Monday, August 10, 2009

Origins of the Missouri Float Trip

Last week's Amazing Facts & Beyond explored tips, trick & trivia associated with the traditional travels of inland tributaries, the recreational "Float Trip" down the river. The strip is based on a painting by one of my favorite artists and Missourians George Caleb Bingham called The Jolly Flatboatmen from 1846.I've been interested in the exploits of frontier whitewater raftsmen for a while - here's a panel from my comic Gone Fishin' (from Comics Comics #4), intended as an anarchic take on Caleb Bingham's restful and idyllic portraits of flatboat life.:Here's an old painting of mine, from a series of historical Louisville (KY) images, featuring the folk-hero / terrorist Mike "King of the Keelboats" Fink:And here's an unfinished / unpublished version of a drawing I was working on for the cover of my upcoming comic book: I was halfway through inking my Amazing Facts comic last week when I remembered that my idea to pay homage to George Caleb Bingham in a local newspaper strip was ripped off entirely from my friend and teacher D.B. Dowd, who did the same in his wonderful graphic novel The Frame Job which was serialized in the St. Louis Post Dispatch in the late 90's: Sorry/thanks, DB. At least my jolly floatboatmen weren't in port.

2 comments:

Matthew Frederick said...

Good ol' Sam the Dog. I miss that strip.

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