Just Finished Reading: That’s All Folks! - The Art of Warner Bros. Animation by Steve Schneider (FP: 1988) [239pp] 

I have been a fan, to say the least, of Warner Bros cartoon for as long as I can remember – probably my entire self-aware life. In fact, I can’t remember a time I didn’t come running or a smile break out when I heard/saw the starting logo. So, it was interesting to finally read about the history of the endeavour and enjoy the nostalgic memories (much smiling and laughing ensued) associated with leafing through this book. 

As you might well imagine, being focused primarily on the art of the cartoons in question, this was a HEAVILY illustrated book often with whole page drawings of characters or particularly noteworthy or impressive backgrounds. One of the (many) things I found particularly fascinating was the evolution of characters and how their drawn selves changed over time – and between artists – before settling down, by and large, to an agreed look. One of the other things that intrigued me, and made me laugh out loud with recognition, was that the individual characters very much had individual personalities which the artists brought out on screen, but that Bugs and others were ‘real’ and that the stories where character driven – because each character had backstory, motivation and a ‘life’ off-screen. Indeed, I was reminded of a number of cartoons (mentioned here) where individual characters were shown ‘outside’ of the normal cartoon environments and either arguing with the artist ‘drawing’ them or speaking directly to the audience.  

The second part of the book was much more focused on the characters themselves – with the first part much more focused on the history of the company and overall artistic developments. Although Bugs Bunny is, by far, my favourite (and is, indeed one of my 3 foundational heroes) I did enjoy learning about Porky Pig who went through quite the development phase before becoming the porcine we know and love, Daffy Duck (ditto) who I particularly loved as Duck Dodgers of the 24 ½ century(!), the LONG suffering Elmer Fudd, Tweety and Sylvester (a plushie of which is sitting on my desk in front of me), Pepe Le Pew (those POOR cats!), the ever excitable Yosemite Sam (WoW Mule!), another personal favourite Foghorn Leghorn (Well, I SAY boy!), the Road Runner and the long, long suffering Wile E Coyote and who could forget Marvin the Martian? Oh, and I almost forgot the fastest mouse alive, Speedy Gonzales... 

I enjoyed this book, and the trip down a chaotic memory lane very much indeed. The only problem I had with the book was its size (essentially it is a coffee-table book) and its floppiness (paperback version) which made it a challenge to hold at times! Other than that, I Highly Recommend it to all Warner brothers cartoon fans. But that’s not ALL folks... I have a similar book just on Bugs himself (of course). Watch this space.