This weekend is the National Cartoonists Society annual bash. This year it's at the Ritz Carlton here in Orlando. The NCS is an elite society of cartoonists, membership by invitation only, (I feel really blessed to be in it), and our bashes are quite the swanky affair. Not exactly like the Polynesian shirts and flip flops attire of the NCN, which I am more familiar with. This is Tuxes and gowns only. This year I broke down and bought a tux..not sure how often I'll get to wear it, so we'll have to see how good an investment it turns out to be. Anyway.... here I am in my monkeysuit, with my always gorgeous wife, Barbie. The crazy guy between us is Sam Viviano, art director of MAD magazine. We've had a lot of fun this weekend hanging out with him and our good friends the Richmonds, the Steckleys, and the Silvers. We've also met a lot of other great cartoonists whose strips I've always admired, and some I've never heard of before, that I'm now fans of.
The second pic here is of me and Steve Silver at the opening party Friday night (thanks to Tom Richmond for the photo). No, we didn't coordinate our oufits, black shirt and khakis, ahead of time. Demented minds think alike, I guess...
My buddy Tom Richmond was up for a couple of Reuben awards (the NCS' version of the Oscars), and won one of them, for Advertising Illustration. The third pic's of me and Ed Steckley with Tom after his win. Ed and I figured it was the closest we'd be to a Reuben for awhile....
Congrats, Tom! You deserve it , man!
