Pencil Marks: A few years ago I was flipping through channels late at night when I came across a cartoon I remember fondly as a little kid. A really little kid. It was called "Puff the Magic Dragon" and back then I thought it was awesome (second only to another animated special: "Ricky Tiki Tavi." I tell you, that snake scared the #$!& out of me!). Of course "Puff" was based on the popular Peter, Paul and Mary song about a dragon who goes on exciting adventures with a flat paper boy named Jacky but I was five at the time so to me the cartoon came first.
But as I grew older not only did I learn about the origins of the special, but also what those three hippies were singing about in the first place. Really? Marijuana? CBS actually financed a cartoon with a hidden drug message? In the back of my mind I thought there was no way the FCC would have approved that. They must have changed a few things around to make it kid friendly.
Which brings us back to a late night back in 2005 when I was reacquainted with an old childhood memory. "Puff the Magic Dragon" was being shown on Ted Turner's Boomerang network and there I witnessed what I can only describe as pure hand-drawn evil. The story followed the song exactly in crappy animated fashion as Puff (voiced by the late Burgess Meredith) went on a magical adventure with little Jacky Paper full of LCD imagery and a surprise Hendrix-like score (I guess Peter, Paul and Mary were busy.) And... spoiler warning ... little Jacky Paper indeed becomes no more at the end. Now mind you I would have been shocked a little kid dies in the end of a cartoon, but it was quickly shoved aside when Boomerang broadcasted two sequel specials that came after it!
But all of this is not what inspired this drawing.
I was in Target with the Larson clan when my then 5-year old nephew pulled out a book from one of the aisle. Yep, it was "Puff the Magic Dragon", an illustrated hardcover storybook of the song complete with a CD. And to their defense, there was a slight change, albeit not what you would have expected. It started out the same: paper boy takes strings and ceiling wax to go play with dragon, dragon and boy flies above noble kings and pirate ships, boy ceases to exist, broken hearted dragon seals himself into his cave forever. But this time around, Jackie Paper's little girl comes to visit Puff years later in the end so that she may experience the same adventures her junkie father went through at her age.
I guess Billy Joel was right: we didn't start the fire indeed. - Jake
Ink Smudges: When Jake told me his idea for Pineapple Express I thought it was great. After all it was one of those flicks we just couldn't get a grasp on, but it was a summer release. And the fellas from GFC seem to fit perfectly into that world of illegal drugs and violence (after all the initial comic series was based around illegal drugs and violence... now if only I could find it).
For inks I just went the straight route, not trying to change too much of Jake's pencils (though any complaints about how odd Erik looks should be directed towards me as I tried to fix something and only made it worse). I threw a couple of inside jokes in there, and a small tribute to what we were paying homage to - though I doubt anyone but me would make the connection. For the "final" picture of our 2008 gallery I think it was quite fitting. As our characters went to sleep till the next year, those stories were still being told. Of course we were so late "next year" actually began the following week - but I digress. - Tony
