Political cartoonists took up their pens to offend the powerful and defend the downtrodden as soon as the first publishers began hand-cranking newspapers through their printing presses in the 18th century. Benjamin Franklin created his own political art to fire up the American Revolution. So did Paul Revere. Now, two-and-a-half centuries later, with thousands of […]
On September 13, 2022, as part of the Lee Enterprises newspaper group, the Daily Journal of Park Hill, Missouri, on orders from headquarters, switched out their long running comics for the new standard Lee half-page: Two months ago Lee sold The Daily Journal to Better Newspapers, Inc. From Editor & Publisher: Greg Hoskins’ Better Newspapers […]
The cartoons of Pulitzer Prize winning Clifford K. Berryman are featured in three free e-books issued by The National Archives (in one of them Clifford shares the spotlight with his Pulitzer Prize-winning son Jim Berryman). Each book features a high resolution cartoon per page with a sentence giving the date and the event depicted. Also […]
Harry Burton offers one of a surprisingly few cartoon takes on Donald Trump’s mugshot, but I think he gets it right: What ought to be a moment of at least reflection if not humiliation turns into another promotional opportunity.The mugshot itself has been all over the Intertubes, mostly with people thinking it will speak for […]
Felix the Cat was created by Pat Sullivan in 1919 and became the animated superstar of the 1920s. The public’s desire for all thing Felix led to lucrative licensing early on – in 1923 it led to a comic strip. William Randolph Hearst, hoping to cash in on the cat’s popularity, signed on to distribute […]
Peter Evans notes his 28th year with The (Key Biscayne) Islander News. This month marks my 28th year as the editorial cartoonist for Islander News. There’s a saying among some ink-stained wretches – “If you’re not upsetting someone, you’re not doing your job.” That’s not the point of cartoons, but it’s often a result. Editorial […]
Confession: I didn’t watch last night’s debate. There were several reasons:One was that it didn’t appear to be on television here. The listings showed some baking contest and it occurred to me that I could record that and see if it turned out to be the debates, or if it turned out to be more […]
The Phantom and The Muppets from the 1980s; Paul Bunyan from the early 20th Century, comic strip lettering from later in the 1900s; and the first Peanuts TV animation.Hermes Press, the publisher of The Complete Phantom Dailies, missed an episode between Volume 29 and Volume 30. For those who didn’t keep track of our first […]
After a continuous newspaper run of 102 years the Australian comic strip Ginger Meggs has ended.The strip began November 13, 1921 as a Sunday-only feature in The (Sydney Sunday) Sun titled Us Fellers.From the New South Wales State Library: The plot of the ‘Us Fellers’ strip had initially revolved round the activities of Gladsome Gladys, a sweet and pretty little girl whose […]
My situation with Arlo and Janis (AMS) isn’t so much that I needed to choose some particular strips from the current arc but, rather, how I needed to pick the right moment to sound the alert to what’s looking like a major shift. It looks, for sure, like it’s time now.I was pleased to see […]
Two popular New Yorker magazine cartoonists, who also happen to be West Tisbury neighbors and dog-walking partners, shared the stage at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs Monday for a two-handed talk about the craft they share. © Mick Stevens and Paul KarasikMick Stevens and Paul Karasik “[discussed] slides of their work, trading […]
Al Goodwyn (Creators) brings up, somewhat indirectly, the Stupid Angry People factor in current coverage.At least he singles out a flaw in how things work, though not specifically citing the Stupid Angry People themselves. Back in the Olden Days, someone might ask a reporter how a particular public forum had gone, and, in our newsroom, […]
Comics artist Steve Lieber kicked things off with advice to young cartoonists as if he “were looking at your work in person” and telling the would-be cartoonist what they needed to hear. Then Jim Zub and Patrick Brosseau added advice to young comic writers and letterers. Free advice from Comic Pros to Young Cartoonists!Your (Art) […]
The Washington Post recently published an illustrated report about a group of Filipinos that went to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis to be put on display as part of an exhibit of United States expansionism. It was drawn by Philippines native Ren Galeno. Galeno was behind the evocative illustrations for the Washington Post’s […]
Lemont, the protagonist of Candorville (KFS), spends too much time playing the pedant and correcting people for speaking the way people speak.Sure, he’s correct: “Pin number” is redundant, though I don’t hear people say it nearly as often as I did a decade or so ago.However, “being made redundant” remains both correct and current: It’s […]