I have been a cartoonist since 1976. Very rarely have I gotten threats which is surprising if you think about it, given my criticisms of the GOP. Recently I got a strange email from my website contact form which read, "Hello. and Bye." I thought it was rather odd, so I traced the IP address, which is something I didn't know I could do until I tried. The address was 185.130.184.254. Here is where it lead me. (image) Some nazi from the fatherland? A trump lover? Do they have a network of US nazis they will contact to sick on me? We live in uncertain times thanks to the trumps. We will, as always, beat these fake humans back into the shadows where they belong just as my Grandfather did at the Battle of the bulge. Americans (real ones) will always win out over evil.  

This old editorial cartoon is suddenly relevant again. Running on Gocomics on 12/30/18

Today starts the rerun of the poem written by my Dad and illustrated by me. It will run up to Xmas day. I'm so glad I finally got to do this when I did because two years later he is no longer with us. One day I hope to do a more detailed version for a possible kid's book. I know he would have liked to see that but he did get to see this initial effort. This one's for you Pops!
An Irish Night Before Christmas by Richard Collins and Dan Collins

In 1967 I was in seventh grade. Two years earlier, I had become a member of the Mighty Marvel Marching Society when I was introduced to Marvel comics (in spirit only, as I didn't have the money to actually join as a paid member). A friend gave me his early collection since his Mom had threatened to throw the lot out if he didn't give them away. Sadly she had earlier destroyed an FF#1 and lord knows what else. I then began my studies at Jack Kirby's school of drawing, on the kitchen table, floors etc and finally summoned the courage to send samples to Marvel. I also sent a separate mailing of a super hero rendition of Stan the Man. Here are the postcards I received in return. I don't know whether this is the writing and signing by the great man himself or that of an assistant but I treasure them nonetheless. I should look into his handwriting to finally know for sure. I also wonder what became of that drawing of Stan as a super hero in full costume. Perhaps he framed it and it has hung in a place of honor all these years or sits in a scrapbook in his undoubtedly vast archives. The imagination runs wild as it did in a young boy, given a boost of super power by the creations of Jack and Stan.  

I have taken some amazingly lucky photos from the fishing boat over the years; big bass and muskies I and others have caught, storms, sunsets, twisters, and animals. Without a doubt this one from a couple of weeks ago is the most serendipitous shot of them all. I don't know who this lady is— an enthusiastic nature lover, a mermaid either coming from or going on land, or perhaps she is the Lady of the Lake. Sans sword. I have no way of knowing, I can only marvel at my good fortune.

This didn't display well on the Gocomics site so here it is in a better environment for showing.

For a few years I have done cartoons for Kimco, a large company that you've had contact with whether you know it or not. Open-air shopping centers are their domain across the country. They used to have a whole page of my things but it seems to have been removed.

The Studio v. 39.11.
The studio has evolved again. The recovery of the old Mac Pro 1.1 system and my expensive scanning software, Lasersoft Silverfast, has added a scanning station at the old drawing board. SF is a lot faster than Vuescan and works better too. I set up a computer to computer network after adding an Airport card to the Mac. Those are fun to install, found a video on Youtube for reference. First time there has been two computers in the studio to do a local network. I can reach over with the new iMac and search the old databases. I'll scan over there and grab the file over here. What could be simpler?
I shot it with my wide angle GoPro.