Episode +10—Achtoon 20
I’ve been making U2 cartoons for twenty years!
Back in 2002, I answered AtU2’s call for a new cartoonist and was given the go-ahead from Matt McGee, who wanted to see what I could do with the 500x500 pixel box that would have my name on it.
This unpaid job/hobby (jobby?) took me from my early thirties to my early fifties, from a cruddy bungalow apartment to a dream house in the woods, and from an art teacher to a full-time artist.
I love this band as much as ever, and I see no reason to stop if they see no reason to stop. But today I’d like to take a breezy look back at some of my favorite moments from the past twenty years of Achtoonbaby, a cartoon whose title I inherited and have never truly liked. The cartoon has evolved into “the U2 art project that attempts to be amusing,” and I am utterly grateful for everyone who’s followed me here. Here are some highlights and links, in no particular order.
From What Does The New Album Sound Like? (literal interpretations of Bono hyperbole), here’s my favorite alternate universe: “Like punk rock made on Venus.”
Here’s the point when I knew I was beginning to understand them:
Favorite early Larry from U2 Fantasy Portraiture:
I was on fire because we had A New U2 Product!:
Just for fun, I added a comic-inside-a-comic starring “Li’l U2.” This was the first time I drew Bono and Edge as little cartoon guys.
This is me drawing a more current cartoon Bono:
You can add your face to one of my activities for kids:
Cutest tiny picture before I added text, about two inches tall: from U2’s Busiest Fall Ever.
Off-the-wall Edge picture from What Are They Doing Over There? I had this idea that Edge might want to create “big eye” paintings during the band’s down time.
In 2004, my cat Bunny made her first Achtoon appearance. The cartoon was called WHERE U2 CD GO;;;; Bun took over my writing and illustration duties from time to time. She talked like the Incredible Hulk and had a fondness for semicolons. This story was based on true events: incredibly, Edge lost the new, unreleased How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb CD.
Bono hugged Bun in Li’l U23D and a dream was realized.
Bun wrote some U2 HAIKU;;;;;
Still relevant: The Littlest Knight, a fairy tale written by Bun and illustrated by me.
You’re sleeping on these two. This is from my first all-video Achtoon: Same Energy.
And U2 or Bust was another attempt to make them 3-dimensional.
Sexiest: Tasteful Nu2des. It was a slow news year.
Biggest slog: 5 U2 Stories: 4 Are True. This was my first cartoon for Achtoonbaby.com, and I wanted it to be a showstopper. It was a huge amount of work!
Most tedious: U2 Trading Cards. Each one took at least 15 minutes to make.
Most daunting: 60 Years Of Bono Presented As New Yorker Cartoons. I painted 27 black and white pictures with mildly amusing captions and felt like I was merely scratching the surface.
This contains my longest sentence, and I put it together when AtU2 was crumbling. An Achtoon Baby Proclamation.
Fave Title and most imaginative paintings: Autobonobiography.
Fave Collaboration: PJ DeGenaro wrote Bono’s memoir in a variety of styles and turned the above paintings into books. She did the same for Surrender, Bono below. I can’t imagine a better partner in U2 crime. She’s Bono to my Edge, and our DM “meetings” are a million laughs and filled with many profoU2nd trU2ths.
“She’s the future of AtU2,” I said when hyping PJ’s talents to the rest of the staff in late 2018. Then, when it became clear that AtU2 had no future, she became the future of this site, and I’m overjoyed to feature this brilliant woman’s writing, illustrations, and graphic design skills on Achtoonbaby.
This cartoon is currently enjoying a renaissance: U2niversity.
Fave Edge: from Coping Strategies For A Spoiled Fandom.
Fave Adam: from The U2 Instagram Experience.
Fave Bono: from The Fake Bono Interview.
Fave Larry: (U)2 For The Price Of One.
Sweetest: The Band You Love. This was a children’s “book” where every character was some kind of animal.
This one contains a cast of thousands (based on actual fans who sent me their photos) and some of my most complicated cartoon drawings: The U2 GA Experience. A lot of this cartoon was lost—and pieces of it appeared sideways!—following one of AtU2’s redesigns.
Assorted panoramas!
Best visual pun: Beef Cake Larry from U2 In Good Taste.
Weirdest craft: voodoo dolls from My U2 Dolls.
Crafting triumphs: Pasta Adam and Pantyhose Edge from U2 In Bad Taste 1.
Meanest: It’s A Wonderful Band 2. This was my reaction to the Songs Of Innocence/Apple fiasco. John Lennon takes Bono on a chilling tour of what life would be like if U2 had disbanded in the mid-90s.
Darkest: Here’s Why Bono Isn’t Talking. This was created pre-SOI, when the fandom had no idea what was going on with U2. I decided that maybe Bono had quit the band and disappeared from the public eye to work on a solo album.
I thought I’d get way more blowback than I did from It’s Not About Us Anymore. U2 were set to play Australia/Asia for the first time in over a decade, and I wanted the local fans to get a chance at the rail instead of the people who’d already enjoyed that privilege for many years. (The writing below is in Edge’s voice.)
Wackiest Bono: Things You Probably Haven’t Read About The Tour Yet.
Funniest line I’ve ever written: Prince in Bono Needs An Intervention.
Most psychic: A Dynamic Change. I predicted that Bono would lighten his hair significantly, and two weeks later, it happened. I also predicted the return of MacPhisto, or at least the gold suit.
Fave imagined stage design: How Do We Top The 360 Tour? This was the result of a conversation I had with my husband Jeff, who imagined Bono performing inside of a hamster ball, and I came up with the tube habitat. (The writing is in Bono’s voice.)
Sloppiest: It Might Get Li’l. I was newly married and working at a teaching job that was crushing me. During this time, Achtoons got thrown together as quickly as possible, and I made this one over the course of a weekend. I like the image of Edge writing a love letter to The Guitar, though.
From around that same time: a U.K. gossip column described Bono’s home in the south of France. I quoted it verbatim and drew a cavalcade of stars including his daughters in Bono’s Summer Vacation.
Fave story: The Secret of the Tower. In the mid 00s, U2 wanted to build a tower in Dublin that would house their future studio, and I created a backstory for Edge inspired by an architectural sketch I’d seen of this tower.
Artsy: A Very Special Achtoon. In anticipation of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, I created collage-like paintings of some of U2’s previous albums.
Long true story: The U2 C.M. A freak ice storm in Portland allowed me to see U2 from a distance of something like 15 feet.
I could keep going, but this post is already about a mile long. So I think it’s time to say thank you.
Thanks to Matt and everyone at AtU2 who decided I should be the one to take over for Jo Whitby, to whom I owe a debt of thanks as well.
Thanks to Matt and his successors for posting my cartoons, often on weekends. AtU2’s back end reminded me of a Soviet-era washing machine, and posting my stuff required Matt and company to follow a bizarre, 19-step process.
Thanks again to everyone who has followed me over to this site after AtU2 died and helped me find my audience again.
Thanks to my former students who looked over my shoulder as I painted my weird little rock ‘n’ roll pictures during lunch hour and thought this cartoon was at least sort of cool, you know, for an old woman to do.
Thanks to the Illinois State Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and The Little Museum of Dublin for exhibiting my U2 fan art and legitimizing this jobby of mine. Two of my paintings are part of the LMOD’s permanent collection, and you can see them in their U2 room!
Thanks to all of the photographers who graciously allowed me to use their work as reference photos. There are too many to name here, but I’ve credited everyone in the individual cartoons wherever possible.
Thanks to Jeff for his love and tolerance, Bun for her sweetness, and PJ for her friendship.
Thanks to U2 for apparently not caring that I’ve been making a 20-year art project about them.
Thanks to Sherry Lawrence and Mason Merritt of AtU2 for showing Bono a quickie painting I made of him, and thanks to Bono for signing it for me. I wish I could’ve been there—that’s the story of my fandom. I’ve never met U2, but Bono said my painting was brilliant, and you know what? That’s just as good if not better. (Go to 5:41 if you don’t want to watch me speed paint.)
In 2003, an ex-boyfriend called Achtoonbaby a monumental waste of time, and after I broke up with him, I painted U2 as punk rockers on Venus while sitting at my parents’ kitchen table. So many good things have come out of this monumental waste of time. A list!
It turns out that you’ll improve and become faster and more confident after practicing something for 20 years. Thanks for making me a better painter, U2.
People occasionally recognize me at shows, which is wild, and my readers’ words of encouragement and praise absolutely sustain me. Thanks to all of you who have reached out to me, either on social media or (in olden times) email to tell me you like these things I make. Thanks to everyone who loved Bun, including a cat from Texas who wrote her a fan letter and proposed marriage, and thanks to everyone who consoled me when she died in 2014. Thanks for giving me readers, U2.
I wouldn’t even know PJ if not for Achtoonbaby. Thanks for giving me a best friend, U2.
I wouldn’t even know Jeff if not for Achtoonbaby. I’d been making U2 cartoons for a couple of years when I quit my first teaching job and sent a dozen job applications into the ether. One was scooped up by Phil, a principal who happened to be a casual U2 fan. While I feel like I brought a lot of other things to the table, I’m pretty sure I was hired mainly because he liked my cartoons. Phil’s high school was a few miles down the road from Jeff’s house. He and I met via Match.com, and a quick Google search revealed to Jeff that I was a geek of massive proportions. This was a good thing because that’s exactly the kind of woman Jeff was looking for. Thanks for giving me a husband, U2.
And finally, here’s a small drawing of Bono and Edge that is so old I can’t even remember what the joke was. But I’m proud of that tiny dagger and I think the word “viper” written in pencil is hilarious.
—Kelly
November 29, 2022
I spend untold hours keeping Achtoonbaby going, and this site has remained free and ad-free thanks to the patronage of my readers. PJ and I have no staff, and this is a two-woman labor of love. If this labor has made you smile over the past 20 years, please consider supporting me on Patreon, buying a print or merch, or sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you! —K.