In February of 1994 I was approached with a project called “Final Exit for Barney” (which was a sequel to a book called “Final Exit for Cats” by another illustrator), and it was a horrible experience. I thought it was embarrassing and not at all funny, and so of course, when they approached me with yet another book in the fall of the year, I jumped up and said “Please, sir, may I have another?” A glutton for punishment I suppose. More than likely, a struggling illustrator who wasn’t all that picky about what sort of work put groceries on the table.
Like the previous book, this wasn’t so much funny, as a laundry list of 1994 hot button topics sure to be dated long before the book hit the shelves, and stereotypes of lawyers as greedy lowlifes obsessed with material possessions. Again, I had nothing to do with the writing, but was given a list of 84 or so ‘scenarios’ to draw. I decided to do this one in a slightly different cartoon style than the previous book (and of the two, I liked how this one looked a lot better, but that’s not saying much).
Here’s a sampling of the interior “humor”.
As usual with projects of this sort, none of the artwork was returned, and I only can share these with you now, because I recently picked up a used copy on eBay for a few bucks.