Lunch with David Jacobson and Jeff Pert

Above: cartoon detail by Jeff Pert.

It was a lovely March day when I made the 2 hour drive north to Brunswick, Maine to have lunch with fellow cartoonists Jeff Pert and David Jacobson.


Above is © Jeff Pert. All rights reserved.

We had all met at last year's Maine Comics Arts Festival. (And we will all be there for the second year of the Festival, on May 23, 2010, in Portland, ME.)

Jeff is well known in the area as the Bob Lobster Guy." His cartoons, in particular the "Hey Bob! How's the water? Bob? Bob!? BOB!!" cartoon, are on magnets, t-shirts and other products. I first saw his work in 2007 at the York Trading Post. There were a bunch of postcards by Jeff and I bought some. All along 95 and Route One, you can see Jeff's cartoons for sale.

Above: "James Joyce's Refrigerator," a New Yorker cartoon by David Jacobson. Copyright © 2010 The Cartoon Bank. All rights reserved. The list goes like this:

1. Call bank
2. Dry cleaner
3. Forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race
4. Call mom

David Jacobson may be a well known, award winning artist who creates "Contemporary Glass in the Venetian Tradition," but he is also a cartoonist, and has sold to The New Yorker. He lives about 90 minutes further north, and has a studio in Portland. Check out David's glass at his new Etsy store.



We had a great meal at the Brunswick Diner. Really. One of the best burgers I've had. And they have a Facebook page.

We had long conversations about cartooning and meeting some of our cartoonist idols. We talked about the challenge of sitting alone in a studio, trying to come up with ideas. We also had a great meal. I know I just said that, but it was really good food.

We talked about making a living, which people now like to call "monetizing your cartoons." In the middle of this talk, sure enough, the waitress came over and asked for a free cartoon drawing! We chatted with her for a minute and found out that she likes to paint. I told her that I'd trade a drawing of mine for a drawings by her. She left and the trade was not mentioned again. But I was serious!


Anyway, it was great to see David and Jeff and talk cartoon talk for a couple of hours. The bill came, and we split it three ways, leaving a generous tip for the patient, artistic waitress.



Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo.

Fortunately, we did draw an impromptu cartoon triptych on the back of that check of a diner. This greasy spoon does not represent the fine establishment that we dined in! This is a work of parody! From left to right: art by Jeff Pert, David Jacobson and me, Mike Lynch. All rights reserved by the respective cartoonists unless you really want to monetize us.