Rob Stolzer shares some thoughts about, and art from, Edward Sorel. The Babe Ruth portrait below appeared in the Washington Post Book World, likely in the 1960s. You can easily see the loose structure in the work, capturing the soft architecture of Ruth’s figure, as Sorel allowed the pen to find the form. There […]

Pulp cover artist and illustrator Gloria Stoll Karn has passed away.   Gloria Marie Stoll Karn November 13, 1923 – July 23, 2022 From the obituary: Gloria Stoll Karn, 98, transitioned to life eternal, at her own home, surrounded by loved ones, on Saturday, July 23, 2022. Born in New York City, the only child of Charles […]

Al WilliamsonThe auction last month of some of Al Williamson’s pre-Manning Star Wars comic strip proposal (we featured them on our Facebook page) prompted Diamond’s Scoop to re-present a Williamson profile from 22 years ago. Rip Kirby, of course, was not the end of Williamson’s newspaper work. In addition to a run on Secret Agent […]

Let’s start with something that needs to be top-of-mind this week, and after: Joel Pett makes the excellent point that floods like the ones happening in Eastern Kentucky can be harder on the poor. This starts with the idea that the rich folks who live in the big house on the hill won’t have nearly […]

Similar to U.S. editorial cartoonists when Trump was forced out of the spotlight, United Kingdom cartoonists have mixed feelings as Boris Johnson steps down. Rebecca Hendin, The Guardian … I’m not a fan of Boris, though, and that definitely makes it easier to think of funny material. Sunak is probably my preference for leader, in […]

Anything you can think of is controlled by a handful of companies After a flurry of last-minute filings and orders, the U.S. Department of Justice’s bid to block Penguin Random House’s acquisition of rival Big Five publisher Simon & Schuster is ready for court. Oral arguments are set to begin on August 1 before Judge […]

E. E. Cummings was one of the Kat’s biggest fans. In 1922, he wrote from Paris to request clippings from friends in America. (“Thank you moreover for a Kat of indescribable beauty!” he wrote to an obliging friend.) In his 1946 introduction to the first edition of the collected strips, Cummings wrote that the brick […]

On a Sunday forty years ago cartoonist Tom Armstrong introduced the world to a young couple who had just become parents in a comic strip named after the little one – Marvin.The Miller family debuted on August 1, 1982:At the time Tom Armstrong was drawing John Darling, a spin off of Tom Batiuk’s Funky Winkerbean, […]

It’s come to that, as Non Sequitur (AMS) reminds us.It’s no longer even a case of good ol’ Proverbs 26:4, Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him, though it’s certainly true that you need to distinguish between someone who wants a discussion and someone who is just […]

So much outrage. We published a political cartoon last week showing President Joe Biden looking at his Covid test and declaring, “Finally, some positive numbers.” The cartoonist was playing off the idea that Biden can’t catch a break, and even a positive result is a negative result. © New York Daily News/Tribune Content Agency/Bill BramhallThe […]

Last Sunday’s (July 24, 2022) chapter of Flash Gordon in The Tournament of Death featured Alex Raymond art from the third Flash Gordon Sunday page (January 21, 1934) in the top drop tier.Above: Flash Gordon July 24, 2022. Below: Flash Gordon January 21, 1934© King Features SyndicateBut it wasn’t Alex Raymond art. As Jim Keefe […]

It’s always good to start with a joke, and today’s In the Bleachers (AMS) made me redouble my search for a half-remembered golf joke, which I eventually came up with:A golfer is about to tee off when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes […]

As the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) continues to dismantle their comics syndication service, the Mike du Jour comic strip by Mike Lester has signed on with Andrews McMeel Syndication (AMS). This week the title was added (out of alphabetical order) to the AMS page of syndicated comics.This move comes as the comic strip is […]

Cartoonist and character designer Paul Coker, Jr. has passed away. Paul Allan Coker, Jr. March 5, 1929 – July 23, 2022  Tom Richmond, among others, has reported the death of Paul Coker, Jr.Paul was a gag cartoonist and an illustrator of greeting cards, but more famous as a MAD magazine contributor and a character designer […]

Bob Eckstein starts us off today with a cartoon that is only “bathroom humor” by implication, but, then, if you don’t know the expression he’s alluding to, you won’t get the joke.I laughed because I tend to lump podcasts and videos into the category of things I don’t much follow. I like to read, but […]