CSotD: Nice guy finishes first
Skip to comments
Tom Toles has won the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning, which is particularly sweet given that he took over Herb Block's spot at the Washington Post after that legendary cartoonist's death.
The Post is also home to one of the better comics columns and Michael Cavna's write-up on this is the definitive report, and, best of all, features the portfolio of entries (including the one featured here). That's 18 examples of Toles' work and thus, even if you skip all the informative words about the award and about the fellow himself, a click worth clicking.
I've always liked Toles, both for his ability to combine a very gentle, bulbous kind of drawing style with some wicked wit, and also for what I know of him from a colleague at the Buffalo News. She ran the educational programs there when I was doing the same thing elsewhere in the state, and when Toles left for DC, she was bereft.
In my epic rant two days ago, I spoke of what a good local cartoonist can mean for a paper, and, while the Buffalo News didn't build itself around Toles, he certainly had a personal impact, she told me. Not only did he draw a Christmas card for her program each year, but, when she had tours of school kids come through, he would put aside his work and spend time with the kids, talking to them and drawing for them. There are some young adults in Buffalo today who will hear this news and say, "I met him when I was a kid!"
And they'll smile as they say it.
Which is, itself, a pretty good Lifetime Achievement Award.
The cartoon at the side there is "Randolph Itch, 2 A.M.," a panel Toles launched at the start of 2000 but then let go when he took the job in Washington. And below is one of my favorites, a prescient piece of work he did in 1987. You may want to click on it for a larger version.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
Comments 3
Comments are closed.