HATMAN & HOPI~ CONTEST WINNER~!

1st off, let me state that each

submission made me laugh~!

And I was pleasantly surprised

how each of you handled the

characters, and/or the already

existing imagery, to build your

humor to a crescendo~! Some

of the individual panels ring

so true to my original writing

on this strip that if you hit me

on the head with a board and

told me I wrote it I would

believe it without question.

THE RUNNER-UPS, IN NO

PARTICULAR ORDER, ARE:

MICHAEL WURL:

ERIK VICTOR MCCREA:

KEITH SEIFERT:

And the contestant who made me

laugh the loudest (LOL no less)~

JEFF OVERTURF:

And I will tell you why ! I used to

date a Puppeteer (Something Jeff

couldn't possibly know)~ and have

been Bi-Alien Curious since "They"

started abducting me~ AND~ icing

on the cake~ grew up eating Jiffy

Pop and just LOVE the lyrical

sound of that Saturday-Night

movie-time treat ! Proving

once again how subjective

humor is, and how different

things resonate, different

connections within,

determine our

commitment

to LAUGHTER !

Individual panels that made me

crack-up are as follows: Apoco-Wurl's

2nd Panel, the "Mr. Pismo Beach 1943"

bit. KW Monster's 3rd panel~ and~

how Hopi doesn't get ANY diaolog

at all~ and EVM's punchline was

classic~ and stuck most to how

these two characters play off

of each other's words.

There will be a Hungry Comix

ART contest mid-summer and

everyone who enters will receive

a prize package. Unca Jeffy~

bust me out your address

inna email and I'll ship

your thought-provoking

Pin-Up of Hatman & Hopi

asap~ via Monday Morning

Pony Expresso~!

And thanx to (all 4 of you)

who entered and make me

laugh on a weekly basis if

not daily~!

;~j

HATMAN & HOPI~ CONTEST PIN-UP PRIZE~!

To the victor go the spoils, a

new full-color 17 x 11 Pin-Up:

It will have an inscription

to the Contest Winner in

the lower right corner.

I am intentionally

leaving it without

words... to inspire

dialog on a daily

basis... like the

awe of laying

out under

the stars.

But for shits and giggles,

I have put words on my

digital copy:

I thought it was going to be

difficult doing this Pin-Up,

since I hadn't drawn these

characters since 1992 !

But my Body Memory

kicked in and it all

came back like

butter, Baby !

Tomorrow:

I will announce

the Contest Winner

along with sharing all

the entries, fully lettered

atop the freshly inked old art...

HATMAN & HOPI~ DAILY STRIP #1

This strip meanders for a couple

weeks before it starts to hit its

stride. It suffers, in general,

from poor illustration at the

outset, and abstract humor

that nobody gets throughout.

In other words, a doomed

comic strip that somehow

refused to vacate my

addled brain until

its exorcism~!

HATMAN & HOPI~ FOUR SUNDAY STRIPS~!

Early 1990's... a weird time. Lots of~ ahem~ experimentation~!

Perhaps that road trip into the 4-corners region of the Southwest

inspired this odd madcap comic strip idea, or else, it was poverty

stricken trips to the cool cool public Library during a super hot

summer in Philadelphia. Somehow, I discovered an aisle that

focused exclusively on apparel... Fashions through the ages,

ancient weapons & armor, and a dozen or so photo-illustrated

tomes all about HATS and HEAD-GEAR.

The strip deals with the Tramp-like travels and musings

of an unlikely pair: Hatman, an Old Fellow with a 'Magic'

hat-box that he wears like a backpack, and Hopi, a young

Native American Boy who is clearly older & wiser than

his juvenile geriatric companion. They are often at

odds with each other, but always willing to explore

their current situation to its full potential. Neither

my writing or artistic skills were firing on all

cylinders with this effort, yet there are

sporadic moments that made MY

journey with these characters

worth it ;~j