Letters To Newspapers About Their Comics

A letter to the Oregonian:

The Rose is Rose cartoon of March 20 shows a cat’s version of enjoying nature – dashing off to chase birds. This is a timely reminder, if unintended, that nesting season is here and it’s a good time to keep your cat indoors.

Even if your pet doesn’t actually kill birds (which is much underestimated by their owners) having a cat wandering around disrupts the business of bird life…

Don Wimmer returned to the theme earlier this week and gets an admonition from a commenter.

Keep terrorist cats indoors.

Days before that first Rose is Rose above Jules Rivera in Mark Trail made the same argument as the letter writers:

**********

Back to some letters.

Political cartoonist wrong in opinion on Israel

To the editor of The Laker Pioneer (note – this was written well before the recent Israeli killing of humahitarians):

I would like to respond to the cartoon published in the Laker’s March 16 edition of the Laker Pioneer’s Opinion section by Dave Granland [link added] depicting the Prime Minister of Israel’s efforts and its leadership in addressing the residents of Gaza’s plight during the war against Hamas…

… Israel, America’s sister democratic nation, cares deeply about innocent causalities and this reckless idea that only “bandaid” type actions by Israel to help the residents of Gaza is a false and dangerous narrative.

Bandaids? Really? Israel has been sending its own soldiers into harm’s way to deliver supplies of food, fuel, and medical aid to the residents of Gaza. Simply stated, Israel is supplying its own “blood” and not merely “bandaids”…

**********

The story as expressed by Leah Boone The Appalachian opinion editor:

It is no secret that thousands of students are upset with App State, specifically Chancellor Sheri Everts, right now. Painting over the free expression tunnels — strike one. Lack of safety in Wey Hall — strike two. Moving art students to East Hall — a whopping strike three. One can only wonder what’s about to come next.

On March 21, an email was sent out telling art students that Wey Hall would be closed for the remainder of the week. This was because of safety issues within the building due to the ongoing construction. Many classes have since been moved to East Hall. 

The move to East Hall is irony at its finest, as the building also has its fair share of safety issues. There is no air conditioning and no real ventilation, and was determined to be unfit for living in 2022. 

Though nobody lives in the building anymore, many students still spend a large amount of time there on a weekly basis. Additionally, many of these students are painting in rooms with no ventilation, causing them to possibly be exposed to many harmful compounds that could result in health issues. 

The story compelled an Illustration to the Editor:

With the note that…

Andrew David Cox [emphasis added] is an App State alumnus and was an editorial cartoonist for The Appalachian. Cox graduated cum laude with departmental honors in 2014 with a B.F.A. in studio art. During his time on The Appalachian, Cox received the John Locher Memorial Award. His opinion was submitted in the form of an editorial cartoon as shown above. 

**********

Dead White men on dead white trees

Comics DC passes on a few letters responding to Michael Cavna’s The Washington Post article as it relates to The WaPo’s own comics page:

Thanks for the March 16 Style article “Female artists are being erased from chain newspapers” on the continuing challenge of shrinking platforms for print cartoonists, especially women.

“Breaking Cat News” creator Georgia Dunn is spot on in her observation that “there are more dead men than living women in the funny pages.” The Post is itself guilty of stagnating, perpetually rerunning deceased men’s cartoons. Why not stop printing “Peanuts”? I understand it is an iconic comic, but all its strips are archived and easily available elsewhere.

and

I really miss some of the comics discussed in the Style article on the lack of female cartoonists represented in news publications and how they continue to suffer from widespread downsizing. “Rhymes With Orange” was a truly witty comic, and to remove it and continue to print something like “Reply All Lite” is just an insult if it is supposed to be about representing female authors. When “Reply All” was a full strip, it was at times amusing. The “Lite” version is a waste of valuable space. Without comics, I’d likely unsubscribe to the print edition…

and

As for the Comics section, the first thing I look at every morning is the Comics. That makes what is left almost palatable.

A good comic strip is a reflection of life and brings a touch of humor, whimsy, or simply a smile of recognition or Ah Ha. The best are not always politically motivated. Some of the older strips being rerun often provide a glimpse that sometimes today’s POV is not much different than when the strip was first run.

and Mike Rhode himself:

I’m not really sure why you published the letter from Harise Poland-Wright, Silver Spring because Rhymes with Orange is still in the paper, appearing as recently as today, something your fact checkers should have caught. I do agree that Peanuts should go, and daily Doonesbury too since they are both repeats. I really like the new Flash Gordon, but it’s printed too small to read. I think the comics would benefit from being printed about an inch larger…

My problem with the Poland-Wright letter is that the Reply All Lite panel in The Washington Post is the same gag as the Reply All comic strip, just reconfigured.

feature image by Andy Marlette