Cartoonist Sam Gross has passed away. Saturday Review, Argosy, True, Good Housekeeping, Rogue, Gent, Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Playboy, Penthouse, Punch, Harvard Business Review, Parenting Magazine, Smokers Magazine, The American Bystander, Comopolitan, and so on. And, of course, The New Yorker. Jason Chatfield in his paean to Sam: I’m devastated to hear that today, one […]

Discussion in the comments section the other day revealed quite a bit of confusion around the term “pun” and the term “shaggy dog story.” I promised to try to straighten it out today, and, by sheer luck, Pearls Before Swine (AMS) offered not only a festival of puns on Sunday but skipped its usual last-panel […]

A number of Lee Enterprises newspapers have published a boilerplate statement informing their readers that, come June 6, the print edition of the paper will change its publication and delivery schedules while expanding its content. From The McDowell News: … With all of that in mind, and in an effort to preserve the excellent local […]

The Dunkirk (NY) Observer began carrying a new weekly comic strip on Sunday May 7, 2023. Caleb Spell, creator of Little Mice comics is a 13-year-old homeschool student and resident of Dunkirk … and has loved comics ever since he was first introduced to Mutts by Patrick McDonnell around age 8. He started drawing his […]

Walt Handelsman pings a continuing annoyance here. It’s not a “pet peeve.” A pet peeve is people who write “if it was” when they mean “if it were.” It’s wrong and it’s ignorant, but it’s harmless.Equating national budget issues with family budgets is generally wrong and ignorant, but it’s far from harmless because it misleads […]

Writer-illustrator-humorist Bruce McCall has passed away. William Grimes at The New York Times reported the loss: Bruce McCall, whose satirical illustrations for National Lampoon and The New Yorker conjured up a plutocratic dream world of luxury zeppelin travel, indoor golf courses and cars like the Bulgemobile Airdreme, died on Friday in the Bronx. He was […]

Bruce MacKinnon, of the Halifax Chronicle Herald, was awarded the National Newspaper Award for 2022 in the Editorial Cartooning category. The National Newspaper Awards celebrate “the best in Canadian journalism.” It is Bruce’s eighth win. Michael de Adder (Halifax Chronicle Herald/Toronto) and Serge Chapleau (La Presse) were finalists.

Having waded through the Coronation (mostly, see below), National Cartoonist’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and the Kent State Anniversary, we’re left with today’s demonstration of Wretched Excess, the Kentucky Derby.Marc Murphy not only reminds us that Derby Day is a celebration of slavery but, in his comments, links to the author of an excellent analysis […]

feature image © B. Kliban

Ted Richard’s family has released a notice of his passing: The family of Ted Richards wishes to make his friends and associates aware that Ted, the cartoon artist and tech marketing and design innovator passed away peacefully at age 76 on Friday, April 21 after a bout with lung cancer. Ted Richards was prominent as […]

Tomorrow is the big day and the celebrations will be spectacular. But before you head out for an evening of cerveza and tacos, you can get up early and watch the Official Coronation of King Charles III. In fact, if you get up early enough, it’s nearly all you can watch, though our local Fox […]

No rhyme or reason today. Just a helter skelter collection of comic and cartoon related items. A new Wall Street Journal (web) comic strip; Donnie’s Pitchford’s A New Comic Strip! get a new title; No apology from Patrick Chappatte; others unapologetically and savagely cartoon the coronation of King Charles III; The New York Daily News […]

We’ll start with the Argyle Sweater (AMS), because when I saw it, I wondered why Scott Hilburn didn’t save this semi-Hispanic gag for tomorrow, but then, as I translated tomorrow’s date in my mind, I realized today’s date.And, yes, I subsequently came across a veritable plethora of Star Wars jokes, not all of them knee-slappers, […]

Joel Pett of The Lexington Herald-Leader was named the winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Cartoon Award for 2023 (at the 15 minute mark). It is the second time Joel took the honor, he had won the Award in 1999.Said the organization: For years [Joel Pett] has been speaking truth to power through […]

Illustrator Sandy Kossin has passed away.Adrian Sinnott has shared the sad news that Sandy has passed away: Another incredible talent and good friend gone. Sandy Kossin, proud Berndt Toast Gang, National Cartoonists Society and Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame member has passed. Here’s his bio from the BTG 50th anniversary show in 2016: “Sandy […]