July 2007
This month, newcomer Stealthy Steve Smith joined in, swelling the lunchtime group's number to three.
He and his family recently arrived from Ohio. He works part time for US Airways and produces a (more or less) quarterly comic book for the 200-400 ground workers there.
It includes a lot of inside jokes and references that anyone would find funny.
Smith related that he got hooked on cartoons when he was ill as a child and learned to draw by copying cartoons in coloring books and comic books.
He was further influenced by Mike Peters during school visits to the Dayton Daily News.
His career as an illustrator took a nosedive when suddenly everyone owned a computer and photo illustrations became easily accessible on the Internet.
Then he began drawing caricatures of radio personalities for profit and caricatures of musicians as a hobby. He would use the cartoons to get backstage and meet the musicians.
He showed photos of himself with Willie Nelson, Van Halen, the Ramones, Sam Kinison and the Wiggles.
He also told the story of when he drew a caricature for James Brown and the concert organizers thought he was there to present the key to the city. They had him interrupt the concert and say a few words before handing him his gift.
Smith was a man overflowing with ideas. He also mapped out his detailed plan for a children's television show.
Dapper Dave McDonald brought penciled pages for his first Hamster Sam book. It will teach elementary school students about the South's history of cotton growing through the eyes of a cheese-obsessed rodent.
It will be hard bound and printed in color and include historical photos in some background shots. Pre-press work will be done by Main Street Publishing Company, and it will be printed in Hong Kong.
McDonald is doing all of the writing, penciling, inking and coloring himself.
Below is a photo of McDonald, Smith and Greasy Greg Russell at Showmar's. It was taken by a waitress with Russell's nifty new iPhone.
