The Newtons Creator

Welcome to THE CLUBHOUSE GANG home of the comic strip "THE NEWTONS"

Meet the Creator

Mark Partington Cartoonist

Mark created his comic strip literally on stage. He just finished taking a drama class test when he created Gus Newton and Sue Walker in 1983. It took eight years before Gus finally made it to the newspaper on August 6, 1991, in a local newspaper. The strip was called "It Can't Happen Today" It had a short life and ended in July 1992.

Mark attended the University of Missouri - Columbia taking mostly art classes, one of his instructors was Professor Frank Stack. Professor Stack was a well-known cartoonist in the underground comics world as "Foolbert Sturgeon" Mark took three semesters of Comic Strip class under Professor Stack at the University.

Mark Self-published two books, his first book was "It Can't Happen Today"(1989) and his second book was "Out in the Rough"(1993) both books can be located in the special collection of Ellis Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Mark enjoys being creative and illustrating his comic strip each time. Mostly his comic strip appears on the website clubhousegang.com about 2 or 3 times a week.

Saying I have on my drawing board

Comic Strips are a Cartoonist story.

Partington’s Gus and friends join newspaper comics

This article ran August 3, 1991 in the Fulton Sun newspaper in Fulton Missouri.

"It Can't Happen Today" ran in the Fulton Sun from August 6, 1991 - July 28, 1992.

Partington’s Gus and friends join newspaper comics
By Dave Wiethop
Managing editor

Gus Newton, Tom Hair and Digger the Whatchamacallit join the Fulton Sun Tuesday.
     These characters and others are the creation of 22 year old Mark Partington of Fulton, an art student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His comic strip, It Can’t Happen Today, will appear daily in the classified advertising section of the newspaper.
It Can’t Happen Today, centers on the perpetual 10-year-old Gus Newton and his friends and family.
     Gus, Partington said, is a smart boy depending on what is going on in class, Gus is a strong English student with a lively imagination and has been successful with girls. Blonde-haired Sue Newton is his girlfriend.
     “I think of what I’ll do and that sometimes makes it into Gus. People say they see a lot of me in Gus.” Partington said. “Gus is my alter ego. He does things I wish I could have done.”
     Gus, like Partington, is also a softball fan and a bowler. The cartoonist said readers should expect some softball and bowling strips from time to time.
     Partington said Gus will always be 10 years old – and may always be bald.
     “I never could imagine Gus with hair.” He said.
     While Charles Schulz’s Charlie Brown is also 10 years old and bald, Partington said Gus isn’t as failure oriented as Charlie.
     “Gus is very popular and he has girlfriend,” Partington said. And, it’s unlikely Gus will be seated at a psychiatrist’s office.
     Other characters include the mischievous Tina Wicked, the “ornery” Tome Hair, Digger the Whatchamacallit (part duck, part chicken and all-talking), Gus’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Newton and Fred the Talking Dog.
     A potential story line in “It Can’t Happen Today” involves the reason why this dog talks.
     Making an occasional appearance will be Gus’ young brother and sister. At this point, the pair are un-named.
     Tome Hair began as “Tom Harris” until a friend told Partington there was a Fulton man by that name. “I changed his name because I didn’t want to make fun of him,” Partington said.
     Partington, who won second place in the Mort Walker Cartoon Contest at MU, said he has been drawing most of his life. He now studies under Frank Stacks at the university.
     “My mom and dad say I’ve been drawing since I was about three,” said the cartoonist, the son of Linda and William Partington, “I’ve been drawing these characters since about 1983.”
     Ten-year-old Gus was born on stage in Fulton High School’s Little Theater. Partington remembers doodling after finishing a test in drama teachers Doug Allbritton’s class, and came up with a crude bald fellow. This earless creation evolved into Gus.
     “The first Gus was really lame,” Partington said.
     Partington, who works at the University Bookstore in MU’s Brady Commons, first pencils in the strips on 14 by 5 ½ inch Bristol boards. Once the sketches are finished to his satisfaction, the cartoonist will then color in the boards with India ink, using a pen stick and brush. Much of the work is done before work at the bookstore, or during breaks, he said.
     For a simple panel, the sketching can take 10 minutes. However, for a more complex strip, Partington can spend a good part of one day.
     “I like to see my characters come to life. When it’s in pencil, they’re nobody – just a piece of paper. When it’s in ink, they’re somebody,” he said.
     Partington said he hopes to someday see Gus and friends syndicated to newspapers nationwide.
     “It would be great to have a long run like Beetle Bailey, Peanuts or Garfield,”he said. For now, Partington said he enjoys drawing.
     Partington is not without his heroes. Mother Goose and Grimm, Spiderman, Rose is Rose and For Better or Worse are among his favorite strips. However, a place in his heart is reserved for Beetle Bailey.
     During Arts and Sciences Week at the university, the student met Mort Walker, creator of the daily strip Beetle Bailey.
     “I shook his hand showed him some of my drawings. He said they were very readable and something editors would like,” Partington said, “Don’t ask me why, but I didn’t get his autograph. I don’t know why I didn’t do that.”