The email we received a few months ago read: "Your site needs some Colonial cartoons."

We were intrigued, but skeptical about the combination of the words "colonial" and "cartoon." But the sender, John Deecken (self-portrait at right) of Trumbull, Connecticut, was right. Once we saw his work, we KNEW we needed some Colonial cartoons and that he was just the guy to supply them! Which he has throughout this issue of the Concord Magazine. The often grey month of January is brightened considerably by his witty contributions.

Sometimes with just a few words of description for an article that didn't yet exist, John would turn out cartoons that really captured the essence of our authors' ideas. And at lightening speed, no less. We were delighted to see the way he reverently poked fun at us.

You can see more of his Colonial cartooning at www.connix.com/~jdeecken/CH1.html, with his animated series on the history of Trumbull. Do wait for each image to download to see his clever animations.

He's been developing an animated cartoon which appears on local public access TV. "The cartoon features a father and son who talk briefly about various controversial ideas -- evolution, politics, ancient civilizations, history, etc." says John. "My brother writes and plays blues rock in other parts of the 'show' to my animated pictures and characters. I consider it still in the developmental stage. We are currently working on 'The Deecken Show' number 10."

John is a also a freelance artist for top advertisers and promoters, corporate art departments and publishers of print and digital media. He does a lot of interface design for CD-ROMs and Websites for commercial and corporate markets. Some of his clients include Simon & Schuster, Scientific American, Beckett Publications, GE, GTE, The New York Stock Exchange, NYNEX, Grolier Interactive, Meca Software, Complete Solutions and Cogito Software. You can visit his Website at www.connix.com/~jdeecken/.