When Mondo announces a new series, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be focusing solely on that series until it wraps. Instead, Mondo seems to like keeping us on our toes by having about half a dozen different series in play at any given time. Some of ‘em wrap quickly, while others keep going for quite a while. Take their Looney Tunes series: Tom Whalen kicked off that license with a Duck Dodgers print all the way back in March (at the opening of the Mondo Gallery).
He’s handled each of the Looney Tunes print that followed, and most expected him to see the series through to its conclusion. But today Mondo announced something surprising: not only are they dropping two new Looney Tunes posters tomorrow…but neither of them was created by Tom Whalen. Surprised? Wanna see who is handling the next two prints in this series? Meet me after the jump, folks.
Because Tom Whalen seemed to be Mondo’s go-to guy back when their Disney series was up and running, I think most of us assumed that the company’s Looney Tunes series—which Whalen kick-started right around the time the Disney series wrapped—would be the artist’s next ongoing Mondo assignment. Whalen’s style proved a perfect fit for those Disney prints, and his Duck Dodgers poster (see below) confirmed he was right at home in the Looney Tunes universe, as well.
For many of us, this was such a foregone conclusion that it didn’t even seem worth speculating on. And so, you can imagine how surprised a bunch of people were today when Mondo announced that it would be dropping two new Looney Tunes prints tomorrow morning…and neither of them were the work of Tom Whalen. Let’s take a look:
- Hair Raising Hare by Michael DePippo
- 18x24”
- $40 regular edition of 260
- Hyde and Go Tweet by Phantom City Creative
- 18x24”
- $40 regular edition of 260
Not only was the lack of Whalen-involvement a shock here, but: did anyone expect to see a Looney Tunes poster from the folks at Phantom City Creative? Don’t get me wrong—it’s a great piece. But if you’d told me Whalen had quit the business to wander the Earth like Kane in Kung-Fu and asked who the next-likeliest artist to turn in a Looney Tunes poster would be…Phantom City would not have been high on that list. Just goes to show ya, though: the least-likely combinations sometimes yield the most surprisingly awesome results.
As always, you should stay tuned to the Mondo Twitter feed starting bright and early tomorrow and lasting until…well, until the drop gets announced by Mondo HQ. Oh, and by the way: we’ve been told that a bunch of t-shirts that are currently for sale on the Mondo site will soon be dropping in price by $10, so if you’re on the lookout for a discount on something that can protect your torso from the elements while also making an artistic statement…you’re gonna wanna check in with Mondo’s “Apparel” section regularly in the days ahead.
That’s all for now, folks, but our week’s far from over: we’ve got a preview of Ltd Art Gallery’s next big show-- a Star Wars-themed extravaganza called Who Shot First? (which, by the way, will include work from one of Limited Paper’s current-favorite artists)—on deck, as well as a few other odds-and-ends as we head into the weekend. As always, if you’re an artist or gallery with artwork you’d like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if you’re just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansin’s house) we wanna hear from you! Email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com, and be sure that you’re following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more!