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The Wavy Rule, a Daily Comic by Paul Morris: Plewd Awakening
Filed under: The Catbird Seat: Friends & Guests Tagged: Andy Borowitz, cartoons, comics, Mort Walker, Paul Morris, The Wavy Rule, TOTT
In today's installment, Paul pays tribute to Mort Walker (whose "Beetle Bailey" was fleetingly mentioned in this 2003 Talk of the Town by Andy Borowitz). Click to enlarge!
Paul adds: Back in 1980, Mort Walker, of "Beetle Bailey" fame, wrote a book called Comicana, a set of international symbols and names denoting the various visual devices frequently used by cartoonists. For example, the sweat droplets that fly out of a character's head Walker called "plewds," the clouds of dust emanating from a runner's feet are "briffits," and my all-time favorite: "grawlixes," that bubble of violent symbols indicating that a cartoon character is cussing up a storm. This Wavy Rule is in honor of Walker's creation. Also, check out this article on the Lexicon by Stacy Conradt.
More by Paul Morris: "The Wavy Rule" archive; "Arnjuice," a wistful, funny webcomic; a smorgasbord at Flickr; and beautifully off-kilter cartoon collections for sale (and free download) at Lulu.
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Hello! We are media enthusiasts and culture addicts—not to mention classically trained (as we like to say) professional journalists. This is our collection of generally civilized conversations about magazines, movies, politics, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is currently written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. (Unsigned posts through October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.)
The site is designed and maintained by House of Pretty and illustrated by Jesse Ewing for Inkleaf Studio. Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (who also draws our daily comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The kissable Emdashes logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World; PDF, p. 20)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, man about town, and New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Report: Learning to read with comic books--that are edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
- Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
- Proposal: a better-designed Metrocard (for A Brief Message)
- Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Review: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Micro-essay: on saving time through inspiration (for A Brief Message)
- Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
- Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
- Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)
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Comments
These are so funny. You know I love the retrox!
My favorite’s the ironicon.
Thanks, guys! I’m sweating plewds of gratitude!
I love the warpies! It’s so funny!