Rise and Shine

ToonStack takes on the morning

“Every morning the world is created.” 
- Mary Oliver

“I’d like mornings better if they started later.” 
- This picture of Garfield I found on quotesgram.com

Good morning! Perhaps you’re reading this at 8 AM. You’ve already gone for a jog, written your morning pages, made yourself breakfast, and are currently enjoying your second cup of coffee, feeling the early sunshine warm your body, mind, and spirit. Or perhaps you’re reading this at quarter to noon, groggy, hungover, curled up in bed, surrounded by crumbs that are either Doritos, Lorna Doones, or both. No worries. This is a judgment-free newsletter.

Why is it that some people swear by mornings and others swear at them? Artists in particular have a reputation for being creatures of habit, often with elaborate rituals planned down to the minute.

With this in mind, I asked my fellow ToonStackers to share their thoughts on mornings, and, LOL, spoiler alert: we are decidedly not the early bird, seize the day bunch. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Lorna Doone crumbs to vacuum.

-Johnny

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Hilary Campbell

In honor of Father’s Day, here is a very realistic, true to life portrait of my dad checking his mail in the morning. I mean honestly, who doesn’t love to check their inbox? I wish I didn’t roll out of bed and immediately want to know all the wildly interesting and important messages I’ve received since 12:32 last night, but I’m only human! I’m crazy for a ritual! And clearly, so is my dad.

For real though, something from eBay, Amazon, or Ducks Unlimited arrives every day. It’s incredibly impressive.

Ellis Rosen

I am not a morning person. I wouldn’t even say that I am a person when it’s morning. I am some sort of human-asshole hybrid with no patience and constantly on edge. I hate mornings. Nights, on the other hand, are great. Staying up super late, eating garbage food, maybe drink some beers, stare at a screen for hours, fall asleep on an uncomfortable couch, wake up every few hours, stare at a screen some more. I love nights. So why do mornings have to suck so much?

Sofia Warren

Everybody thinks that being a morning person makes you virtuous, but they’re wrong. Being a morning person makes you a nerd. 

Navied Mahdavian

Hunter S. Thompson was not a morning person. According to his biographer, he woke up at 3 pm and went to sleep by 8:20 am. His schedule was as follows:

3:00 p.m. rise 3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills 3:45 cocaine 3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill 4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill 4:15 cocaine 4:16 orange juice, Dunhill 4:30 cocaine 4:54 cocaine 5:05 cocaine 5:11 coffee, Dunhills 5:30 more ice in the Chivas 5:45 cocaine, etc., etc. 6:00 grass to take the edge off the day 7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jig­gers of Chivas) 9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously 10:00 drops acid 11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass 11:30 cocaine, etc, etc. 12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write 12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies. 6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo 8:00 Halcyon 8:20 sleep

Hunter S. Thompson and I are basically the same person. Like him, I am eating fettuccine alfredo and a dove bar for dinner.

Johnny DiNapoli

[Whispers] I actually kind of like mornings. I make a pot of coffee and listen to classical music on WQXR. It’s a pretty chill way to start the day, even when I accidentally drink the coffee way too fast like I did just now, oops!! Caffeine!! Hahaha!!! Well, thanks for reading and HAPPY SUNDAYY!!!

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News from the ToonStack Multiverse:

• New book alert! Sofia Warren’s Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator is out and available to order here.

• Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class, and join the next live class!

• Listen to Hilary’s brand new podcast What’d You Do This Weekend?

• Order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams, out now!

• Have you checked out cartoonstock.com? Thanks to New Yorker cartoon editor emeritus, Bob Mankoff, this is the place to license and buy prints and merch of the best cartoons in the world, from The New Yorker, Wired, Airmail and...ToonStack! 

• Be sure to check out Shelby Lorman’s newsletter, Please Clap!

• The same goes for Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!

• See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!