 9, 2023
@tangocharlie Not at all!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanNov 9, 2023
@tangocharlie On my list next week! He's an old pal at this point; we met when he was touring with Stripped.
Show threadTony CliffNov 9, 2023
@glennf I really like Dave. His enthusiasm is so contagious.
Show threadCraig GrannellSep 6, 2023
@glennf David Roach would be a good one, if you want UK input. He’s written a lot of Rebellion’s historical books – Rebellion now owning the bulk of UK comics history from the 1800s to the present day.
Show threadChristopher PhinSep 6, 2023
@craiggrannell @glennf Oh, and that reminds me to say: I can intro you to archivists at DC Thomson too, Glenn.
Show threadBill BarnesSep 6, 2023
@glennf I grew up worshipping Garry Trudeau. As an adult I got to give him a tour of the Microsoft campus, and I still haven’t come down off that high. So, you know, give him my best.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@billba Ah, man, incredible!
Show threadAccordionBruceSep 5, 2023
@glennf
Typo:
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@AccordionBruce Fixed, thank you! I mixed my messages!
Show threadkrakalak  Sep 5, 2023
@glennf Looks great! I've signed up for the email notification 😁
Show threadBob SchultiesSep 6, 2023
@glennf Gonna need a photo series of the printing process!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@heyitsbob The ouroboros of printing! We’ll see. It will be not nearly as exciting as Shift Happens.
Show threadDoug WilsonSep 6, 2023

@glennf Knowing Glenn, there will not be a rock or flong unturned in his passionate research of the history of comics and it will be an enjoyable read.

Go, Glenn, go!

Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 6, 2023
@onpaperwings Thank you, Doug!
Show threadcobalt going beige todaySep 7, 2023
@glennf Should be very interesting because I grew up involved with comic artists from hand drawn panels in black and white only, halftones then to the use of paste-up lettering/shading film to introduction of color into newspaper cartoon strips. Remember learning air brush and then taught comic artists to use it. Then only 10 years later, digital and animation took charge! I bet this will be a great history.
Show threadmikeboasSep 8, 2023
@glennf Super excited about the new book! I hope you reach out to Dave Kellet of the Comic Lab podcast. He did that great documentary Stripped so he might have some contacts he can share. Also did masters work on comics history.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 8, 2023
@mikeboas He's a pal and he's already agreed to talk!
Show threadMarc Robinson Sep 9, 2023

@glennf Singed up, can’t wait!

(unrelated: why do some websites not use the text replacement for my email? 🤔)

Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 9, 2023
@marcintosh Ooo, tell me about that? Maybe I can code some HTML in to fix that?
Show threadMarc Robinson Sep 10, 2023
@glennf Of course, since I’m already signed up it didn’t ask for my email so I couldn’t get a screenshot. Basically, when I typed the text replacement for my email nothing happened. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Show threadChancerubbageSep 9, 2023
@glennf I hope you touch on Comic Books as much as Newspapers. Or graphic Arts materials and techniques as they changed. Or color separation another rabbit hole. So many rabbits. But mainly throwing light on production methods techniques and workflow behind the scenes. It is relatively ignored.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 9, 2023
@Chancerubbage I am doing comic strips almost entirely—book 2 will be comic books if such a thing were ever to happen. But I will be dealing with engraving/color separation/etc in huge details!
Show threadRiley CranSep 9, 2023
@glennf I’m looking forward to this!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 9, 2023
@rileycran Yay, thank yoU!
Show threadSeth 🎙️Sep 10, 2023
@glennf This looks so good Glenn! I can't wait to see the finished product.
Show threadHarry McCrackenSep 13, 2023
@glennf Glennf + comics? I'm sold!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 13, 2023
@harrymccracken Thank you! I hope to reproduce a certain Des Moines printing plant brochure in it (pending license; although it may be in the public domain). We should talk, too. I am curious about anything banging around in your head that would fit the rubric—I expect more than you might think about your own knowledge!
Show threadHarry McCrackenSep 13, 2023

@glennf I'm struck by the sheer enormity of some early originals. I have a couple of Mutt and Jeffs I can barely store. Conversely, when I went to an exhibit of Calvin and Hobbes art, I was a bit disappointed that Watterson's drawings didn't look that much different than the printed versions.

Also, the non-repro blue pencil on Walt Kelly originals feels like part of the artistic experience.

The notes to colorists on some art are fun, too.

