After Segar there was Tom Sims writing Popeye. Harry Haenigsen drew the Penny and the teen scene. Tom Sims, Popeye Writer Kelly Kazek for AL.com profiles the local writer who took over the Popeye comic strip after E. C. Segar died (or here). If not for a new folklife marker in Gadsden, Alabamians may have […]

Five publishers and one author have filed lawsuit against Meta for deliberately pirating millions of books to train its AI model Llama. While symbolic, the suit also names Mark Zuckerberg for “personally authorized and actively encouraged the infringement.” The publishers include: Hachette, Macmillan, McGraw Hill, Elsevier, and Cengage, and novelist Scott Turow.The suit, filed in […]

Fan favorites Stephan (Pearls Before Swine) Pastis and Will (Wallace the Brave) Henry have teamed up to create “a laugh-out-loud illustrated middle-grade adventure” scheduled for release at the beginning of the 2026/27 school season. From the Simon and Shuster description: Porter Avery is just your average boy from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with your average boy […]

The UK Comics Creators Research Report has been issued showing the results of a survey of 700 United Kingdom comics creators taken in the Fall of 2025. The ability to survive financially is disheartening. The vast majority of creators make less than a living wage from their comics endeavors necessitating employment outside the industry and […]

Got a case of the collywobbles from Sunday’s Lio, because this is the time of year I used to be coaching the spring season of soccer back when I had small children.I also coached in the fall season, but that was run entirely by the local youth soccer league, and the kids who played then […]

Early last year Mark Buford put an ash stake in his Scary Gary comic strip. Now Julie Lineback for the University of West Georgia brings us up-to-date with Mark. “A Major in Minds, a Minor in Mischief.” As the U.S. recognizes National Cartoonist Day on May 5, University of West Georgia alumnus Mark Buford ’86 […]

Nancy Beiman gave us a three week notice of the annual “holy day.” The others mostly waited until today. Today comic strips transition from World Press Freedom Day (not mentioned at all) and National Star Wars Day (many references yesterday) to National Cartoonist Day/Cinco de Mayo. Or Inko de Mayo.Lalo Alcaraz and Chip Sansom weren’t […]

Fell cuts through the analysis and legal deconstruction and reminds us that racism is real, which, at heart, is all you really have to know. Some racism is intentional and conspiratorial, like redistricting to keep Black candidates out of office or requiring bogus literacy tests to keep Black citizens from qualifying to vote. But it […]

The Pulitzer Prize Board announced the winners of the 2026 Illustrated Reporting and Commentary award. And the Pulitzer goes to Anand RK (Radhakrishnan) and Suparna Sharma and Natalie Obiku Pearson of Bloomberg… …For “trAPPed,” [link added] a riveting account of a neurologist in India held under “digital arrest” by her phone, reporting that uses visuals […]

Editorial cartoonist around the world are being encouraged to submit cartoons for the 2026 European Cartoon Award. The award recognizes “the impact of cartoons on societal dialogue” and serves to “encourage cartoonists in their vital role and stimulate conversations about Europe.”Requirements for entry include publications dates from June 2, 2025, and July 1, 2026, must […]

The Freedom Cartoonists Foundation has announced their selection for the 2026 Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award. Jimmy “Spire” Ssentongo of Uganda will be presented the award in a ceremony tonight. Palestinian cartoonist Safaa Odah is unable to leave her homeland for political reasons but will receive her prize at a future date. Safaa is a […]

Poor Volodya had to cut back the annual Victory Day Parade in Moscow this coming Saturday, reportedly because all the impressive arms and armor normally seen at that time are in Ukraine and can’t be spared, or, in some cases, made operative.But what are friends for? After a 90-minute phone call, his pal Donald announced […]

Last week two Jewish men were stabbed in a North London street. On taking the attacker down police took action according to that Guardian article: An officer uses Pava spray to try to subdue him before the suspect is shot with a Taser. The suspect falls to the ground and officers kick him in the […]

Yesterday, in a prelude to World Press Freedom Day, Anthony Feinstein for The Globe and Mail checked in on the history of political cartooning holding those in power to account from the beginning to now, sometimes risking the cartoonists’ freedom and lives. When political cartoonists challenge the world’s most powerful people. (Or here.) The strongman […]

A new irregular feature: Etc., where I feature political cartoons that don’t fit into a major topic but that I found interesting or amusing. The risk is that I won’t have much to say beyond “Wow,” and posting cartoons without commentary does not qualify as “fair use.” Not that I’d be alone in doing that, […]