Flip Rhodun, Space Marine in the 23rd Century

Bridging the gap between childhood cartooning and my earliest attempts at creating professional-looking comics, this forty three episode strip ran from June 22, 1981 until August 13, in The Butler Eagle, the daily newspaper of the small, western Pennsylvania town in which I lived from the mid 1970s through until my graduation from high school in the early 80s. My first published cartooning, it is an amateurish, muddled affair, but, I believe, one with a modicum of reckless charm, most stemming from my sheer naivete. Drawn at print size, with magic marker, featuring my very first encounter with ruled, pre-determined lettering, it was quite a learning experience, to say the least. The very informed letter following the strips essentially says all that needs to be said about how much I had to learn about the craft of cartooning. And, some twenty seven years later, I’m still learning!

Childhood Art- Cars, Bikes & Tanks

A sampling of childhood drawings of imaginary vehicles, hot rod cars, motorcycles and military vehicles.