...permission from the original drawing, R. Crumb.  Partially because I read that several of the longtime contributors of cartoons to "The New Yorker" had died recently; and partially because I've (seemingly) always drawn cartoons myself; and partially because my own crosshatch, pen and ink drawing style has been often compared to that of Robert Crumb, legendary creator of posters, logos, album covers, art that decorates t-shirts and dorm rooms to this day, and partially because, just checking back on Mr. Crumb's work, realizing the character would be way older now, one of the first drawings for submission had to be an updated version of that "Keep on Truckin'" character.

BUT, I thought (believed would be a better word) I would need Mr. Crumb's permission to do anything with it. SO I found an email address, wrote to him.

AND, glory be, I got a reply. Not immediately. STILL, I was, and continue to be, STOKED to the max (as if I had to show my age) to receive it, despite his sort of downer opinion of my (or anybody's) chances of success in actually selling magazine cartoons.

YES, he's right. YET, I wasn't dissuaded. Maybe my style, quite different from that sort of standard "New Yorker" softness, and my material, gleaned from a long history of sarcasm, might overwhelm the odds, which, upon watching a film on the magazine, it's cartoon editor, and the contributors, AND the VERY LONG odds on getting something into print... well, I'm a little more... no, not giving up yet.

SO, thanks Mr. Crumb. Keep on truckin'. Oh, yeah.