CARtoons Magazine Returns!

The PopCulteer
February 26, 2016

Due to intermittent power failures, we were unable to post any new Toy Fair videos yesterday here in PopCult.  Rest assured we are placing our nose back to the video grindstone and plan to bring you tons of new video from the 2016 International Toy Fair in New York all weekend long and well into next week.

In the meantime, we’re going to play a little catch-up with our neglected feature, the PopCult Bookshelf.

The PopCult Bookshelf

The Hot Rod Humor Mag in its heyday

It is with a great deal of nostalgic glee that I bring you the news that CARtoons Magazine has returned to newsstands after a twenty-five year absence.  CARtoons originally began publication in 1957, created by cartoonist Pete Millar.

The magazine was a mainstay of newsstands and a huge part of people’s childhoods throughout the 1960s, 70s, and into the 80s.  Even when you were in a store that didn’t have a comic book rack, you could look at the automotive section of the magazine stand and get your comics fix.  CARtoons was a black and white magazine-sized publication, sort of like MAD Magazine, only all about cars and hot rods.

Especially in the 1960s, CARtoons was a haven for budding cartoonists.  Underground legends like Gilbert Shelton and Rick Griffin were first published in CARtoons pages. CARtoons Magazine always featured top-notch cartoonists indulging in their gearhead passions.

As magazine publishing began its slow decline, CARtoons disappeared from newsstands in the early 1990s.  Now the trademarks to the CARtoons name have been secured by a Canadian fan, Marc Methot, and the magazine is back with a new number one issue featuring a cover by original CARtoons artist George Trosley.

I can’t quite convey the moment of outright glee when I spied the new CARtoons Magazine nestled alongside the hot rod mags at Books A Million last weekend. I snapped it up and brought it home and enjoyed every page of it.  Methot has assembled a team that has perfectly captured the spirit of the original magazine.  It’s on slick glossy paper now, instead of cheap newsprint.  But aside from that, it’s like CARtoons Magazine has never missed a beat. It’s as much fun as it always was.

The “Zero” issue

I even discovered that they released a “test issue” last year, which you can buy on their website.

Some of you may have noticed that I spend a great deal of the PopCult blog wallowing in nostalgia–nostalgia for the toys, comic books, magazines, and television shows of my childhood.  That’s a fair observation.  I’ve always been a fan of really cool stuff and I’ve always been disappointed when really cool stuff goes away.  It’s a treat, especially at my age, when really cool stuff that went away comes back.

Over the past couple of years I’ve got to see Charlton Comics reborn as the Charlton Neo movement, the spirit of the old Warren magazines brought back via The Creeps Magazine, and now, CARtoons magazine is back on the newsstands.  It’s a good time to relive the past.I halfway expect to see The Monster Times return, now.

You can find CARtoons Magazine at their website (where you can also subscribe) and you can also find it at newsstands like Books A Million.  It’s a real kick to see yet another icon of my youth return for a new generation.  I hope they stick around for a long time.

Stuff To Do

Two big things are going on this weekend, a musical about peeing and IWA East Coast Returns to Nitro for the Zero G Tournament…

Live Music

Friday

Saturday

That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer.  Check back because all weekend long, PopCult will be filled with videos and photo essays from the 2016 International Toy Fair in New York.