Comments on: Did New Yorker cartoonist plagiarize from The Far Side?

By: Padma Rubiales

Padma Rubiales — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:39:44 +0000

There was another very similar cartoon to a Larson cartoon in the Aug 27, 2007 New Yorker. Shanahan did a cartoon of an elephant who stepped on a clown, looking at his foot and saying “I thought I smelled something funny.”

Hecka similar if you ask me.

By: Steve Barr

Steve Barr — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:53:04 +0000

Many years ago, I created a comic strip called “Snapdragon” for Tribune Media Services. It was not widely circulated, and died within the first 12 months of its inception. It was later revived as a weekly feature for several years.

I once drew a strip with a pun in it about a character “grinding his teeth” in his sleep. Quite some time later, a very similar gag appeared in “Hagar the Horrible”. Did I leap to the conclusion that someone as talented as the great Dik Browne would have stolen my idea?

No, I was honored to think that he came up with a similar ideaâ€¦independently of mineâ€¦and thought it was funny enough to print. Never, even for a second, did I assume he might have seen my idea and copied it.

Having been a fan of Lee Lorenz’s work for many years, I would never imagine he intentionally plagiarized another artist’s idea.

The infamous Gill Fox once wrote an article for a trade publication on this very subject. The article was illustrated with an array of reprints of political cartoons by a variety of artists around the world, all published on the same day. They featured fighter planes buzzing in one ear and out the other of a major Middle Eastern political figure. There was absolutely no way any of these cartoonists could have stolen the idea from each other.

It just happens sometimes. To make a charge of plagiarism implies theft of intellectual property and intentionally copying ideas. There’s no way I would ever believe someone of Lee Lorenz’s stature in this field would do such a thing.

By: jack corbett

jack corbett — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:29:52 +0000

I didn’t mean to imply that Lorenz stole the idea fm someone else. Ever cartoonist who has been around for at least 6 months has had dup ideas w/ another cartoonist. I once sold an elephant cartoon to SEP and over the years I found the same idea by other cartoonists 3 times. Two of the similiar ideas were published by SEP! And I can’t tell you how many of my ideas that I’ve had on file for years have been published in top magazines like the New Yorker. Which promptly killed my cartoon.

By: Eric Burke

Eric Burke — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:29:31 +0000

I think Gelf magazine is ripping off Golf Magazine. Imagine a golfer's surprise when he thinks he bought a magazine that would help him with his swing, or to read the latest on how Tiger is dominating golf and married a super hot wife...only to realize it's some crappy mag called Gelf? They played Letter-man and changed one simple vowel in hopes of stealing sales. Hacks!

By: dan reynolds

dan reynolds — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:16:23 +0000

My name is Dan Reynolds. I am a cartoonist. I once was SUED by someone (I won’t mention the name, but you all know this person) by someone who claimed I stole his cartoon. First off, it was proposterous as I WRITE MY OWN material and draw my own work and have done so for years. I didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll take the day off and go and find someone to copy”. Secondly, the cartoon the guy claimed I stole was a cartoon in which I changed the names of a group of well-known characters – I won’t mention the characters. This “changing of the names” as a spoof is one of the oldest gag ideas, after the person on the deserted island gag. There was no convincing this person. It cost me $500 to defend myself AND I WAS INNOCENT!!! When considering if someone is stealing from someone, I would consider first, what’s the person’s track record. I’ve never been accused before or after – and why should I – I write my own material. Now, that isn’t to say, it’s not possible to do a cartoon, HONESTLY, w/o prior knowledge, very similar to someone else’s cartoon. It is. Gary Larson once did a cartoon idea that I had. It was his Moses parting his hair. That was MY idea. Did he steal it. No. Of course, not. Lee Lorenz has been drawing cartoons for years. There’s no doubt in my mind he did not steal that cartoon. What’s his motivation? None. Was his plan…I’ll steal Larson’s idea that half the population has seen before and post it in the New Yorker where everyone can see, and maybe no one will notice. Er,,,yeah, great plan.
No, I think the more interesting question is why someone would JUMP to the conclusion that a well-known cartoonist would do such a stupid thing when they obvioulsy didn’t…and post this accusation for the world to see. Why? This person is most likely jealous they’re not getting the EARNED attention that Lee Lorenz is gets for the HARD WORK he does in being a cartoonist. I say the focus should not be on Lee who has done nothing wrong, but on the person who like to run around like the boy who cried wolf, getting themselves noticed.
This person should get an original thought, draw it as a cartoon, and try to publish it on something other than a chat line. I doubt that will happen. If this person needs any help, they can find a FAR SIDE book in their local bookstore, and make a xerox copy and sign their name to it.

By: jack corbett

jack corbett — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:04:10 +0000

This idea has been done before, by, I think, Playboy cartoonist, Shoemaker.

By: Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:07:28 +0000

I once submitted a cartoon to the New Yorker that I later found was almost precisely the same gag as something Bob Mankoff himself had done ten years ago. I didn’t copy his cartoon; I had never seen it before I drew mine. We just both spontaneously came up with the same gag. I’m of the opinion that these types of inadvertent similarities can’t be avoided.

As an illustrative exercise, check out Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index. On any day, there might be a half dozen strikingly similar editorial cartoons on a given topic. It’s so common that Cagle has given a word to the phenomenon: Yahtzee. Since the cartoonists produced their work on essentially the same day, clearly they didn’t plagiarize each other, they were simply working with a limited range of topics and independently came up with the same take on an issue. How hard to is it to believe that two gag or strip cartoonists contemplated the same scenario and pushed the idea into the absurd in much the same way, thereby producing much the same cartoons? That this could have happened with so commonplace a setting as a person feeding birds in the park is scarcely hard to believe. On the contrary, I’d be surprised if there aren’t a couple of dozen very similar variations on it floating around.

Finally, as to the specific notion that a cartoonist of the caliber and reputation of Lee Lorenz copied anyone else’s work, I have one word: gimmeabreak.

By: Martha Lorenz

Martha Lorenz — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:42:54 +0000

None of you are seriously suggesting that Lee Lorenz, after decades of art and authoring, intentionally ripped off someone else’s idea so he could get one more spot in The New Yorker, are you? I mean, come on.

Full disclosure: Yes, I am related to him. He’s my dad.

By: Martha

Martha — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:42:16 +0000

By: Dawn Douglass

Dawn Douglass — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:14:27 +0000

When we lived in Hawaii, we loved going to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. We’d take frozen green peas to feed the fish. They’d swarm from all over. It was wonderful, because there were so many beautifully colored fish.

I always thought it would be funny to do an animation of that, with the swarming fish attracting a big shark and eating up the snorkler along with the fish. Now I don’t dare ever use the idea! Too bad.

When we went back to Hawaii a couple of years agoa to welcome our son home from Iraq, I learned that they don’t allow you to feed the fish anymore. I understand it, but it was still disappointing.