The Barn (Creators) gets today’s Excellent Timing Award for a piece done, no doubt, weeks in advance but that happened to hit just as a substantial portion of the country fell into a Frosty Bombalooza or whatever they’re calling it these days. We used to call them “cold snaps” but perhaps we were being too […]
Editorial cartoonist Richard Kemplin has passed away. Richard Manley (Dick) Kemplin December 11, 1930 – November 25, 2022 From the obituary: During his time at Eagle Rock High School, Dick was an athlete and budding artist whose illustrations and cartoons were prominently featured in the school’s newspaper and yearbook. Little did he know that his love […]
Washington, D.C. – A Search for the SourceThe Library of Congress found the cartoonist who created it (Paul Gregg) and found the newspaper it probably appeared in (The Denver Post) but it still looking for confirmation of the date (ca. early 1933). This mystery centered on an image of a political cartoon found online. No […]
David Rowe once more takes advantage of the 16-hour time difference between Washington and Sydney to comment on Vlodimir Zelenskyy’s address to Congress while American cartoonists still lie a-bed, and adding a “Merry Christmas” message for the benefit of an unhealthy, angry Vladimir Putin.It likely wouldn’t have done Americans any good to cartoon on into […]
The original December 12, 2022 item:The Katzenjammer Kids first appeared December 12, 1897.Above: the first issue of The Katzenjammer KidsThe comic strip was created by Rudolph Dirks and New York Journal editor Rudolph Block. Various cartoonists (Harold Knerr, Oscar Hitt, Doc Winner, Joe Musial, Mike Senich, Angelo DeCesare, Hy Eisman) continued it’s Sunday run until […]
Since the name of Thomas Nast came up the other day, let’s make note that it was 160 Christmases ago that he drew his first Santa Claus leading the way to form the modern image of the saintly symbol.Thomas Nast’s first Santa appeared as the cover of Harper’s Weekly dated January 3, 1863.Before Nast envisioning […]
Cartoonist Mike Peters is taking his Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip and his editorial cartoons from King Features Syndicate (KFS) to Andrews McMeel Syndication (AMS) at the beginning of 2023. Andrews McMeel announced the move yesterday: Kansas City, MO (December 20, 2022) – Andrews McMeel Syndication (AMS) will assume sales and distribution of the Mother […]
Non Sequitor (AMS) offers a non-controversial chuckle to start a day of myth-busting, because, yes, it would be nice if Parks & Rec also offered scooping this time of year, along with plowing a path.Our normal leash-free zone closes in winter, but we’ve got an alternative area, the driveway to which does get plowed though […]
Hogan’s Alley and Tom Heintjes remind us that it was on this day, in a 1959 Peanuts Sunday comic strip, Linus first recited a passage from The Gospel of Luke.Six years later Linus’ expanded recital of Luke 2:8-14 would become a memorable part of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It almost didn’t happen but for Charles […]
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists President Kevin Necessary has issued an open letter to the Overseas Press Club of America with an excellent proposal. I write to you today to advocate for a change to the cartoon category. The current OCPA award is now virtually the only category not to be named after a […]
What started as the humorous misadventures of the teens from Westview High School eventually morphed into a serialized drama tackling issues such as cancer awareness and teen pregnancy. After 50 years Tom Batiuk will end his Funky Winkerbean comic strip at the end of this month. I like to describe it as starting out as […]
(Clay Bennett — CTFP) (Pickles — AMS)The problem with last-minute gifts is that, no matter how practical they are, there’s just a sense of so-what to them, more of obligation than of inspiration, and, as Earl’s daughter has realized, they often just get tossed in a drawer, unopened, unused, unwanted.Bennett is quite right: The Jan 6 […]
Each year the Cartoonist Studio Prize will be awarded to work that exemplifies excellence in cartooning. The creators of two exceptional comics for this year will be awarded $1,000 each. The winners will be selected by The Beat and The Schulz Library staff at The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS). The two award categories for […]
The New York Times created a social media storm when their Sunday crossword puzzle layout for December 18, 2022 (the first day of Hanukkah) formed, without too much imagination, a swastika. From The Jerusalem Post: The New York Times on released its daily crossword puzzle in the shape of swastika on Sunday, Democratic Strategist Keith Edwards […]
Slylock Fox daily is ringing out 2022 the way Slylock Fox Sunday rang in 2022.Very early in 2022 a new signature appeared on the Slylock Fox Sunday page, now that same WEBER/scottu signature has shown up on the Slylock Fox daily.The December 19, 2022 Monday Slylock Fox has Scott Diggs Underwood co-signing Slylock in what […]