Comics: Meet the Artist

Join Washington Post Comics page editor Suzanne Tobin online once each month to discuss the comics pages. From artists to writers to editors, Tobin is joined by a different guest for each show. This week, Tobin will be joined by cartoonists Gary and Glenn McCoy , whose cartoon "The Flying McCoys" is featured in The Post's daily and Sunday comics section. In addition, Glenn's comic, "The Duplex," appears in The Post's Express newspaper.

Tobin and the McCoys were online on Friday, Aug. 18, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the art of cartooning.

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Suzanne Tobin: Welcome, comics fans to another edition of "Comics: Meet the Artist." Today, coming to you live from beautiful Belleville, Illinois (which I'm told is near St. Louis) are the McCoy brothers, Gary and Glenn. The Duplex, by Glenn McCoy, appears in our free Express tabloid, and The Real McCoys, by both Gary and Glenn, appears in The Post on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

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Suzanne Tobin: Welcome, McCoy brothers. Enter and sign in please.

Gary McCoy: Thanks, Suzanne. It's a real pleasure to be here. I must warn you, my lawyer suggested I don't answer any questions related to my restraining order from Oprah. By the way, I love what you've done with the place. The paneled walls and velvet throw pillows are a nice touch.

Glenn McCoy: Thanks for the invite, Suzanne and I big hello to all the junior crime stoppers out in the audience. You may want to get out your decoder rings for the secret message following this interview.

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Suzanne Tobin: First, can you each give our readers a bit of background on how you broke into the cartooning business? Did you start by working for other colleagues? Or did you just start off on your own?

Glenn McCoy: glenn here. I wanted to be a toonist since early childhood but by the time I entered college cartooning seemed to be more of a pipe dream. After I landed a job as an art director at my local paper, I entered a talent search contest that King Features and USA Today were sponsoring. The top 500 placers were suppose to receive a beautiful hard cover book on the history of comic strips. I entered and ended up winning the whole contest. My prize was a week at Mort Walker's studio washing his car, and a lot of talks with King Features about doing a syndicated strip. From there a lot of doors opened up. I finally went with Universal to syndicate my strip the Duplex and branched out from there into other areas.The funny thing is I never got the book I wanted so much.

Gary McCoy: Like Glenn, I knew I wanted to draw and be a cartoonists since we were little kids. I went about it in a more circuitous route. After doing jobs like computer operator, bar bouncer, asbestos removal worker, and furniture delivery guy, I decided I'd try a living at cartooning. I started doing editorial cartoons for a local paper. I then developed a comic strip that luckily got syndicated on my first submission. That later fizzled, but I was bitten by the bug. I started doing greeting cards, magazine cartoons, and then The Flying McCoys with Glenn. The rest is largely folklore involving Bigfoot and Wayne Newton.

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Washington, DC, formerly of the Blue Igloo: Love you McCoys! When is the book coming out? It's hard to wait.

Gary McCoy: thanks! I know you, mystery person! The Flying McCoys book should be out sometime in September. It makes a nice gift! My dad is getting it for our mom for their 48th wedding anniversary.

Glenn McCoy: I may also add that they make great stocking stuffers, although this may make jogging painful.

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Suzanne Tobin: At the Reubens, the National Cartoonist Society's formal awards dinner this year, you both showed up in pastel '70s style tuxes. Where in God's name did you find them in Chicago? Or were they something you had in the closet from your high school proms?

Gary McCoy: We actually rented them from a vintage clothing store in St. Louis, which is very near to home. They had several colors to choose from. But our astute fashion sense told us that pastel purple and pink were the way to go. Mine was so authentic, it still smelled like Hi-Karate aftershave.

Glenn McCoy: I was surprised to fine Gary's name sewn into my rental. He apparently wore it back in the late seventies during his days playing second Sax for Earth Wind and Fire.

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Japan: Gary,

How long did "That's My Dad" run?

Gary McCoy: You remember that? So YOU'RE the one who read it! It only ran for about a half year in 1995. It's a long story that involved my kidnapping by the mafia, and a bad case of athlete's foot.

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Chicago, IL: Greetings,

Is there any chance that you could lead Belleville in setting up a giant croquet ball to go with St. Louis' arch across the river?

Gary McCoy: Great idea! And it could be extra points if you hit the new baseball stadium. That's what we love about our fans... innovative thinkers! Plus they take off holidays from stalking...

Glenn McCoy: Our city planners are talking with the Disney people about having the Epcot geodesic sphere shipped out to us for that. It should be a hoot!

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Del Ray: I really enjoy "The Duplex" in the Express, but I don't ride the Metro every day, so I often miss weeks at a time. Have you published it in book form yet?

Glenn McCoy: There's an early collection floating around out there. Try e-bay. Another book is coming out in early fall.

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Leonardtown: How long have you been doing the Flying McCoys together? Does one do the writing and the other the drawing? Or do you take turns?

Gary McCoy: Hi... several people are asking a similar question.. so to save on typing... we both write and draw our own stuff. We often go over each other's gags and brainstorm sometimes together. It just runs in an alternating fashion.. Glenn one day, then me, etc... We also shower, brush our teeth, and shave independent of each other.

