Robert "Slim" Johnson - made a living writing and drawing.

by Glander 11 Replies latest jw friends

  • Glander
    Glander

    I met Bob in the early '70s when he had only been a JW a couple of years. He was a freelance cartoonist. For several years in the '60s he sold most of his work through his agent, Mario Puzo. Yes, that Mario Puzo. Pulp men's magazines and color DC comics ("Plops") were his staples. He sold single panel cartoons and some of his themes were Dr.s offices, dungeon prisoners, etc and he contributed a lot of content to a mag called "Sex to Sexty". When he became a witness he gave up all the racy, raunchy stuff even though it had been lucrative for him.

    He and I became good friends and I would occasionally suggest a 'gag'. Soon he asked for more because he was selling almost all of my stuff. Eventually, I was his main source of material. We would get together a couple of times a week in his little backyard studio and throw out ideas for an afternoon while having some wine, cheese, olives, etc. Great fun. The thing that he let me know right off was that if I came up with a gag that wasn't funny he would immediately say "Not funny" . I got used to the rejections and it helped sharpen me up. Soon, I would say "not funny" back to him if he came up with a dud. He wrote little notes when I came up with a keeper and he would draw them up later and send them to his agent. Every couple of weeks he would pay me 25% of the money he sold them for. (Not a big deal. I averaged $5.00 to $10.00 each).

    He taught me that a good cartoon punchline should rely on the illustration to make it work as a cartoon someone could glance at for 5 seconds and get a chuckle out of it. He died at 39 of a heart attack. I'll never forget the few years we had so many laughs.

    PS you can google him or "Sex to Sexty" and see some of his work. Be warned, some of his early stuff was pretty raw.

  • Glander
    Glander

    We also produced a collection of satire cartoons on the then big story of the day - Watergate. The local newspaper did a profile of us and ran several of the panels. A super-elder took umbrage with it because it was a political subject and wanted to make it a JC matter but none of the other elders agreed so it was dropped..

  • Glander
    Glander

    We also smuggled 45 lbs. of cocaine into NYC. in a side of beef flown in from Argentina. We didn't realize that it had been bought by a High School foodservice and it ended up as ground beef in the spaghetti sauce. SAT scores were through the roof, but we lost money.

  • sooner7nc
    sooner7nc

    It happens. You can't always know where your blow will wind up when using a 3rd party as a middleman.

  • Glander
    Glander

    Funny thing, the head dietician for the school district bought a new Mercedes.

  • talesin
    talesin

    That's quite a thing, Glander, to have in your memory treasure box. What a great friendship. It's sad he died so young.

    I thought the prison plops were hilarious (and yes, a bit twisted) ... he was quite an artist -- the detail in the backgrounds!

    As for Sex to Sexty --- "Keep your eyes peeled,,, this is Amazon territory!" mwah hahahahaha!! WW loved it!

    Crumb was pretty out there with the sex cartoons stuff, too, though most folks only know him for Keep on Truckin'

    Coke in a Cow, huh? :D

    t

  • Glander
    Glander

    Talesin - Yeah, I embellished my dying thread a tad.

  • talesin
    talesin

    :D good one !

    I think it's quite the experience,, I mean, it's cartoon history, and you were a part of it ... no joking here, I have spent my time copying Todd MacFarlane and some of Crumb's stuff.

    Sometimes, threads just don't 'take off',,, they're often most interesting.

    thanks for sharing ... :D

    t

  • jonbelay56
    jonbelay56

    Glander, are you still out there? I Googled Robert 'Slim' Johnson and the one and only hit that I got was from you and this site. I was reluctant to join this website being that I haven't been calling myself a Jehovah's Witness since the seventies. I see now that mostly ex-JW's post here. Bob was my father. I remember you and your family fondly. I have always thought that it was pretty cool that you and my dad collaborated on cartooning and that you actually worked on a Watergate series, given the fact that JW's are pretty detached from political stuff. Hope all is well with you and your family.

    Sincerely,

    Jack Johnson

    PS: funny story about the cocaine...

  • Glander
    Glander

    jonbelay - PM

    What a great surprise. I heard that your mom passed away a few years ago.

    Yep, I could make your Dad laugh until he had tears! Great guy.

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