1999

Who Knew "Ayers Rock" Would Be So Difficult To Spell? | A Starlog Archive Cartoon

Due to unpopular demand - and because I got nuthin' better to do right now - here's yet another gag exhumed after a recent dumpster dive into the Starlog cartoon repository.

Originally published in 1999 - issue #265, pg.18

As Mr. Lucas was adding smears of discarded doggy-doo-doo all over the final print of The Phantom Menace, around late 1998 he announced the remainder of the Star Wars prequels would be filmed in Sydney.

Couple that with a feeble satire of Meryl Streep's haunting line from "A Cry In The Dark"* and you have yourself a published toon, my friend!

* Come to think of it, when drafting the idea out as a rough sketch, I clearly remember "hearing" Seinfeld's Elaine character parodying Streep in a god-awful attempt at an Australian accent: click here to watch.

Fun Trivia Bit

Because I was/am an atrocious speller, I submitted the rough idea to Sir David McDonnell, Esq. and, from his office 10,353 miles away, informed me I'd incorrectly spelt the words on the sign that now reads "AYERS ROCK" -- I phonetically spelt it as "AIRES ROCK".

Watto's Gone Quackers | A Starlog Archive Cartoon

For me, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was one of the all-time inspirational movies of 1999.

"Inspirational" in terms of how gut-wrenchingly BAD it was that I managed to conjure up so many gags in the aftermath of the film's 1st screening - for which I literally ran out of the theater to as soon as the end credits rolled up in the likely event I was to hurl - and get published in Starlog magazine.

This one, published in '99 - issue #268, pg.22 - pokes fun at Lucasfilm's ultimate bad movie from 1986, Howard, The Duck.

Psst! Guess What?

To this day, I've never been able to sit through the entire Howard movie - in all, I may have only seen 20 minutes total.

It's hard to believe, but... I do have my dignity.

Update (November 4, 2021):

I was recently labelled as "ignorant" in response to a cartoon I did years ago ridiculing Howard The Duck and its lousiness.

Ignorant, am I?!

Well… that may be true.

So, to further antagonize those fowl masses, I'm wearing a headdress made entirely of torn-out Howard The Duck comic covers.

The fact that there are "Howard, The Duck" movie defenders out there surprises me most of all!!