CARTOONISTS AND THEIR CHRISTMASSES

CHRISTMAS 
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

FROM THE CARTOONISTS

by Rick Marschall

As this site's late, beloved founder, John Adcock, occasionally planned, in the run-up to Christmas I will share some seasonal and rare artwork by cartoonists, illustrators, and animators through the years. 

In a week or two I will share custom artwork cartoonists did for me, but today I got to thinking of "ghosts" (not ghost artists!) of Christmases past. Below is card that I cherish. I was on the Christmas-card list of Hergé. This is perhaps his last, with the handwritten salutation of him and his wife Fanny. 

It got me to thinking of cards I received through the years, that ceased, somewhat logically, when the cartoonists died. On the other hand, Jeannie and the Schulz family have maintained the list, and their greetings are gratefully received: Charlie Brown Christmasses live on. Dean Young, whose Blondie -- and himself -- magnificently flourish today, still designs and mails out custom, personalized (i.e., not Hallmark/commercial) greetings. I hope not amiss to share this year's:

My ol' friend Dean (our book Blondie and Dagwood's America was the second of my 75 books...) is loyal to the iconic strip's many fans. A merrrry Christmas indeed.

So as I plan to share some other vintage and precious treasures in coming days, I will share again the Tintin card from 1982. (By the way, by my calculation, these days and dates will apply again in 2033, if you can wait to hand this above your desk (for more than the great artwork!) I used to own three original Tintin pages, so I get nostalgic over such mementos...

Joyeux Noël!