CURRENT OFFERINGS
I Am Not Worthy
The Author's Wife
The Ugliest Boy

As a kid, I spent hours upon hours reading comic books and every day, especially Sunday, I read newspaper comic strips. In college, I discovered a different genre of comics in Alfred E. Neuman and MAD Magazine (www.dccomics.com/mad/). Then came the discovery—the humor of Tom Lehrer. My outlook on life changed. Humor became a way of commenting on what was happening around me. I gave up reading the "funny pages", mainly because the newspapers we subscribed to carried no comics. But a new generation of cartoonists and humorists—Doonesbury, Far Side, Charlie Brown, George Carlin, for example—made their appearance. Listening to George Carlin's "seven dirty words" was, I'm happy to proclaim, a family affair. Then, years later, along came Hey Mister by a guy I know well, at least I live under the illusion I know him well. I'm not smart enough to try to trace the roots of Hey Mister to something about growing up in a particular household. I've read them all, and I've laughed out-loud more times than I can count. Does it really matter where all this comes from? The drawing is very much his own style since he's had almost no formal instruction. It's a laborious journey from the initial sketch to the finished panel. And then there's the humor. Dark and wicked, it covers the gamut: relationships, encounters, stupidities and vanities that drive the more skeptical among us up the wall daily. It crosses the lines, it questions conventions, it spares neither the straight-laced nor the absurdly-absurd. There is hope in this wacky world: perhaps if we all look hard at what we're saying and doing we'll begin to see how silly and unsustainable the codes that govern our lives have become. It's a struggle to remain cheerful and optimistic in the face of so many insanities. As cynical and cranky as I feel at times, I can still laugh at what makes me feel that way. Isn't that the job of the cartoonist and humorist?

A guy who rides a Segway must be hopeful.

I do not know how many links to his comics will appear on this page. If you're interested in seeing all the published editions go to: www.topshelfcomix.com.

"The Author's Wife"

"The Ugliest Boy on the Mountain of the Wind King"

"I Am Not Worthy"