ARTIST MAKES SUCCESS OF SMART GAGS : TALENTS FOR CLOWNING, DRAWING INTERTWINE IN `RUBES' CARTOONS.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Leigh Rubin Leigh Rubin is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Rubes. External links
The cartoon depicts a couple of kids with sparklers gaping in amazement as another child sets off a small atomic blast. The caption reads: ``The other kids' fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to paled in comparison to little Robert Oppenheimer's.'' Rubin, wearing blue jeans blue jeans also blue·jeans pl.n. Clothes, especially pants, made of blue denim. blue jeans npl → tejanos mpl; vaqueros mpl and a T-shirt with another of his cartoons - scowling scowl v. scowled, scowl·ing, scowls v.intr. To wrinkle or contract the brow as an expression of anger or disapproval. See Synonyms at frown. v.tr. produce captioned ``Steamed Vegetables'' - spread out a collection of his ``Rubes'' cartoons on the kitchen table of his west Palmdale home. Rubin is pleased when a visitor laughs at a reproduction of the Oppenheimer cartoon. ``I was wondering if anyone would get that,'' Rubin said. ``I guess I can't worry about that. I don't want to underestimate the intelligence of the cartoon reader.'' Smart gags like the Oppenheimer fireworks joke have earned ``Rubes'' a spot in more than 350 newspapers, including the Daily News, across the nation and in Norway and Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. . ``Rubes'' is a one-panel playground for Rubin's love of word play and his skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data view of history, mythology and zoology zoology, branch of biology concerned with the study of animal life. From earliest times animals have been vitally important to man; cave art demonstrates the practical and mystical significance animals held for prehistoric man. . ``They like the surprise of it. They get something different every day,'' Rubin said of his fans. With curly brown hair, wire-frame glasses and a thick moustache, Rubin has been told he resembles music satirist Weird Al Yankovic - a comparison the 39-year-old cartoonist doesn't view as flattering or accurate. ``I'm much better looking than he is,'' Rubin said. Settling into a rocking chair in his living room, Rubin recounted the birth of ``Rubes'' and his long battle to gain recognition for his cartoon. Always interested in drawing and doodling, and a bit of a class clown, Rubin started mixing art and humor after seeing a line of greeting cards See e-card. called ``Animal Farms.'' ``They were so simple and so clever,'' Rubin said. ``I thought, `I could do that.' '' Rubin published his own cartoon books and line of greeting cards. Soon after he moved from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to Palmdale in 1983, a reporter saw his work and suggested he try producing a cartoon for newspapers. The first ``Rubes'' cartoon was published Nov. 1, 1984, in a four-day-a-week newspaper. After being rejected by newspaper feature syndicates, Rubin got his next break during a 1987 vacation in Kauai, where the editor of the newspaper saw the cartoon and bought it. Rubin kept hammering away, sending off cartoons and letters during spare moments from his job at his father's Northridge print shop. ``I picked up quite a few college papers and a few regular papers,'' Rubin said. ``I was feeling my way around. There's not a guide on how to do this.'' Rubin said he elevated the quality of his drawings after the cartoon was rejected by one syndicate whose personnel liked the gags but not the art. Rubin developed the style that has been seen in his cartoon drawings for eight years. In January 1989, Rubin finally connected with a syndicate - Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . ``There's no magic to it at all,'' Rubin said of the success he now enjoys with the cartoon. ``It's all hard work and selling.'' Rubin cites deadline pressure as his muse. Sometimes he has to labor over a gag. Other times, as with the Oppenheimer gag, the idea just comes to him. ``I was watching my brother-in-law lighting fireworks and something just clicked,'' Rubin said. Not every cartoon has been warmly received. Rubin got an angry letter from a woman in Illinois who was upset by a cartoon depicting Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theatre box office waving tickets and saying, ``Good news, Mary. I got the last two.'' Rubin said he likes to push the limit of what he can get away with, but there are some topics he won't touch. Rubin won't do gags about airplane crashes or terrorists. ``I do some self-editing. I have to, or somebody else will,'' Rubin said. Rubin lives in wRest wrest tr.v. wrest·ed, wrest·ing, wrests 1. To obtain by or as if by pulling with violent twisting movements: wrested the book out of his hands; wrested the islands from the settlers. Palmdale with his wife, Teresa, and their three sons, Jeremy, 9, Ryan, 6, and Andrew, 1. Teresa, a former public school teacher, is home-schooling the couple's children, an effort in which her husband plans to become more involved. He works in a den just off the living room. A model of a Spad XIII World War I fighter hangs above his work bench, and there is a corner TV set, frequently tuned in to the History Channel. ``After I finish a deadline, I'm fine for about a day; then I start thinking about the next deadline,'' Rubin said. Rubin said he starts to get shaky if he doesn't draw for a week. ``I need to create. I'm addicted to drawing,'' Rubin said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: More than 350 newspapers in the U.S., Norway and Hon g Kong publish ``Rubes'' by Leigh Rubin. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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