Sounds weird, especially in this broadband world of ours, that anyone would have the desire to reach out to famous folks, not over the Net or in person, but by a letter delivered by the good ol' U.S. Postal Service. But that's what exactly San Franciscan and budding cartoonist Dan Stafford has done. And, it's so appealingly low-tech that it's even worked too...

In fact, a few of the folks who have responded so far -- at least the ones Dan has posted at his Web site -- easily constitute the beginnings of a "who's who" list of today's alt cartoonists, among them Jeffrey Brown, Adrian Tomine, James Kochalka and Joe Matt. In my opinion, however, the crown jewel of the bunch is a breezy six-page handwritten letter from R. Crumb, the grandmaster among all living alt cartoonists.

What 's Dan's payoff, except for a little recognition and generating some major fanboy envy? "Honestly, I'm a fanboy. So I wrote interview questions, things I'm curious about. In some cases, it's brought abut friendship (Jeffrey Brown) and in others some skepticism (Crumb). But, it's always great."

And, Dan's not a bad cartoonist either, so after you hit the links and read the letters, check out his Dirtbag strips, a more classic take on the awesome toon satires of David Rees (Get Your War On). (Thanks to Street for the link...)

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