Glenn McCoy: Although Gary still pre-chews my food for me.

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Bay Area, California: I've seen Glenn's editorial toons for years. Now, I'm seeing Gary's editorial cartoons too! You're both great!

What is it like being conservative leaning guys in a sea of liberal cartoonists?

Glenn McCoy: You could probably fit all of the conservative cartoonists into a very small phone booth although, given Garys lack of hygeine, I wouldn't attemp it.

Gary McCoy: We're definitely in the minority. Glenn's are syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, and mine our syndicated by Cagle Cartoons Syndicate. They appear in paper nationwide...

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Martin, TN: Glenn,

I like your cartoons, including "The Duplex".

I've been reading your editorials, and notice that they tend to be conservative.

So my question is...what do you think of Scott Stantis and Chuck Asay?

Glenn McCoy: Great guys, terrific cartoonists, horrible clog dancers.

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El Paso, TX: Hi Gentlemen. I have a lot of questions...I hope you can answer a few. I love THE DUPLEX. Glenn,what is your work schedule like? Do you write gags certain days and draw on other days? How do you turn your work in to the syndicate? Computer or mail? Do you get vacation time? Do you get alittle or a lot of mail from fans/nonfans? How long did it take for you to get syndicated? Did you do other strips that were rejected? Thank you for your time. And thanks for making me laugh. I love the one cartoon where the dog drinks from the toilet, flushes it, and then says "Ah, better." David

Glenn McCoy: Thanks David. Dogs are great. I do a lot of different things in a typical work day so my life is all about time mangement. Each week I draw seven Duplexes, six editorial cartoons, three to four Flipping McGoos (Or is it Flying McCoys?) lots of magazine cartoons, greeting cards,kids book illustrations and some TV work. This is all in addition to my paper route and lawn mowing jobs which pay the bills. I send all of my work electronically to the syndicate although I still draw it the old fashion way, with a piece of charcoal on a the flat side of a shovel.

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NW DC: Hi,

What's the best thing about your job?

Gary McCoy: There are several things that are great about cartooning. It's what we love.... working everyday in humor... which can be tough at times... drawing for a living.. the flexibility in hours... the smell of white-out on a spring day...

Glenn McCoy: working out of the house. There's a lot to be said for not wearing pants. I try not to think of what I do as a job because it's so much fun and I'm incredibly lucky to be doing it.

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Germantown: Are you twins?

Glenn McCoy: No. But we were once joined at the sideburns due to a freak glue gun accident. Actually, Gary's a couple years older.

Gary McCoy: I'm two years older than Glenn. In cartoonists years that's 16 years, give or take a deadline.

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Real McCoys / Flying McCoys: Guys, whatever it's called, and even if I have to go to the YAHOO comic page to find it, I love your work. Much better than the stale zombie comics that the Post sees fit to cram its pages with!

Suzanne Tobin: My apologies for messing up the title of the strip. Yes, it is the Flying McCoys. I didn't get home from work until 3:30 this morning and had to be up at 8 for a cabinet delivery for my kitchen renovation. I'm sleep deprived here! Cut me some slack!

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Bawlamer: Hi, McCoy brothers! Thanks for taking my question. How did you both end up in the cartooning business? Can you give me some background on how you launched your careers?

Gary McCoy: We were rejected by the circus at an early age. Actually, we were into cartoons our entire lives. We both started doing editorial cartoons for our local papers, and then developed comic strips that were picked up, then started doing magazine gag cartoons for Playboy, and then greeting cards...

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Tallahassee, Florida: Guys...I just love your carefully thought out wit,and your inverted genius..!!!!

My question is?? What is your wife's/girlfriend's/mistress' favorite color????

Thank you!!

Susan

Gary McCoy: thanks, Susan. Luckily my wife, mistress, AND girlfriend all share the same color... it's taupe.

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Park Ridge, NJ: Glenn: I like your Drawing style ( fun & loose ) I do not always share your conservative view in a political cartoon , but sometimes you are right on the money. --

Good work. As far as your strip " Duplex" also great !!

I am always curious about influences , it seems most cartoonists cite Charles Schulz,

you might as well, any thoughts on "Peanuts" ?

Glenn McCoy: Charles Schulz is the number one reason Gary and I are cartoonists. We were both weaned on the Peanuts paper backs and refer to them on a regular basis. We were both lucky enough to become friends with Sparky for which we have many cherished memories.

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Sorry Suzanne: We love your work, too. Except for Family Circus - you really need to drop that thing.

Suzanne Tobin: Please please please let my bosses know your feelings. Call 202-334-4775, e-mail comics@washpost.com. B.C. is at the top of my hit list, however. Half the time it doesn't even make sense.

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Keisha, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Hey guys, this is way too early for Gary to be awake. However, since you both work on daily cartoons, how difficult is it to come up with original material, to keep your column fresh and entertaining?

Glenn McCoy: What original material?

Gary McCoy: hey Keisha, shouldn't you be on a runway in Milan somewhere? It's sometimes a real struggle coming up with original material. That's where daytime TV comes in handy. And it's a great source for Ginsu knives...

