“Not everyone can vent the way an editorial cartoonist can.” Bruce MacKinnon portrayed Canada as an innocent victim of two Warmongers.The cartoon went viral and CBC Radio interviewed the cartoonist, who got on the topic of cartooning comedy versus tragedy. 

Among the Giants of Editorial Cartooning in the last half of the 20th Century and into the 21st was Paul Conrad of The Los Angeles Times. While Pat Oliphant, another giant of the times, would ridicule his subjects Paul would pound them. Conrad seldom went for a laugh, his cartoons brought the realization, and anger, […]

In 2018 the great editorial cartoonist Pat Oliphant donated a great deal of his papers to the University of Virginia. Last Fall the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library had sorted through enough of the material to set up a very good exhibit of the master cartoonist.Oliphant: Unpacking the Archive runs […]

Mr. Fitz came along this morning as the third part of an odd bit of synchronicity, which is a fancy word for “coincidence” that assumes the cosmos does these things on purpose.To deal with the cartoon first of all, this is, unfortunately, something that will ring true with good teachers and probably won’t be seen […]

The (Springfield) Republican had carried the Ask Shagg comic strip by Peter Guren.With the feature ending, editor Cynthia G. Simison asked Peter about his past…For the next two years, Guren says, he worked among an inspiring group of cartoon artists, many of whom were just like him, pitching their comic strip ideas to syndicates. “It […]

Cartoonist Steve Stiles has passed away.Stephen Willis Stiles July 16, 1943 – January 11, 2020 Steve Stiles is a cartoonist I recognize from his underground comix work. His work appeared in comix books with irresistible titles like Dope Comix and Bizarre Sex. In some box around here I have those floppies, along with his solo Hyper […]

Mickey Mouse first appeared in an animated short in the Fall of 1928 and was an instant hit.By the next Summer:The popular Mickey cartoons piqued the interest of J.V. Connelly of King Features Syndicate, who proposed the release of a Mickey Mouse comic strip as early as June 1929. The Disney Studio soon went to […]

Let’s start the week with a surprise: They still make Gravy Train.Well, I was surprised, anyway.Sherman’s Lagoon has been toying with this little dog shark for several days and it’s been a fun arc, but today’s stopped me, because I thought, of all the time-worn irrelevant references in comic strips, Gravy Train really stood out.That […]

The Roanoke (Va.) Times has changed its Sunday Funnies roster.Six are dropped from the Sunday edition Agnes, Doonesbury, For Better or For Worse, Get Fuzzy, Red and Rover, Speed Bump.Twelve are added to the Sunday edition Andy Capp, B.C., Beetle Bailey, Big Nate, Dennis the Menace, Foxtrot, Marmaduke, Mutts, Shoe, Snuffy Smith, The Family Circus, […]

We covered this new comic feature by Steve Breen earlier; but today it is official (with instructions and today’s date):CAPTION IT! by Steve Breen January 12, 2020 – weekly Creators SyndicateIt can be seen on the Creators site, GoComics, which carries the Creators strips, has not yet added it to their comics page.

Jim Scancarelli used his Sunday space to honor the history of his Gasoline Alley strip, and do homage to the strip’s creator Frank King.Jim did his research for those throwback panels.  Gasoline Alley January 15, 1921  Gasoline Alley February 2, 1921  Gasoline Alley April 16, 1921  Gasoline Alley January 14, 1921 Great job Jim!Gasoline Alley can […]

Newspaper reporter Ken Fuson has passed away.Ken Fuson, born June 23, 1956, died Jan. 3, 2020 at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, of liver cirrhosis, and is stunned to learn that the world is somehow able to go on without him.Journalist Ken Fuson wrote his own (wonderful) obituary.In lieu of flowers, Ken asked that everyone […]

I wouldn’t have brought up Harry and Meghan so prematurely the other day if I’d realized how much their decision to put their marriage ahead of parental expectations was going to explode into an international incident.I like Steve Sack‘s take because it tells the tale so simply, like finding out that Orr paddled all the […]

In sequential panels cartoonist Jerry Craft, for the New York Times Book Review, tells how comic books were a portal to “heavier” literature.[Aside: Science backs up Jerry.]The Review notes that, “Jerry Craft is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel “New Kid,” winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature.”Which makes me […]

David Fitzsimmons sets the scene, to the extent that you can set a scene which, as he notes, changes and shifts and contradicts itself at every moment.Secretary of State Pompeo demonstrated the kind of fancy-dancing necessary to serve in this Cabinet at his news conference yesterday, at which the press asked him obnoxious questions like […]