From Palgrave Macmillan comes Cartoon Conflicts: Contemporary Controversies and Historical Precedents Edited by Ritu Gairola Khanduri, Richard Scully, and Paulo Jorge Fernandes. This edited collection of new research highlights the way in which the cartoon – long regarded as a staple of journalism and freedom of expression – faces new challenges in the twenty-first century […]

Midweek Olivia Jaimes began what a series of Nancy strips riffing on her profession. While Richard Thompson in the throwback Cul de Sac show us how those unorganized underground cartoonists probably created those jam comix. Previewing next week’s Reuben Awards yesterday we had Intelligent Life, Macanudo, and Thatababy celebrating recognizable comic strips of the past […]

I was playing around in 1935 newspapers and came across this Art Krenz illustration with the tale of the tape for the upcoming fight between Max Baer (yes, Jethro’s father) and Joe Louis. Sports cartoons often had a lot of word balloons and commentary, but Krenz plays this straight because interest in the fight was […]

A new comic strip is appearing in the Sunday Santa Fe New Mexican! Pacheco Prairie Dog’s Southwest Almanac by Ryan T. Cook began appearing in The Santa Fe New Mexican on July 13, 2025, replacing a long-running column whose author retired. From the July 6 New Mexican: Alex De Vore at the Santa Fe Reporter […]

From Little Orphan Annie (Harold Gray) to The Toxic Avenger (Matt Bors) with Molly and the Bear (Bob and Vicki Scott), Spongebob Squarepant (U.S. Postal Service), Chris Ware (USPS again), Barbara Shermund (Liza Donnelly), and Goofus and Gallant (Garry Myers and Marion Hull Hammel)From Little Orphan to Just Plain AnnieA few days over 101 years […]

The difference between trompe l’oeil and Trump l’oeil is that the first is an artistic technique that relies on the skill of the artist to create an illusion, while the second is a political technique that relies on the loyalty of the viewer to preserve an illusion.Wuerker has it right: There’s nothing clever on the […]

Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes spent some of her teen years and young adulthood in Reno Nevada… Fearless — that’s how the Pulitzer Prize committee described political cartoonist Ann Telnaes’ work when she won the coveted award this year. On Telnaes’ journey to becoming an influential commenter on world events, she made two crucial stops in […]

Architecture is, without question, a serious matter—and, over the centuries, some of the most serious voices in the field have endeavored rigorously to theorize about, define, and interpret it. But what happens when we confront this monumental gravitas through the levity? What if we momentarily set aside the lofty and arcane discourse of celebrated architects […]

There was a flurry of cartoons and wisecracks yesterday after Dear Leader appeared on the White House roof and wandered around for a bit, talking to the press below. I don’t know that it really indicated much of anything beyond a president with too much time on his hands, but Randy Bish managed to bring […]

[Early American comics] themselves showed a wide range of diversity, detail, and creativity … For example, something like Thomas Aolysius’ Johnny Wise Gets the Double Cross would never be published in today’s papers (shown below). That said, there were fantasy strips, strips pulling from cubism and surrealist art, strips that experimented with panel length, perspective, […]

Profiling Jackie Ormes and Ollie Harrington. In an era when Black women were largely erased from the comics page, Jackie Ormes picked up her pen and rewrote the rules. As the first nationally syndicated Black female cartoonist, Ormes shattered racial and gender stereotypes through her bold, stylish, and socially conscious characters, paving the way for […]

I would assume that these guys don’t talk much about work at home, but, then again, I don’t know what they would talk about. Maybe they don’t talk at all.I’ve known a number of cops, but that’s different, because they spend most of their day like Reed and Malloy in Adam-12, driving around finding things […]

Alden Global Capital Doesn’t Take No For An Answer Alden Global Capital just can’t understand. Why would any newspaper not want to be the next to pass through its digestive tract? As I wrote on Monday, the DallasNews Corporation recently agreed to be acquired by Hearst at the price of $14 a share. Soon after, […]

In the early nineties, I spent countless hours digging through foreign publications, hunting for lessons and inspiration. I translated articles, wrote essays, and hoped my fellow Iranian artists would catch the spark I felt. I wanted them to see the magic tucked between the lines, the way Western cartoonists held power to account with nothing […]

Bennett commented that this cartoon is based on an old joke; I assume it’s the one about the fellow who fell 14 stories and fortunately survived, but, unfortunately, had fallen from15.I have no idea how many stories we’ve fallen so far, but I know it’s going to be a mess when we hit the ground. […]