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Donmart, IN: Hello,

Your drawing style is reminiscent of some things I remember from the good ol' days of MAD magazine. Who were your inspirations growing up?

Yours sincerely,

FAGROON klubble klubble

Glenn McCoy: You nailed it with the Mad influence. We tip our hat the the Gang of Idiots on our book's acknowledgement page. Jack Davis is a hero to me.

Gary McCoy: other influences were Brant Parker, Johnny Hart, Hank Ketchum, Charles Rodriguez....

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Takoma Park: How do you two work together? Do you share an office? Or are you in two different places and you just send stuff via computer?

Glenn McCoy: We live minutes apart but we don't draw at the same time. I'm a morning person, and I'm beginning to suspect that my brother is a vampire. His day is kicking off when I'm putting my pencil down. We phone each other a lot, asking about the wording of punchlines and so forth.

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Crapbros, Indiana: Hi,

Love your cartoon the real mccoys!!

I am only 14 but want to be a cartoonist when I am older.

What are your 5 favorite cartoons in the newspaper?

Mine is yours! LOL!!!

Gary McCoy: that would be The Flying McCoys, The Flying McCoys,The Flying McCoys,The Flying McCoys,and The Flying McCoys. Actually, at the risk of offending our colleagues who may be reading this chat (when they should be doing their jobs!), we'd better not say. Email me sometime from my website and I'll spill my guts. And pursue those dreams!

Glenn McCoy: Good luck with the carttoning.

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Potosi, MO: I am curious, you guys are funny, but are you better looking than your first cousins?!

Gary McCoy: Better looking? No way. But we take pride in the fact the we reside at a higher global altitude. We love our relations though!

Glenn McCoy: Only slightly, but we're way better looking then our sixth cousins.

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DC: You both are fabulous at poking fun of relationship situations. Any personal experience involved here?

Glenn McCoy: You mean in poking fun at relationship situations. Yes, do it a lot of that in my cartoons.

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Suzanne Tobin: Congratulations on winning the 2006 division awards at the convention! I remember Glenn won for gag cartoons and Gary won for greeting cards. Where can our readers see that type of work from each of you? As I recall, you were both nominated in the gag cartoon division. Refresh my memory, was that the one where one of you carried the other piggyback up to the stage? It was quite a sight!

Gary McCoy: yes, Suzanne. I carried Glenn up to the stage on my back. I just wish I knew of his dribbling habit beforehand. Aside from store where our cards are, and the newspapers where we're published, you can see some (somewhat outdated) material on our websites... www.glennmccoy.com and www.garymccoy.org

Glenn McCoy: We do cards for Marcel Schurman, Noble Works, American Greetings ...etc. My magazine stuff runs in publications from Disney Adventures to Playboy. I'M actually sick of seeing my stuff!

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Goshen NY: Do you have a favorite 20th century "fine" artist ??

( i.e. painting ,photography, sculpture )

Glenn McCoy: I'm currently looking at a lot of Miro and Klee because I love the whimsical line. Picasso seems to be a true cartoonist at heart. I enjoy a lot of illustrators, both historical and contemporary. Favs are Holland,Sendak, Steinberg, Rockwell, Wyeth, Kruger, Pyle, ... I could go on and on.

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Potosi, Mo: Hey, I would like to know where you guys look for new ideas when things slow down. I love the drawings and the script is always right!

Glenn McCoy: Everywhere. This is really more of a stream on conscious thing so you really get an insight into the deepest nether regions of our gooey brain matter. I find a lot of ideas in old movie s like the Wizard of Oz, King Kong and goofy sci-fi shows.

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Alexandria, VA: Hi folks,

I was hoping to review your work in the comics section of the Washington Post Web site, but it is not listed there. In fact, that section seems pretty haphazard...

Gary McCoy: thanks for your interest. YOu can check out a small archive of our stuff at the www.ucomics.com website. you can sign up there and see lots more.

Glenn McCoy: I'll have my people look into it. By the way, when I say "my people" I mean Gary. Gary, look into that.

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Glenn McCoy: Thanks, Suzanne and all the reader out there in the ethernet. I'm winding back for a big "Dating Game" blown kiss. Here it comes! SMOOCH!

Gary McCoy: Suzanne, thanks for the opportunity, to kiss up to all our beautiful fans. Keep reading The Flying McCoys, and look for our book due out in September. Group hug everyone! Yeah... that's the stuff. Hey Glenn!... watch the hands!

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Suzanne Tobin: Thanks, you wiiiilllld and craaaazzzy guys, for joining us here today. I hope you and everyone else will join me again on Sept. 1 when Tony Cochran of "Agnes" will be with us. "Agnes" is the last of our three tryout strips we've used to fill Boondocks place while Aaron McGruder is on sabbatical for six months. In case you haven't voted yet, remember the other two were "Watch Your Head" and "The Pajama Diaries." Please call 202-334-4775 or e-mail comics@washpost.com with your opinion on whether you'd like to see any of those strips permanently in The Post.

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