It was a Dark and Silly Night
April 17, 2009 10:38 PM   Subscribe

It was a Dark and Silly night -- a cartoon written by Neil Gaman and drawn by Gahan Wilson.

I wanna know the rules to "Jello Tag".
posted by Chocolate Pickle (29 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
Tag you're it.
posted by netbros at 10:44 PM on April 17, 2009


I imagine "Jello Tag" is a game inspired by "Calvin Ball" and created by a couple of kids who were prompted into creative action after hearing about the silliness of "The Noodle Incident".

And good for them.
posted by Science! at 11:02 PM on April 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


This is cool, thanks for posting. I've loved Wilson's cartoons for years, since I was a kid. Here's hoping he'll do more, cause his style is a natural for animation: it's surprising to see how "Gahan Wilson" it is. Often when a cartoonist dives into animation, his style doesn't translate all that well, but not so with this little cartoon. The whole thing, every frame, looks like one of his "stills", you know? Great work. Anyone ever seen his other forays into animation, like The Kid?

Here's his Diner, and a wonderful short (very short) called Eternal Hold.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:37 PM on April 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


Two of my favorite people together! Hooray!

Also, a proof that Gahan Wilson isn't dead! Double hooray!

(Note: Wilson's like Edward Gorey for me. You think he's long dead, but then he does something wonderful to remind you that he's still very much alive.

OK, that analogy falls apart knowing Gorey actually did die in 2000, but still....)
posted by Pope Gustafson I at 11:47 PM on April 17, 2009


Gaiman.
posted by pracowity at 11:48 PM on April 17, 2009


I dragged my mother to some convention in the 70's and he gave her a copy of a book of his and inscribed it with an original drawing of 'the kid' saying, 'Hi, Norma!'

I wonder if she still has that somewhere.
posted by jfrancis at 12:15 AM on April 18, 2009


The gas... once again the dream of before, crisp thought.
posted by Mblue at 12:25 AM on April 18, 2009


That was nice, thanks.
posted by JHarris at 12:44 AM on April 18, 2009


I remember thumbing through my father's Playboy collection as a teenager and seeing the full page, full color Wilson cartoons, and really enjoying the juxtaposition of his grotesque world and that of the beautiful models.

Well, OK, maybe that's the adult me. I'm sure the teenage me was mostly looking at the models and occasionally wondering why someone put these ugly cartoons next to the tits.

BTW, great post! It's good to know Wilson is still alive and producing interesting work.
posted by plowhand at 2:40 AM on April 18, 2009


Why are people surprised to learn that Gahan Wilson's still alive? After all, he's still got plenty of years left, and the ice cream truck he sleeps in helps retain his youthful pallor.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:07 AM on April 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


I too thought Wilson had the darkest, funniest humor of any of his contemporaries. I thought his ideas were so imaginative and daring that I had one of his cartoons blown up for the wall of my dorm in college. Years later I was introduced to the work of Charles Addams. My God! Wilson's work was so derivative. As Andy Ihnatko says, it was like seeing your dad drunk for the first time. I still like him though.
posted by digsrus at 5:18 AM on April 18, 2009


wilson's cartoons were one of the first things i looked for in national lampoon along with mk brown's work. as a hardcore feminist, whatever that meant for a high school kid in the 70s, i was bitterly disappointed to find out his panels also were in playboy--but not so disappointed that i wouldn't read them and wonder why they were messing up his art by putting it next to tit pics. he's really one of a kind. thanks for the link, choco pickle.
posted by msconduct at 5:35 AM on April 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Loved it.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:56 AM on April 18, 2009


I'm sure the teenage me was mostly looking at the models and occasionally wondering why someone put these ugly cartoons next to the tits.

posted by plowhand at 11:40 AM on April 18


Eponysterical!
posted by mannequito at 6:03 AM on April 18, 2009


For the record, it's Neil Gaiman. (I hate when people misspell my name, so I thought he might hate it too.)

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman
posted by jamstigator at 7:01 AM on April 18, 2009


Seven seas' sat splashily
shells sing somberly
shore sand shines

Sanguinely, she's a shtup 7 shriller.

Shit.
posted by Mblue at 7:08 AM on April 18, 2009


strange that it's not mentioned that this was first part of Art Spiegelman's Little Lit
posted by sineater at 7:12 AM on April 18, 2009


This story was originally written and inked for the Little Lit volume "It was a Dark and Silly Night", a series of graphic novel compilations edited by Art Spiegelman and his wife, New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly. They commissioned several comic writers and artists to develop stories that all began with "It was a dark and silly night". I loved Gaiman & Wilson's contribution (which is basically a storyboard for this cartoon), but there are several other great stories in there. The first one is written in character by Lemony Snicket, wherein Silly obviously refers to a "Slightly Intelligent, Largely Laconic Yeti".

There's also a fantastic story written and drawn by ubergenius William Joyce that features use of a Silly Ray (created when President Roosevelt's Secretary of State, Elihu Root, slips on a banana and lands on a Whoop-e cushion) on a marauding gang of Warrior Florists. There are also great stories by Kaz, J. Otto Siebold (of Olive the Other Reindeer fame), a 1-page puzzle by Tony Millionaire, even this shoehorned-in but utterly awesome story by the late great weirdo Basil Wolverton. If you like this cartoon you will love this volume and the others in the Little Lit series... basically positioned as comics for kids that don't suck.
posted by ulotrichous at 7:18 AM on April 18, 2009


whoops, that's this shoehorned-in but utterly awesome story by Basil Wolverton.
posted by ulotrichous at 7:20 AM on April 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


I can't stand either of those artists but I liked that.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:43 AM on April 18, 2009


Also, a proof that Gahan Wilson isn't dead! Double hooray!
Well, I shook his hand at WonderCon a couple years ago not that that proves he was alive at the time or anything.
posted by lekvar at 11:17 AM on April 18, 2009 [1 favorite]


Warning: does not mix well with any drug.
posted by tehloki at 11:20 AM on April 18, 2009


Wow, the folks who animated this really nailed Wilson's stye.
posted by egypturnash at 12:11 PM on April 18, 2009


I've loved Gahan Wilson's work since I was 8 or 9, when I found giant books of his (and Charles Addams's) cartoons in the public library. This cartoon was a lot of fun.

I'll admit to knowing very little of Gaiman's work, partly because I'm a little daunted by how much of it there seems to be. Any recommendations for where should I start?
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:29 PM on April 18, 2009


American Gods is fantastic
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:59 PM on April 18, 2009


Gaiman made his name writing comics, in particular the horror series "The Sandman".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:34 PM on April 18, 2009


Wow. I'm reading a book about the history of comix and just today this was mentioned.
posted by cmoj at 5:10 PM on April 18, 2009


Wow again. I thought this would be the comic book.
posted by cmoj at 5:11 PM on April 18, 2009


I had a subscription to Twilight Zone magazine in its last two or three years of its run. Gahan Wilson did movie reviews in it. I thought I read an obit for him in that or another magazine around that time, so that's why I thought he was dead. Maybe some other folks read it, too. Might have been an April Fool's thing, or just his morbid sense of humor. I know that I was surprised and pleased to discover that he was not, in fact, dead.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 12:41 AM on April 19, 2009


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