Filed under: Editorial Cartooning

“Truth and Illusion, George. You don’t know the difference.” “No, but we must carry on as though we did.” “Amen.”                                        — Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I was delighted to see Jen Sorensen address the stereotype that […]

Andertoons (AMS) rekindles a real hatred of mine, because, when I was a little kid, I looked forward to the part of Art Linkletter’s House Party where that simpering sack of s*** rewarded children for showing off.Bill Cosby took over the franchise in later years, but by then (A) I’d recovered from the notion that […]

The Wrap is reporting that Jim Carrey will put away his slings and arrows as a political cartoonist. “For the past 4 yrs, among other commitments, I put considerable effort into this collection of political protest cartoons. It truly feels as though you and I have crossed an ocean of outrage together…but something tells me […]

A couple newspaper editors broke down the processes of how comic strips and editorial cartoons appear in your local gazette.First up is The Oregonian explaining their Sunday Comics section. Why would The Oregonian cut the first two panels from the Feb. 14, 2021, “Doonesbury” comic? Is this a regular editorial practice? This is indeed regular […]

Seems like a quiet day in the cartooning universe, but a lack of stark drama allows for some more quiet appreciation.For example, in his weekly taking-of-the-wheel at Bizarro (KFS), Dan Piraro touches on one of my pet peeves — see what I did there? — which is “Lady and the Tramp Syndrome,” a bit of […]

© The Ashville Citizen, 1928 Reactions to cartoons about Rush Limbaugh’s death are starting to come in,including this Power Line take on the comparatively mild Steve Sack obitoon.© Star Tribune/Steve Sack The Star Tribune observed the death of Rush Limbaugh with an editorial cartoon … By editorial cartoonist Steve Sack — I think of him as […]

(Ann Telnaes — WashPo)(Matt Davies — AMS)We could have a full day of nohting but Cruisin’ Cruz cartoons, but here are two and they pretty much tell the story (nice snow shovels), though it’s important, I suppose, to note:(A) Cruz lied about having promised his daughters a vacation and simply taking them there and coming […]

Cartooning the Mid-20th Century Newsroom Cartoonists and other artists, working in newsrooms, captured and caricatured their working lives, including their colleagues, in these places. What follows is a small sample of the images I have gathered in my research for my new book on the history of the American newsroom from the 1920s through the […]

Racist Cartoons Help Incite an 1898 North Carolina Massacre>> Warning: historically racist caricature and content << When a mob bent on insurrection stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, some onlookers labeled the event “unprecedented.” But the United States has witnessed coups d’etat before—both attempted and successful—within its borders. In 1898, white supremacists in […]

This isn’t actually an editorial cartoon, except that it is.It’s one of HJ Ford‘s illustrations for Andrew Lang’s 1894 retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Blockhead Hans,” a story that suggested Andersen had a low opinion of the press in general and of editors in particular.There are enough editors in the world who think I’m a […]

(Grand Avenue – AMS)(Joe Heller)Start the day with a Juxtaposition, because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which starts the beginning of Lent, which used to matter to people a whole lot more than it seems to in the present day.You can go back into history and find all sorts of ways people marked Lent centuries ago, […]

Short notice for a couple of Tuesday, February 16 events.Join cartoonist Jimmy Margulies live online tomorrow night as he talks about political cartooning the past 30 years. The nationally-syndicated cartoonist has had a ringside seat to New York City and the shenanigans of New Jersey pols, from Chris Christie to some guy named Trump. Tues, […]

Below are some comic strip and cartoon books scheduled for February 2021 release. Images and links (mostly) via Amazon, though ordering through your local comic or independent book store is a good idea.  Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 29 The Complete Dick Tracy by Chester Gould is completed!  In Love & Pajamas  Britain’s Best […]

Today’s Pardon My Planet (KFS) provides a coincidental coda to the impeachment, because, come on now, what did you expect?I’m actually more optimistic now than I was at 24, when I was sure, along with a whole lot of other people, that Nixon would escape the revelations of Watergate.In fact, I wrote a parody of […]

We’re starting to move kids back into the schoolrooms, and Signe Wilkinson (AMS) questions the wisdom of the move.There are many layers of this issue, and “Follow the science” is deeply tangled up with “Follow the sociology.” Joe Heller takes a similarly skeptical view of the development.Is it science, or is it something else?To start with, […]