Discussion (12)¬

1. Babish says:

   July 13, 2009 at 6:45 am

   Mr Bell, thank you for your thoughtful and courageous arc on the late Michael Jackson. And thanks to the Contra Costa Times for having the intelligence to print it.

   • Darrin Bell says:

     July 13, 2009 at 7:11 am

     Thanks a lot! I was excited when they picked up Candorville because back when I was in college at UC Berkeley, I used to subscribe to the CC Times. I dreamt of appearing in their comics page.

     I hope you'll let them know you appreciate seeing it there. Thanks again & welcome to Candorville.com

2. Robert says:

   July 12, 2009 at 4:35 am

   I was able to clear up yesterday's cartoon (the 'pulling his face off' one) to a bookstore owner in my neighborhood. She thought the door was pulling MJ's _head_ off, and that the little boy in the last panel was young Lemont.

   After I explained the poignant imagery, she appreciated the strip MUCH more.

   Today's coda was a nice wrap-up. Congrats on another successful arc!

   • Darrin Bell says:

     July 12, 2009 at 4:53 am

     Thanks for running interference for me!

3. @ChayaFradle says:

   July 11, 2009 at 12:36 pm

   FUNNY cartoon. As for retweeting, all I can say is…WHAT? What.

4. @oddknock says:

   July 11, 2009 at 12:09 pm

   I for one welcome our retweeting masters.

5. connie lamka says:

   July 11, 2009 at 4:02 pm

   Michael Jackson was a terrific artist. But why are you ignoring the death of Robert McNamara? This is especially curious due to your stated oposition to war secrets.

   • Darrin Bell says:

     July 11, 2009 at 10:13 pm

     I may mention it (I probably will), but Robert McNamara was still alive and repenting when I drew these Michael Jackson cartoons, so it's not like I chose Michael over him. Newspaper comics are created at least two weeks before they're published.

6. tim Jackson says:

   July 11, 2009 at 2:52 pm

   And don't for get the ones with MJ inexplicably moonwalking on the moon!

   • cedricw says:

     July 12, 2009 at 4:12 am

     I thought those were better than the Pearly Gates ones. But the PYT series had the most depth and in the end, it had the most heart.

7. Silverain13 says:

   July 11, 2009 at 12:05 am

   Following you on Twitter has the unfortunate side effect of making a lot of your comics jokes seem old. But it’s cool seeing how you get your material.

   • Darrin Bell says:

     July 11, 2009 at 8:29 am

     I've only got 550 or so followers, and with retweets my twits are seen by maybe 600 or 700 people. That leaves about 10 million readers who haven't yet seen the material.

     Here's why I don't feel guilty about running the same thing by the 550 followers twice: Anything I post that's retweeted a bunch of times clearly resonates, so I don't pass up the chance to use it in the strip. A big part of the value of Twitter for cartoonists is it essentially gives you a focus group for your material. It's exactly the same thing as standup comics like Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock who try out their material in small comedy clubs before choosing the best of it for their huge theater/HBO tours.

     If you think of it as getting a sneak peak at material in development, you might actually enjoy seeing the occasional tweet show up in the strip a couple weeks later.