Virtual Memories Show 371:
Paul C. Tumey
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“I regard Mad Magazine as an apex of Screwballism in comic books, and in a way, my whole book is an attempt to understand what the lineage of Mad is.”
Nov Shmoz Ka Pop? Writer & artist Paul C. Tumey joins the show to talk about his fantastic new book, Screwball: The Cartoonists Who Made The Funnies Funny (IDW Publishing). We get into where screwball cartooning began, how he selected the 15 cartoonists profiled in the book (like Herriman, Segar, Rube Goldberg, and Frederick Opper), the ways in which the book is an attempt at explaining the parentage of Mad Magazine, the nuances of biography and his work at humanizing his subjects, and how screwball cartooning intersected with with vaudeville & film (and how the Marx Bros. got their names) and how it’s the subject of his next book. We also talk about how we’re coping with pandemic-panic and his latest binge-reads & -shows. Give it a listen! And go read Screwball: The Cartoonists Who Made The Funnies Funny!
You can listen to all these COVID Check-In episodes at The COVID-19 Sessions.
“Behind every accomplishment, whether it’s a comic strip or a mathematical theorem, there’s a person. We can certainly relate to the person, whether or not we can relate to their work.”
“There are characters who are not typified by their position in life or their ethnicity, but by their neuroses.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Paul C. Tumey is a writer and artist in Seattle, WA. He was nominated for an Eisner Award as co-editor of Foolish Questions and Other Odd Observations by Rube Goldberg, co-edited and wrote for The Art of Rube Goldberg, and wrote the introduction to LOAC Essentials: The Bungle Family and Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye Cartoons of E.C. Segar. He writes a column for The Comics Journal. His new book is Screwball: The Cartoonists Who Made The Funnies Funny.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone
