Mark Tatulli, LIO, HEART OF THE CITY cartoonist: Mr. Media Radio Interview (Rewind)

A spiky-haired little boy, a giant cephalopod and cartoonist Mark Tatulli walked into a bar… Mr. Media can’t wait to hear how this LIO joke ends!

(Originally broadcast February 2, 2007) For anyone still mourning the departure of "The Far Side" and "Calvin and Hobbes" from your local newspaper’s comics page, cheer up! There is a weird new kid on the street, and he’ll make you forget about your favorite strips from the last century. "LIO" is the creation of Mark Tatulli, and he’s a fresh brand of weird and wonderful now appearing in more than 250 newspapers, with more adding the strip daily. If “Far Side” creator Gary Larson and "Calvin" creator Bill Watterson had mated, LIO is the character they would have produced. Tatulli’s brainchild, LIO, and that’s spelled L-I-O, is a young boy who combines elements of mad scientist, comic strips, science fiction, and the Adams family, and get this, LIO never speaks.

New Jersey native Mark Tatulli is an internationally syndicated cartoonist, an accomplished filmmaker, and an animator. He has won three Emmy awards for his work in television, and, since this interview was originally broadcast, has received the Rueben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for Best Newspaper Comic Strip for Lio.