Show threadTsundokuSep 13, 2023
@glennf please reconsider regarding international shipping of the printed book.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 13, 2023
@tobiaslind Would you pay $50 in shipping for a $50 book?
Show threadTsundokuSep 13, 2023

@glennf for sure it fan be done for less.
Not everything needs to be shipped with UPS/Fedex/DHL...

If there's enough interest, why not bulk ship to a european distributor?

Or at least have that as an option for backers to make - or is the book not worth it?

Show threadTsundokuOct 11, 2023

@glennf sorry for the late answer...

Well, I did pay $40 for the Shift Happens book.
So I do think people would buy it, but also consider there might be cheaper options by cooperating with services in Europe for fulfilments.

Show threadGlenn FleishmanOct 11, 2023
@tobiaslind I hope you understand that there’s nobody who offers that or we’d have turned to it for Shift Happens. Plus the shipping is expensive enough in bulk that it would have likely not have resulted in cheaper shipping. There’s no way to slice the pie unless you’re at a larger scale where you can move mass quantities.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanOct 11, 2023
@tobiaslind I honestly can’t imagine someone paying $50 for a book and $50 for shipping. It would feel offensive to offer. I might offer a three-book bundle for $60 shipping: buy copies with friends!
Show threadEm McDonald 🏳️‍⚧️Nov 5, 2023
@glennf @tobiaslind FWIW, for me because the value to me isn't the cost, I'd very likely pay the shipping if I were in Europe and given the option.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanNov 5, 2023
@housewarmer @tobiaslind Gosh, I will keep thinking about it. It *feels bad* to me to ask that much! That’s why a small "buying collective" might work—or I can offer a kind of "find a buddy" option for after the campaign when this is easier: sign up for a book in your country and I'll match you with a couple other people, and one person agrees to receive shipment and drop other copies (already prepackaged) into local mail for a discount.
Show threadDwight SilvermanSep 16, 2023
@glennf Oooooo, this looks great.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 16, 2023
@dsilverman Thank you! I've already done a lot of research. Now it's honing and writing (and interviewing). I hope to interview a couple dozen people at least. Recently spoke to Funky Winkerbean's creator.
Show threadDwight SilvermanSep 16, 2023
@glennf By any chance have you talked to Berke Breathed?
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 16, 2023
@dsilverman Not yet. I may have a lead on Gary Larson. I have had email with Garry Trudeau and an hour on the phone with Lynn Johnston. I'm trying to find people who have things to say about the transformation of their work across printing. Tom Batiuk of “Funky” had a lot of insight and complaints about color in comics and how he worked through those.
Show threadDwight SilvermanSep 16, 2023
@glennf I was student at UT when he developed for the Daily Texan what became Bloom County; it was called The Academia Waltz (lots of Earl Campbell jokes!). But those were the years that the Texan moved to computer terminals for staff to write on, and it was beginning to impact the production of graphics, too. He may have some insights to that era.
Show threadGlenn FleishmanSep 16, 2023
@dsilverman Oh, that's very cool (in many directions)! One thing I'm hoping to find is old transparency and separations—some artists and lots of production people painted onto acetate or used rubylith and zip-a-tone or other materials. These may have all been destroyed, but I expect there are some pack rats and collectors.
Show threadDwight SilvermanSep 16, 2023
@glennf Go Comics (which hosts the Academia Waltz archives) and Wikipedia put that strip as appearing daily in 1978-79 in the Daily Texan, but I swear I saw it in there when I was student, and I graduated in Dec. 77. Maybe it was occasional prior to '78, and daily after that.
Show threadA.J. FishSep 27, 2023
@glennf I wonder why political cartoonists, of those few who remain, share the same visual grammar.
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryOct 5, 2023
@glennf that’s fantastic, I hope I have money in February! Let me know if I can help connect you with anyone I know 😊
Show threadGlenn FleishmanOct 5, 2023
@jeffzugale Thank you! I'm actually trying to talk to webcomics artists (despite the general focus on newspaper comics) who have worked on a web-first basis creating something like strips. I have some candidates and a couple interviews booked.
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryOct 5, 2023
@glennf excellent! 😊👍
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryOct 5, 2023
@glennf I hope R. Stevens, Dave Kellett, David Willis, Kris Straub, Iron Spike, Jeph Jacques and Jeffrey Rowland are on that list! 😁
Show threadGlenn FleishmanOct 5, 2023
@jeffzugale Some are—the ones who are more daily-ish strip focused. Folks who were/are doing comic book pages are absolutely in the same genre but don’t fit as well into my rubric. I’m trying to keep a tight focus because comic books and webcomics that have page-like episodic entries deserve their own space!
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryOct 5, 2023
@glennf 👍👍