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Editors Shun Trump Cartoons, Prefer Milquetoast

In his column today Daryl Cagle notes that newspaper editors are, on the whole, no longer picking cartoons that feature President Trump to run on their opinion pages. Trump appears in editorial cartoons more than any other president, or anything else, has ever appeared in cartoons before. Just as Trump dominates the news on TV […]

Happy Birthday Jim Davis

Jim Davis was born July 28, 1945.Creator of the most widely syndicated comic strip, the extremely popular Garfield.To celebrate here’s a few of the 70 Garfield book titles that Jim might find relatable: Jim made it all look…Wishing Jim All the Best on His Birthday!

Don’t Know Much About History

I have a fascination with comics history, and a deep a appreciation of comics historians. My meager knowledge is buttressed by the writings of some great researchers. Following are a few of the wonderful teachers that inform us about comics past and present by way of some go-to blogs. American Newspaper Comics by Allan Holtz is […]

CSotD: Midweek Funnies

Based on Sunday’s Wallace the Brave, Will Henry is apparently the only cartoonist who knows that tin-can telephones require a taut line.He’s too young to remember when comic books were for kids (rather than perennial adolescents — we’ll get back to that) and used to have filler pages with jokes, riddles and craft projects, one […]

JumpStart’s Robb Armstrong Interviewed

In Minneapolis JumpStart by Robb Armstrong replaces Stone Soup in the Sunday Star Tribune. “Jump Start” has run in the Star Tribune’s weekday comics pages for years. It’s now part of the Sunday lineup. The Minneapolis Star Tribune interviewed Robb on the occasion of the comic strip being in the newspaper seven days a week: […]

CSotD: Credibility Checks

I’m not going to single out any particular cartoonist on this first element, because it’s a large enough accusation and there are too many people against whom it could be levied. Having established that …Editorial cartooning should be an extension of journalism. It is, of course, based on opinion, but valid opinions cannot be devoid […]

Mark Trail Practices Conservation With Reruns

James Allen‘s last Mark Trail daily comic strip was Saturday, July 25, 2020:Monday, July 27, 2020 began a different story, as a years old Jack Elrod story began running.This reminds me of when Mandrake the Magician stopped mid-story in 2013 when Fred Fredericks abruptly retired due to ill health. And like Mandrake, which went into […]

Stone Soup 1995 – 2020 (Details)

After Mike’s remarkable appreciation of Stone Soup there’s not much left to say but the basics.Jan Eliot is not her birth name nor a name she married into. It is her pen(and ink)name:: That’s also when she became Jan Eliot. Name inspired by author Her surname at birth had been Buell, and her married name […]

CSotD: One Last Serving of Stone Soup

A quiet end to a great comic strip, and if the last episode of Stone Soup reminds you of Calvin and Hobbes heading out for new adventures, that’s not entirely inappropriate: Jan Eliot got her break in the business — after four years of pestering the syndicates with submissions — when Bill Watterson hung up […]

2020 Eisner Award Winners

The San Diego Comic-Con (Comic-Con International) announced this years winners of the Eisner Awards in a virtual ceremony. There were no series or creators that dominated the awards though Raina Telgemeier (Guts), Lynda Barry (Making Comics), and Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) were among those winning two awards. Stan Sakai was also inducted into the Hall […]

CSotD: Weekend roundup

If we’re going to have a round-up, we might as well start with a round-up, and, besides, any excuse to feature Dog Eats Doug is worthy.I’m not sure anyone as young as Doug would have a fantasy this well planned out, or that kids know anything about cowboys anymore anyway, but I’m also pretty sure […]

British Cartoonist Brian Walker – RIP

British cartoonist Brian Walker has passed away. Brian H. N. Walker March 22, 1926 – May(?) 2020 cartoonist, author, illustratorFrom Brian’s daughter Jo writing for The Guardian:My father, Brian Walker, who has died aged 94, was a cartoonist and illustrator whose work appeared across a span of 50 years in comics such as the Beano and […]

Magazine Cartoonists Going the Way of The Dodo? – update

July 23:The dearth of magazines buying gag cartoons does not bode well. ‘Nightmare!’ is how The Spectator’s cartoon editor Michael Heath has been describing cartooning for at least 30 years, but it’s truer now than ever. Eighty years ago, cartoonists were so celebrated that waxworks of Low, Strube and Poy were displayed in Madame Tussauds. […]

Comic Strip Shenanigans

Let’s begin with the imminent end of the Stone Soup comic strip.The Columbus Dispatch has picked Frazz to replace the Sunday-only strip: The Sunday comic strip Stone Soup will end next Sunday, the edition of July 26. The comic Frazz will replace Stone Soup on Sunday. The Dispatch currently runs Frazz in the daily paper, […]

CSotD: Friday Funnies … Recalculating …

I will confess to feeling much like the fellow in Brewster Rockit, and I say “confess” because I feel kind of guilty over being in a state that ranks 42nd in per capita Covid cases, with most of those seeming to be in the southeast corner, or, as one might call it, “suburban Boston.”And, while […]

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