Graphics for a Ghetto Tale!

Around 2015, I was asked to illustrate a non-fiction story based on the Holocaust for a non-profit org here in Pittsburgh (the true story was made into a movie not very long ago). Written by a Xeric Award-winner, I attempted an early Jack Kirby style, which seemed suited to the strip, along with a certain Old Testament look to some of the women. The computer lettering was applied later, so here is a look at the art without text. Enjoy!

All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures are ™ and © Don Simpson 2021, all rights reserved.

Cool Beans: An Aborted Comic Strip from dot.com Era!

Some time in the early 2000s, my entrepreneurial partner asked me to create cartoon characters for her educational website, S'Coolbeans. Little more than link list, the site aspired to be a clearing house of educational resources for teachers and educators. The characters were used in fridge magnets and promotion, and the logo I designed became a keychain. The site didn't take off, but the sample comic strips I developed independently, I thought, had some potential. My partner, however, spitefully demanded I kill it off. (Not long after this, we were divorced.)

Selling a comic strip to newspapers is billion-to-one prospect at best, and I've never seen myself as having the sensibility for such a grueling production schedule. Still, I am fond of these strips and thought it could have gone further. Oh, well. Enjoy!

All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures are ™ and © Don Simpson 2021, all rights reserved.