7 News Items About Political Cartoonists (You Won’t Believe #5)
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Mike Smith Enters Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame
“Longtime Las Vegas Sun editorial cartoonist Mike Smith enters Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame”
The Las Vegas Sun proudly notes in a profile that its staff editorial cartoonist is now a Hall of Famer.
“O’Callaghan instead offered him a full-time job. Smith packed up his car, moved to Las Vegas and joined the Sun staff in 1983.
“At the time, there were about 250 editorial cartoonists working nationally, Smith has said. As newsrooms shrank, that number dwindled to a few dozen.”
Impressive that Las Vegas has two newspapers and two staff editorial cartoonists – putting to shame a number of bigger cities and newspapers.
As to the ever-shrinking list of staff editorial cartoonists…
The State of American Political Cartooning, 2026
Jack Ohman former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonist (AAEC) and former staff cartoonist for The Oregonian and The Sacramento Bee pontificated on “The State of American Political Cartooning, 2026″ at the recent AAEC convention.
“My first AAEC convention was in 1987 in Washington, DC.
“I think there were about 200 full-time editorial cartoonists in attendance. At our gathering in Sacramento, I am pretty sure there were—drum roll using pens and brushes—there was one.”
Brad Holland’s Missing Links
Steven Heller discusses the evolving of Holland’s art style in “Brad Holland’s Missing Links.”
“By the late 1960s Brad was alternating between two or three styles, including the underground comics approach. He had also become my go-to artist for stark caricature and complex conceptual work.”
Rob Smith, Jr. Underwent Triple Bypass Heart Surgery
A few days ago Rob Smith, Jr. underwent triple heart bypass surgery.
Here on his Instagram account he tells of the forthcoming event (or here on his Facebook page).
The surgery was a success and Smith is recovering, but I can’t find the message from him saying so.
Joe Sutcliff’s 260 Foot Roll of “Big Beautiful Bill” Concurring Congress Critters
Joe Sutcliff tells the Comics DC audience about his “260-odd foot caricature of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” favoring Congresspersons.”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. After listening to all the commotion over AI and all the work it would take away from cartoonists,I decided upon something that AI could NOT do: create an artistic experience. While I suppose you could get ChatGPT to create a digital file and do it a lot faster (my version took over two months) I wanted to do something beyond caricature. An exhibit designer I met once said “if you can’t find any other way to make it interesting, make it big.” So I decided to caricature all the members of congress that voted to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill” on a single roll of paper…”
Government v. Press (Cartoons)
Today Paul Berge‘s “Graphical History Tour,” which usually connects the past to the present, takes a look at previous U.S. government attempts at censorship in “Government v. Press” from the late 19th Century to the present administration.
“As a political cartoonist who has just been among a few dozen other political cartoonists, Your Humble Scribbler has a vested interest against censorship of editorial cartoons in particular.”
Military Cartoons Exhibit
Eloise Ogden for the Minot Daily News throws a spotlight on “Exhibit focuses on military cartoons” (or here).
“Minot native Dr. Cord Scott ‘s interest in cartoons produced by the military branches has led to writing books and other publications on the topic. Currently, an exhibit of his work is displayed at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot.”
The International Journal of Comic Art blog offers a free read to Scott’s most recent book from last year.
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