Chickens & Eggs Of The Wild West The Story Behind The Cartoon by Rick London

                                                                                                                                      Chickens & Eggs Of The Wild West

     

                     

I don’t think I missed one single episode of “Gunsmoke” growing up.   Matt Dillon could take on anybody who passed through town and was up to no good, and if he couldn’t at least Festus felt he could. 

One can only my surprise years later to find out that the “real cool guy” in mission impossible was Matt’s (James Arnett’s brother), Peter Graves.

Then came the inner conflict that every pre-teen has regarding television or tv heroes, who was really tougher.

I decided this was an unfair comparison because even though Matt was much faster with at the draw, Peter Graves “Jim” had access to high tech resources like razor blades that shot from his nostrils and such.

I remember seeing an episode of “Gunsmoke” one Saturday night in which a stranger in town boasted about being the smartest guy in the west, or some such thing; acting as if he was Goober Einstein or something.  I was not impressed and neither was Matt.  It was not for sure, at first, if Festus was or not, because at times when a new drama was occurring, and he knew Miss Kitty was watching, he’d put on his “smartest demeanor” (whatever that means).

I labeled the smart bad guys “Eggheads”.  I also knew, as likeable as Festus was, and he was, he also only talked tough, and was a bit of a chicken, unless Matt, or “Matthewwwww” was there standing by his side.

I was into “labeling” then, I was a kid and there were no shades of gray. Just good vs evil, Matt vs The Bad Guy, etc etc.

Years passed and another great show, as aforementioned “Mision Impossible” aired. It seemed every evil character Jim and his amazing team was the smartest, meanest, shrewdest, most savvy, and best fighter, yet Jim and his team always had a way to defeat him, or them within an hour. 

Jim and team beats egghead.  This was not the wild west, but surely kinfolk Matt knew what was happening here….somehow.  Hence the making of a cartoon.    This one. 

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Rick London is an author, songwriter, designer and cartoonist.  He is best known for Londons Times Cartoons which he launched in 1997 and has been Google’s #1 offbeat

Source: http://ricklondonsyndication.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/chickens-eggs-of-the-wild-west-the-story-behind-the-cartoon-by-rick-london/