From The National Archives of the UK: George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, first published on [August 17] 75 years ago in 1945, is a work familiar to many. The fable (or ‘fairy story’ as Orwell described it) of a gang of animals who take over their farm, overthrowing the cruel Farmer Jones, only to end up […]
Wallace the Brave is consistently filled with such surreal touches that it is generally easier to point out the ways it could have gone wrong than to explain where it all came from in the first place.The timing is exquisite: My feeders have been crowded the past two weeks as birds either gas up for […]
George Herriman was born 140 years ago on August 22, 1880.To celebrate Michael Tisserand, the author of Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White (highly recommended), has given us a present. Sez Michael: In 2016, when I published Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, I included an author’s note promising […]
As announced earlier this year Gary Brookins has decided to retire from the daily grind.It appears he has timed his last dailies to fall on the same August 22, 2020 day.Pluggers:Before moving on Plugger Gary gave youngster Rick McKee some advice yesterday.Elsewhere on today’s comics page the Treetops Tattler crew says farewell to Gary.Ben Lansing […]
“The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on,” the Arabic saying goes, and, the DNC having concluded, the analysis begins.Darrin Bell is unhappy that the convention speakers didn’t unfold a complete blueprint, but I’m not sure when that has ever happened. Even in the days when the platform was written and only then a candidate […]
Two or three decades ago the syndicate was entertaining auditions for cartoonists to take on the Nancy comic strip. Well, two or three years ago the syndicate did it all over again. Shaenon K. Garrity was among those who worked up samples.It seems Shaenon went with gags working off week-long arcs.She recently dug out those […]
Most weeks, Friday Funnies are things that made me chuckle, perhaps snicker, occasionally LOL, but this Rhymes With Orange channels some really good existential dread.Which made me really laugh, but only because I’ve embraced my inner slacker and I don’t have those dreams anymore.I don’t know if it’s a sign of achieving inner peace or just […]
From The Texan: A cartoon depiction of a police officer which tacitly compared him to a member of the Ku Klux Klan and slave owners was distributed as part of an assignment given by 8th grade social studies teachers in Wylie ISD, a school district primarily in Collin County northeast of Dallas. The school district […]
Young cartoonist Davian Chester is getting his Real Toons comic into print. The weekly Miami Times newspaper is taking on the comic beginning August 19, 2020 (I think).From the Miami Times introduction: A rising cartoonist making a splash on the internet and on social media will now be a regular contributor to the pages of […]
In 1973, during a period of time which was described as being dictated by “feelings of great anger,” David Lynch created his comic strip ‘The Angriest Dog in the World’. The comic, which was first published by the LA Reader in 1983, ran through to 1993 and always followed the same formula with the following […]
It would be too easy to say “The jokes tell themselves,” but, yes, Kayleigh MagaNinny really did explain to reporters yesterday that Dear Leader would wait until after the election results were in before deciding whether to accept them as valid.Jokes are funny, and this isn’t, but, assuming you share my love of gallows humor, […]
A political cartoonist put [his] spin on Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech. It was published in the Southeast Missourian and some readers are not too pleased with the paper for publishing it. “Satire is meant for humor, but they’re making light of something that’s not meant to be made light about,” […]
Bill Bramhall illustrates what FDR was talking about in his oft-quoted, rarely contextualized remark that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”It was in his first inaugural, as he took the reins from Herbert Hoover and began the task of rebuilding a shattered economy. Specifically, he was making a promise that honesty and transparency […]
With over 70 years of drawing and writing and teaching comics, Hy Eisman can certainly fill a documentary. The current cartoonist of the Popeye Sunday page is the subject of a documentary … with our help.Marco Cutrone and Vincent Zambrano are organizing a fundraiser to complete the production of a film celebrating Hy’s achievements. The […]
Cartoonist Tom Ward has passed away.Thomas Roland (Tom) WardJune 1, 1928 – August 14, 2020designer, cartoonistFrom the obituary: After high school in 1946, he asked if the Indianapolis Times would buy his cartoons. He picked up jobs at the Indianapolis Speedway drawing the drivers and cars. His drawings helped him to land a job with […]