Steve Bannon, "Creature of the Right"

My new drawing of Steve Bannon titled "Creature of the Right".
This will be included in my upcoming book
"Drew Friedman's Chosen People"

this is the sketch. I decided that the smoldering toxic fumes should obsure the White
House, but I left the White House fence

Look, up in Seattle... it's... Gary Groth!

"My only interest in Superman, marginal at that, stems from his continuing presence as a symbol of banality and infantilism in the history of the American comic book"

--Gary Groth

This is my new portrait of Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth (ironically) posed as Superman, created for Fantagraphics 40th anniversary book We Told You So: Comics as art:

https://www.amazon.com/We-Told-You-So-Comics/dp/1606999338/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482679359&sr=1-1&keywords=we+told+you+so+comics+as+art

Drew Friedman "Vermeer of the Borscht Belt"

A film documentary, VERMEER OF THE BORSCHT BELT is being planned about  me and my work. It'll include interviews as I discuss my adventures and mis-adventures as a cartoonist/illustrator, as well as interviews with many fellow cartoonists and friends, including comedians, writers, broadcasters and some human beings I've drawn over the years. A Kickstarter campaign has launched on it's behalf. The filmmaker, Kevin Dougherty, a recent guest on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, is an extremly talented music video filmmaker, animator,  and pop culture expert. He's also a long time admirer of my work and has been planning this film for several years.

Kevin and I first met 20 years ago when he hired me to create the art for a CD-ROM (remember those?) he was packaging for Simon & Schuster. We're remained friends ever since. Please help him out with his project by making a donation, small or large, and in exchange, DVD's, limited edition signed movie posters, signed prints and executive producer credits are being offered.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1627530099/drew-friedman-vermeer-of-the-borscht-belt

A.V.Club:
http://www.avclub.com/article/help-fund-film-about-drew-friedman-legendary-comic-246656

boingboing on the projected documentary:

Drew Friedman is one of the best illustrators alive today. His work has appeared on the cover of MAD, Spy, and The New Yorker and his recent books about comic book heroes and Old Jewish Comedians will go down in history as masterpieces.

I'm glad someone is making a documentary about Drew, called "Vermeer of the Borscht Belt." Kevin Dougherty is asking for $50k on Kickstarter.
http://boingboing.net/2016/11/16/upcoming-documentary-about-art.html

Drew Friedman at Meltdown Comics Friday, 11/18

On Friday, 11/18, Drew Friedman will be in conversation with pop culture journalist 
Ben Schwartz at Meltdown Comics, 7522 W. Sunset Blvd, on Friday, Nov 18th at 7 PM, 
as they discuss and present images from Friedman's latest book "More Heroes of the Comics" (Fantagraphics). A book signing will follow.

 http://fantagraphics.com/flog/events/los-angeles-drew-friedman-meltdown-comics/

Howard Stern:
https://soundcloud.com/hello-world-6/howard-stern-on-drew-friedmans-more-heroes-of-the-comics

Steven Heller for PRINT:
http://www.printmag.com/steven-heller/more-heroes-of-the-comics/

boingboing:
http://boingboing.net/2016/10/18/drew-friedmans-stupendous.html

Orrin C. Evans from "More Heroes of the Comics"

My new book More Heroes of the Comics, includes the first African American publisher of comic books, Orrin C. Evans. Evans published just one issue of All-Negro Comics in 1947.

Orrin C. Evans

Orrin Cromwell Evans was born in Steelton, Pennsylvania. Evans’s mother, Maude, was the first African American to graduate from Williamsport Teacher’s College.

Evans dropped out of school at seventeen, and worked for Sportsman’s Magazine and the black-owned Philadelphia Tribune. In the early ’30s, he landed a job as a general assignment reporter, for the 100-percent-white-staffed Philadelphia Record. Evans was not always readily accepted as a journalist. Meeting with re- porters after his son was kidnapped in 1932, Charles Lindbergh refused to start the press conference until Evans was removed from the room. Evans’ wartime exposé of racial segregation in the Armed Forces resulted in death threats.
After the war, the owners of the Record responded to a prolonged labor action by shutting the paper down for good. 

In 1947, Orrin C. Evans would become the first African American publisher of comic books, joining forces with his former editor, Harry T. Saylor, to launch All-Negro Comics. The first issue featured art by Evans’s brother, George J. Evans Jr. and black artists from Philadelphia and Baltimore. The book’s content was a grab-bag of detective, humor, and adventure stories, fea- turing characters like Lion Man, Li’l Eggie, and Ace Harlem. Time magazine said All-Negro Comics was “the first to be drawn by negro artists and peopled entirely by negro characters.” Although a second issue was prepared, it never saw print. Newsprint vendors refused to sell to Evans, and the series was abandoned. Soon after, mainstream publishers began publishing comic books (like Fawcett’s Negro Romance), targeted at a black readership.
Evans returned to newspapers, working at the Chester Times and the Philadelphia Bulletin. 

research by Kevin Dougherty

my original pencil sketch of Evans

the finished art

the cover of the first and only issue

The entire issue can be viewed here:
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/preview/index.php?did=21983&page=40

inside front cover of the issue.

More Heroes of the Comics can be ordered here:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Heroes-Comics-Portraits-Legends/dp/1606999605/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C69C0XN15JYB7H2RQARK

thanks to John Wendler and Kevin Dougherty

Donald Trump re-imagines Imagine

The new MAD magazine features this page:
"Imagine" rewritten by Donald Trump.
The text is by Stan Sinberg and I created the artwork,
based on the back cover pose from John Lennon's
1971 Imagine album. The page was art directed by Sam Viviano:

the original Imagine back cover

the finished art

Cover for The American Bystander

This is my new cover art for the upcoming third issue of the the new humor quarterly The American Bystander, depicting... American bystanders. The AB is a fabulously thick magazine filled with articles, stories, cartoons, comics, funny letters, and very little photoshopping, by some of the best and most talented people plying their trade in the tough, sweaty humor business. It's the logical successor to the National Lampoon and SPY magazine. I'm proud now to have taken part in all three of those publications.

Please support this essential and funny new magazine edited by Michael Gerber by donating to their kickstarter campaign and help keep them going for many years to come, and many more:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaelgerber/the-american-bystander-comedy-quarterly-3-and-4?ref=project_tweet

my pencil sketch. Some of the faces were changed and some were rearranged

the finished art