Fritzi Ritz was introduced to comics readers of the New York World one hundred years ago – October 9, 1922 – and is still appearing in the funny pages, admittedly as second fiddle to her niece Nancy instead of the star of the comic strip these days. Though on occasion she does get the spotlight. Though […]
My day yesterday began at a CXC event, with a session on James Sturm, a cartoonist of substantial background and current production, best known in my neighborhood as the founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT, which is just across the river from me.Oddly enough, though we’re only four or […]
For one game only, and the first in a decade, the Patriots will revive their original Pat Patriot uniforms featuring the iconic colonial man cartoon drawn by Rockport’s own Phil Bissell. Bissell tells the story of how Pat Patriot came to be in his book, “PATSPA!: 65 Years of Cartoons, Caricatures & Creating a […]
Actors are artists. Some even pick up brushes and put oil to canvas. And a few have been or become cartoonists. A very few.Before Frank James Cooper became actor Gary Cooper he contributed at least two political cartoons to his hometown newspaper The Helena Daily Independent in 1924. Xavier Cugat was already a famous bandleader […]
The first day of the AAEC Conference began with a long business meeting and ended, alas, with the discovery that my camera had been lying to me all day long. So it goes.But backlighting and shadows are appropriate here because they probably shouldn’t have even let a non-voting associate in, and, like most such meetings, […]
According to Larson, “I’ve always thought the word cow was funny, and cows are sort of tragic figures. Cows blur the line between tragedy and humor.” © Gary LarsonScreen Rant delves into Gary Larson‘s background to try find Why The Far Side Comics Are So Obsessed With Cows. It was a back injury that laid […]
Many folks may not believe a cartoon can cause angst and ire, but every now and then — and based on society norms and issues at the time — cartoon strips have undergone a bit of their own cancel culture. Indeed, there is a comical side to cancel culture. Last week, I received some feedback […]
Got in later than I’d hoped yesterday, so nothing to report on the AAEC/CXC confab yet. Meanwhile, the globe apparently continued to spin. Jeffrey Koterba offers a two-edged gag, or, at least, a cartoon that has both a superficial and a deeper meaning.Polls seem to have been wrong a lot recently, or maybe we’ve become too […]
We were happy to see that Larry Doyle is a silent, dour kind of a guy–“kind of a crank” in his own words–because this sort of person sees the world for what it is. So maybe he can make us laugh at it. Doyle had better be a very witty man, because he is about […]
Yes, Columbus is the place to be, but outside Ohio there is also news.© Nidhi Chanani; Peter Conrad; MariNaomiThe San Francisco Examiner has partnered with Andrew Farago of the Cartoon Art Museum. Twice each month, The Examiner’s Comix Showcase will highlight the art and artists of the Bay Area, with an emphasis on local comics […]
I’m on my way out to Columbus for the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists convention and CXC, so was trying to come up with a post I could do in advance. DD Degg’s marking of Dick Tracy’s first strip, December 4, 1931, reminded me of how many great cartoons were running in newspapers back then.So […]
The Spirit by Will Eisner and assistants ran as a newspaper comic book insert from June 2, 1940 until October 5, 1952, 70 years ago. That is what many comic histories will tell you, though there are a few that will note that 13 years and a few months later Will Eisner created a new […]
Maria Scrivan — whom I will see in a day or two at CXC — offers a funny/not funny Half Full, the kind where first you laugh and then you sink into a reverie.Oh, honey, nobody reads the terms and conditions. Well, except for Robert Sikoryak, who found a way to make Apple’s I-Tunes terms and […]
Clover Press and Yoe! Comics have launched a Kickstarter campaign for Popeye Variations. Edited by Craig Yoe, the new hardcover anthology featuring more than a hundred illustrations and stories by some of the biggest names in comics, all focused on everyone’s favorite spinach-eating sailor man and his supporting cast. I watched Popeye as a kid. […]
Dave Blazek is now doing double duty as Andrews McMeel Syndication is offering both the usual horizontal and a new vertical (strip format) version of the Loose Parts panel. © Dave Blazek © Patrick McDonnellPatrick McDonnell has contributed the poster art to the Princeton Children’s Book Festival where he will also be one of the authors […]