The Missoulian (Big Sky Country) has decided to rid its comic pages of opinion strips. Effective after Sunday, Jan. 5, the Missoulian is ending its subscription to the comics “Doonesbury” and “Mallard Fillmore.” Many readers have long complained about both strips. The leading complaints about “Doonesbury” [Andrews McMeel Syndication] these days is that the daily […]
A couple of Sunday funnies to start things gently.Zits made me smile partially for the portrait of a young teen finding a way to show off powers beyond his true capacity, and partially for the memory of doing the same thing myself.Not quite this.But at about 12 or 13, I had a female pen pal […]
Ignoring the violence, or the threat of violence, that has accompanied past events like it, a Dutch politician is calling for another Draw Mohammed contest.Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has revived his plan to hold a contest for cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, more than a year after cancelling such an event out of fear […]
Discussing the new Kwanzaa Tale by Ray Billingsley the other day I may have started a rumor that Ray would be retiring soon. It was my fear of losing the Curtis comic strip that had me mention a blurb I saw on Ray’s Facebook page stating, “Former Syndicated Cartoonist at King Features Syndicate.”I reached out […]
Terri Libenson is retiring her The Pajama Diaries comic strip to concentrate on books.From a young age, Libenson — a Kingston native — loved to draw and would get together with a friend down the street after school and create her own cartoon characters and comics.Terri talks to the old hometown paper about her career […]
That last panel of today’s Sherman’s Lagoon could be a poster.However, I appreciate the lead up, in which it becomes my fault that I didn’t notice your anguish without your having to say, “I’m in a crappy mood” or “Boy, have I had a lousy day.”Because why should you miss the chance to add a […]
Popeye, Superman, Steve Canyon, Andy Capp, the Peanuts characters, Dick Tracy, Joe Palooka, and many more comic characters have statues dedicated to them. Now, finally, the famous Abe Martin has a statue, er, cutout.Abe Martin by Kin Hubbard began 115 years ago, first appearing in the Indianapolis News on December 17, 1904. above: Kin Hubbard […]
John Jackson Miller is THE statistics man as far as circulation numbers for comic books go.Here’s a look at the Decade in Review, a year-by-year glance back at the trends shaping comics shop orders. It’s mostly been a decade of growth, with downturns in 2010-11 and 2017-18.John has a recap of the numbers for comic books […]
Happy Kwanzaa! And to make this year more special Ray Billingsley has returned with a new Kwanzaa Tale.A decade ago Ray treated us to annual Kwanzaa stories…that has now become an occasional reward:Those are a hassle to do because of the confines of the strip. It’s so small I really have to work on each […]
One of the facts of life for reporters is that the news is a 24/7 thing and someone is going to have to work on holidays. Today’s Mother Goose and Grimm reminds me of a favorite story.I have several favorite working-on-Christmas stories, because after you’ve run around and talked to the people at the Chinese […]
Looking back 75 years, we find ourselves on the edge of victory but with plenty yet to go.There was a lot of good news: The Allies were about to break the German hold on what would be known as the Battle of the Bulge, though the fighting would continue for another month, while, in the […]
Newspapers are starting to tell readers what will replace The Pajama Diaries when Terri Libenson retires the comic strip on January 4, 2020.Terri’s home paper The Cleveland Plain Dealer, where we first learned of Terri’s plans, offered a comics poll a couple weeks ago. In the running there is Curtis, Macanudo, Six Chix, or the […]
above: Specialty drawing by Ron Ferdinand NMCV:How did you get the job working on Dennis the Menace?Ron: I subscribed to a quarterly magazine called “Cartoonist Profiles.” In 1980, there was an interview with Hank Ketcham. He had just moved back to Monterey, CA from Geneva, Switzerland and was starting a training program. I sent him […]
Today’s The Other Coast pings a particularly sweet spot for me, because I remember asking my mother about the same problem: Santa comes down chimneys and we didn’t have one.Well, we did, but it led directly into the furnace, which didn’t seem like a good entrance to the house.The background to her answer is that […]
The Associated Press has picked up the story of Jim Davis and Heritage Auctions offering The Jim Davis Collection of original Garfield comic strip and specialty and roughs to the public.Cartoonist Jim Davis is offering up more than 11,000 “Garfield” comic strips hand-drawn on paper in an auction that will stretch into the coming years, […]