The Ink Stained Wretch #181 4/16/25

Blues, Bundys, and Brand New MADness!

Here we go with another of the ridiculous, repulsive, and downright revolting ramblings that are these newsletters! This week we sketch a true guitar legend, meet Peggy, and take a peek at some brand new stuff for MAD ... on with the 'Wretch!

Sketch o'the Week: B.B. King!

Click here if you are interested in this original sketch.

This week's sketch subject needs no introduction. Truly one of the greatest guitarists who ever strummed the strings, B.B. King influenced and inspired generations of electric guitar players. A true legend.

If you are a premium subscriber you'll find the video of me working on this sketch below.

Just a quick aside to mention that The Ink Stained Wretch just passed 5000 subscribers! Thanks to all of you who toon in weekly for my little scribbles and shenanigans!

Love and Comics

As usual when I go to C2E2 in Chicago a see a couple of old pals I used to work with at NOW Comics, which was based in the Windy City. Former NOW production artist Patrick Williams and former NOW art director Barry Peterson always stop by my booth and we get a chance to catch up. We collaborated on many issues of the "Married... With Children" comic series back in the early 1990s. I actually got paid for most of them.

This year they arranged a little something extra. These comic cons are rife with "opportunities" to get autographs from and/or pictures taken with various celebrities. In fact those celebrities are often the big draw of the weekend. At this latest C2E2 they had five of the nine "Fellowship of the Ring" companions from the "Lord of the Rings" films (four hobbits and a dwarf), and the first full reunion of all five of "The Breakfast Club" actors, as well as number of others. One of them was Katey Sagal, who was there for a "Futurama" reunion but of course also played Peg Bundy in "Married... with Children". Barry arranged for us to chip in for a photo op with Ms. Sagal all holding copies of the comic.

Me, Patrick Williams, Ms. Sagal, Barry Peterson

Yes, Katey was as thrilled as she looks to have her picture taken with us.

This was the first time I ever did something like this, although I have seen literally thousand of similar pictures of friends and acquaintances with other celebrities in one of these comic-con photo ops. It has always mystified me why these celebrities, and many of them are big time TV and movies stars not C-list actors who played bit parts in some cult film, would come to these cons and do this. Surely the money is not that good... these people make millions of dollars as actors.

Then I did the math.

These photo ops are run like cattle chutes. We stood in a long line and were ushered into a curtained area where Ms. Sagal stood in front of a camera with a step and repeat banner behind her. A handler shooed us up to her. We had no time to speak with her or to interact at all. The photographer gave us commands to look, hold the comics up, smile. Click. Another handler quickly ushered us out as the next group was brought in. Total time in Ms. Segal's presence: 8 seconds. Cost: $100. She did two sessions that day of one hour each. That's 7.5 pics per minute, 450 per hour, 900 total for the day. That's $90,000 in revenues. She also did autograph sessions at $100 a pop, but I did not do that so I have no idea of the numbers. Patrick got his copy of the picture signed by her and he told me he was able to exchange a few words with her so it was not quite the in-click-out grinder the photo ops was, but I'm guessing she did similar revenues with those events.

I happen to know the comic cons that bring these big names in guarantee a minimum amount of money to them for their appearance, but I have no idea if the convention people generate enough revenue with the photos and autographs to cover those guarantees. I'm guessing they don't always, especially for the really big names that probably demand a LOT of guaranteed money, but for most of them they probably do at least break even. Having the celebrities there in the first place is a big selling point for the convention and gets people in the door, where they spend money on a lot of other things as well. Obviously it must work because these types of conventions are taking place all the time.

I can’t help but wonder what these celebrities think of this kind of thing. Katey was not actively unfriendly but she certainly exuded the feeling she did not want to be there standing next to us for even eight seconds. What a bizarre life these people must lead.

New MADness!

The latest issue of MAD (#43) drops today, and it is continuing a short but positive trend... new content in the magazine!

Since the beginning of 2020, MAD has basically been a reprint magazine. With the exception of a new cover, a new Fold-In, and the very occasional new interior piece, each issue contains classic reprinted content that is curated around some theme. However, this issue and the last one have contained 14 to 16 pages of new stuff. This issue has a four page TV spoof of "Squid Game", written by Desmond Devlin and draw by me. Here's the first two pages!:

I’d show you the other two pages but I think the folks at MAD would prefer you bought the issue instead. I will tell you the next two pages are FAR funnier and better drawn than these two are!

This is an encouraging trend. In fact I am already working on a piece for issue #44, which drops in June. Hopefully DC will see an uptick in subscriptions and sales if they keep this up, which might encourage them to add more new stuff. As much and I enjoy an excellent Spiro Agnew gag, the current world can use some MAD style skewering, and we can all use the laughs.

That's it for another lame issue of the 'Wretch! Thank you for being a subscriber! As always, if you liked what you saw please share it with others. Remember I'm always looking for feedback, questions for the mailbag, and suggestions for future Sketch o'the Week subjects. Just reply to this email with any of the above, or leave a comment on Substack! And always remember... it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!