John Read has sent me a copy of the cover of the upcoming first edition of his Stay Tooned! magazine that will hopefully launch before Christmas Day. The cover offers original art from Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace), John Rose (Barney Google and Snuffy Smith), Rob Corley (BoyRobo), Scott Stantis (Prickly City), Steven Butler (Sonic […]

This week’s featured cartoonist is Sandra Bell-Lundy. Sandra’s feature, Between Friends, launched in 1994 and is loosely based on friendships with her close friends. It is now in over 130 papers. She recently wrote a series of blog posts about her road to syndication. Here is Sandra’s list of cartoonists that have inspired her or […]

Washington Post Writers Group has announced that they have signed Pulitzer Prize winner Clay Bennett. Clay is leaving the Christian Science Monitor after nine years and taking the Chattanooga Times Free Press position starting in January. His work was syndicated through the Christian Science Monitor, but when he announced he was leaving, Clay also noted […]

The Asbury Park Press has a nice write-up about Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell and his new book “Hug Time.” “Hug Time” is McDonnell’s fourth children’s book and, like all his work, it is appropriate for ages zero to 110. His other kids’ books are “The Gift of Nothing,” “Art” and “Just Like Heaven,” which also […]

Doug Marlette has received another award for his second fictional novel “Magic Time.” The novel was awarded the 2007 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for the best work of fiction by a North Carolina writer by the The N.C. Literary and Historical Association. In addition to the award, the University of Mississippi has opened an exhibit […]

The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin has a story about Mason Mastroianni’s taking on of the iconic B.C. comic strip. There’s a bit more information than my write-up on Mason about how the Hart family operates a team to produce the feature and a lot more personal stuff about Mason that I didn’t delve into.

John Hambrock’s, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, begins a four-week trial run at the Winston-Salem Journal starting today. The Journal has published a get-to-know you article about John (and his wife, Anne – a frequent commentor here) and his feature. Hambrock, who is 44, decided in 1991 that he wanted to be a cartoonist […]

There’s been some publicity about Amazon’s new Kindle product for electronic material (books, blogs, newspapers). We’ve had discussions on this blog about how newspapers may evolve and how mobile technology might play into that (see discussion in comments of this story). I look at this and wonder if products like this might be what comics […]

E&P reports that Mark Parisi’s Off the Mark has turned 20 years old. Congratulations, Mark.

United Media will be launching a new feature in January by Philadelphia Daily News editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson. The new featured, entitled “Family Tree” is described as a “topical without being overly political.”In talking with Editor and Publisher’s Dave Astor, Signe indicated that she was approached by United Media’s acquisition and development editor Ted Rall […]

Sequential Tart has posted a short interview with Fastrack and Safe Havens creator Bill Holbrook about his web feature, Kevin & Kell.

The Modesto Bee has shrunk their Sunday comic pages. The paper used to run 29 features over six pages, but has reduced the comic section to 29 features on four pages. The editor cites cost cutting as the primary reason. He offers that a third party company that prints the comics has a new process […]

According to Steve Cloud’s blog, his feature Boy On a Stick and Slither which runs on comics.com is now running in the “Eye” – a free weekly published by the Charlotte Observer.

There’s a story over in the Wall Street Journal about the competitive nature of the comic pages. The article focuses how hard it is for editors or the public to let go of older, legacy features. Generally, a strip has to end or be dropped by a paper in order for a new one to […]

From Mike Rhode’s blog comes news that the Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library has posted various slideshows of this year’s Festival of Cartoon Art. There are three slideshows: Presentation Highlights, Forum Highlights and Exhibit Highlights.