The Chicago Reader posted a story last week about the Northwest Herald bragging about its staff cartoonist, Scott Nychay, whom they had laid off months earlier.

According to the TalkAboutComics blog, Modern Tales, one of the oldest and most popular webcomics sites, is now seeking new submissions.Shaenon Garrity, Modern Tales editor, says: “With IW [Irregular Webcomic] leaving, Inannaâ??s Tears at the end of its run, and my first anniversary as MT editor fast approaching, I think itâ??s time to put out […]

The new Indie Spinner Rack, #88, was released on Wednesday. The latest issue of the audio magazine features part one of an overview of the MoCCA Art Festival and post-show events, including some of the notable book premieres that sold out, post-show parties and plenty more.

E&P reports that Daryl Cagle has added more cartoonists to his web site, including Mike Luckovich, who is returning after a 4-year hiatus.Others new to Cagle’s site are Jeff Darcy of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, the conservative team of Allen Forkum and John Cox, and alternative cartoonist Tim Eagan.

Leigh Rubin’s collection of Rubes cartoons, entitled The Wild Life of Love, has received the bronze medal for humor in Foreward Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year Awards, according to the Creators Syndicate website, where you can get all the details.The single-panel Rubes, originally self-syndicated, now runs in more than 400 newspapers nationwide.

Rex Babin, of the Sacramento Bee, and Mikhaela Reid, an alternative weekly cartoonist, were interviewed by NPR’s “Morning Edition,” discussing their favorite cartoons on George W. Bush and on cartooning the next president.You can listen to it here.

Matt Bors, who does Idiot Box for altweeklies, writes about his meeting with Dennis Kucinich at AAEC on his blog.Another altweekly cartoonist, Jen Sorensen of Slowpoke, also talks about her meeting with Kucinich on her blog as well.

July 9th entry of Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley features an tribute to Johnny Hart, who died in April.Why it took 3 months to do this strip, no one knows.

I’m heading out later this afternoon to Seattle for a bit of R&R (my wife and kids are already up there). I’ll be away for about a week, but three generous people have stepped up and offered to keep the blog updated while I’m away. I’d like to thank Charles Brubaker, Ted Slampyak and Tom […]

Creators Syndicate recently posted samples of their new feature – Free Range by Bill Whitehead.Here’s another homepage to the comic, although it’s obviously incomplete.No announcement so far on when this comic will begin appearing in newspapers.

Amy Lago at The Washington Post Writers Group emailed to announce that John Kovaleski’s Bo Nanas will be coming to an end on July 28th. Bo Nanas made its big syndication debut in 2003 after John completed a year-long fellowship program (FineToon). The last week of Bo Nanas material will “show a bit of Bo’s […]

Several Daily Cartoonists have emailed me with some devastating news that Doug Marlette died this morning in a Mississippi car accident. From the police reports, Doug’s pickup hydroplaned off of the highway and struck a tree at about 9:42 a.m. this morning. He died instantly. Another passenger (the driver) was taken to the hospital.Doug, 57, […]

~Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell has joined the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to urge the Department of Environmental Conservation to abandon currently proposed trapping regulations and create new regulations that would would make it more difficult to accidently ensnare pets or children. “I urge new DEC Commissioner Grannis not to adopt the proposed […]

In what may set the record for a decision ever to remain unmade, The Olympian is now running Greg Evan’s Luann in trial mode as they seek to find a “suitable” replacement for Bill Amend’s Fox Trot which retired back in January. Other strips that have been evaluated: Frazz, Mutts, Pearls Before Swine, 9 Chickweed […]

Mark Pett’s Lucky Cow strip made an appearance in Sunday’s Paul Gilligan’s Pooche Café.