Rounding Up the Editoonists*
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*A government action “that could never happen here.”
We start with a couple Letters to the Editor.
To the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
When it comes to the Comey indictment, cartoonist Dana Summers has trouble telling R’s from D’s
Editorial cartoonist Dana Summers, in his “Payback” cartoon in the Sept. 29 Plain Dealer, apparently believes the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is a bite-on-the-rear of Democrats.
How does that work? Comey is a longtime Republican, same as every FBI Director since Herbert Hoover, although he said in 2018 that, “the Republican Party has left me and many others.” The Democratic Party has no love for Comey. His decision to knee-cap Hillary Clinton weeks before the 2016 election undoubtedly moved that election in Donald Trump’s favor.
North of the Border The Albertan News gets a long, involved complaint about a Craig George cartoon.
“Editorial cartoon an afront to Jews, those who fought for Canada’s freedom”
The editorial cartoon that appeared on page 22 of the Aug. 12 Albertan was shocking.
I had assumed the editors would have been more sensitive to the damaging and bias content as fuel feeding ignorance and narrow-mindedness. I thought these same professionals had better knowledge of Second World War and Middle East history.
This bit of humour, after all it was a political statement in the form of a cartoon, was a horrible insult not only to the Jews and others who perished under Nazi domination – more than 11,000,000 souls – 6,000,000 Jews and 5,000,000-plus others, but an insult to all of the Canadian and allied forces who joined together to stop Hitler’s master plan: world domination under the banner of fascism…
And a couple weeks later The Albertan News prints a just as long and involved rebuttal.
Netanyahu editorial cartoon shocking only in its omissions
The editorial cartoon from Aug. 12 that the writer referred to in her letter is shocking only in its omission of Netanyahu’s partners in crime. It should have included Trump helping him with the “Complete Occupation” hammer, as well as many other Western countries.
Netanyahu has plainly stated that he not only intends to occupy all of Palestine, but also large parts of the surrounding countries as part of Greater Israel, and the U.S.A. is a major facilitator to this endeavour.
So far, 680,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and the count continues to rise every day…
STRIPPED FOR PARTS: American Journalism on the Brink
Julio Ricardo Varela for Pressing Issues interviews Rick Goldsmith who has taken a look behind the curtain.
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink is a new PBS documentary about what happens when hedge funds take over local news. Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Goldsmith, who conceived of the idea after a conversation with the legendary Bill Moyers, the film follows reporters in Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and the Bay Area as they resist Alden Global Capital’s slash-and-burn tactics and try to build something new from the wreckage.
[Rick Goldsmith:] …Denver Post editorial writer Chuck Plunkett knew what the problem was: This hedge fund had no interest in serious journalism to serve the Denver metropolitan area. He wrote a blistering editorial about Alden — unprecedented for a newspaper employee to blast his owner and employer. That editorial was picked up by the national news media — New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, etc. The genie was out of the bottle. From that moment on, Alden Global Capital became known as a newspaper-destroying hedge fund.
JRV: What did you learn throughout the production of this documentary that surprised you?
RG: When I picked up the story in April 2018, the common wisdom was that Alden would bleed its newspapers dry, shutter them and walk away with the profits. What happened was worse. They kept going after more newspapers and newspaper chains: Gannett, the Tribune Company, Lee Enterprises and more. They had found their Golden Goose (the newspaper industry), and it kept producing golden eggs…
‘WAIT! Isn’t cartooning supposed to be fun?!’: Little Barbara Brandon’s earliest lessons
Intellect Discovery presents Darnel Degand and Annika Tyson Grier’s chapter from Studies in Comics, Volume 15, Issue 1-2: Comics, Conscience and Gender.
This publication features a creative presentation of findings from interviews conducted with Barbara Brandon-Croft, the first African American woman to have a nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip in the United States, Where I’m Coming From (1989–2005). This article begins with an introduction to the historical contributions of women and Black American cartoonists. Afterward, it presents a detailed overview of (Barbara’s father) Brumsic Brandon, Jr.’s works as an activist, animator, cartoonist and television personality on numerous concurrent projects. Next, a similar review of Barbara Brandon-Croft’s accomplishments is offered.
[Brumsic Brandon, Jr.’s] career as a cartoonist started in 1945 during his undergraduate years as a New York University art student (Brandon [1963] 2016: Howard 2017); he sold ‘gag cartoons to national magazines such as Mademoiselle and The Saturday Review of Literature’ (Howard 2017: 27).
While employed as a fulltime animator at Bray Studios in Manhattan (1957–70), Brumsic also independently produced editorial cartoons during his off hours (Degand 2024a; Howard 2017).
Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Brumsic honoured the civil rights leader by creating a new comic, Luther, and naming its young protagonist after the recently slain hero (Howard 2017; Pendana n.d.). Luther became Brumsic’s best-known contribution to the comics industry.
Barbara Brandon-Croft’s career in comics is directly inspired by her father’s work as a cartoonist during her formative years (Degand 2024a).
However, Barbara’s path into the comics industry required patience. In 1981, she was initially hired to produce a comics series for Elan, a newly formed magazine company with a Black female target audience…
Sadly, Elan folded before any of Barbara’s new comics had been printed in the magazine.
Barbara’s big break finally arrived at the end of the decade. In 1988, The Detroit Free Press contacted Brumsic about ‘their ongoing search for Black cartoonists and their aim to have the funny pages better reflect their readership.’
Join the Wisconsin Civics Games editorial contest
Kelly Locker at Wisconsin State Journal writes of what could be a starting point for tomorrow’s cartoonists.
Wisconsin middle and high school students can win up to $500 while telling the community what the First Amendment means to them.
For the fifth year, the Wisconsin Civics Games Editorial Writing and Cartoon Contest is looking for young writers and artists to express their views on the First Amendment.
All Wisconsin middle and high school students are invited to create an editorial cartoon with a First Amendment theme.
The deadline for submissions is Nov. 14. To enter the contest or for more information, visit WisconsinCivicsGames.com.
Lucy Shelton Caswell Research Award
The Billy Ireland announces the opening of their 2026 grant for comic and cartoon researchers.
This award of up to $2,500 supports a researcher (United States citizens or permanent residents only) who needs to travel to Columbus, Ohio to use the collections of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. The award may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses in Columbus, or research costs.
December 7, 2025: Deadline for all applications; must be received or postmarked by this date.
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