When I gave the advice “Dare to be stupid!” what I meant was that silly jokes are fun. I wasn’t advising deliberate stupidity in the political realm, which is disloyal.There is spin, and Adam Zyglis mocks the spin of those who don’t mind running up a deficit for a wall, but who can’t see how […]

 A stretch of coastline in France has reported an unusual item repeatedly washing up on its shores over the last 30 years – in the form of a famously lasagne-loving orange cat. According to a report from the French-language broadcasterFrancetvinfo.fr, retro telephones in the shape of Garfield – the comic strip cat created in 1978 […]

In June 1940, the same month Will Eisner’s The Spirit debuted his Comic Book Section, Dale Messick‘s Brenda Starr first appeared in the Chicago Tribune Comic Book Magazine, a newspaper insert that had shown up three months earlier. Brenda Starr – Reporter began as a two-part Sunday only strip in the comic book on June 30, […]

(Rip Kirby)(Big Ben Bolt)Call this the “Juxtaposition of Nagging.” Over in the Vintage section at Comics Kingdom, Rip Kirby is just starting a new adventure, while Ben Bolt is at the climax of another.Offering these classic strips to those who pony up $20 a year to subscribe is better than a tote bag and a […]

While newspapers continue to drop Non Sequitur (though at a far slower rate), those who have dropped it continue to get letters about the action. With the pro-Wiley Miller faction far outweighing those who agree with the papers’ decision to drop Non Sequitur.Now there seems to be an organized push to return the comic strip […]

 The Return of Maakies??!!Tony Millionaire‘s alternative comic strip Maakies ran from 1994 to 2016. It kinda returned in late 2018 as a coloring book.Now Tony is teasing the return: “MAAKIES DRINKY CROW! Coming back in March, multi-platform.”But in what format? Where? I need to know more!  Sports Cartoonists are Nearly ExtinctBut here’s a four minute segment […]

We start with a mere fragment of an Existential Comics episode, the rest of which is hilarious, in which a procession of philosophers question Aladdin’s “princeness” and, hence, the genie’s honesty and/or competence.This cartoon pits my hatred of plot holes against my hatred of metaphysics, which makes for an interesting cage match.The traditional first meeting […]

 It’s Gahan Wilson’s Birthday!Happy Birthday to Gahan Wilson.To celebrate here’s a recent audio interview with the master cartoonist.  Massachusetts Loves Their PicklesTo millions of people the Pickles comic strip is one of the best. Those include loyal readers of The Republican, whose passionate response to cancellation of the strip caused the Springfield newspaper’s executive staff to […]

“Heart of the City” sparks memories not of ceramics class but of shop, since our first project in seventh grade was an aluminum ashtray.We had to cut a round piece of metal, hammer it on a mold so it became a dish with about a half-inch rim, then add the grooves (“rests”) around the rim, […]

The number of newspapers dropping Non Sequitur over a lapse in judgment is approaching double digit dozens. Now fans and readers of Wiley‘s comic are expressing disappointment in the newspapers’ actions and requesting the return of one of their favorite cartoonists. Halltoons by Ed Hall I hope you will reconsider! Non Sequitur is probably one of […]

 In a weekend roundup of editorial cartoonists I linked to an article about Halifax political cartoonist Michael de Adder catching grief about a recent cartoon.The reaction to the cartoon was immediate and strong:…what had people most upset was the depiction of Wilson-Raybould tied and gagged — with some saying it draws an ugly parallel to […]

Arlo resurrects an artifact of the 60s that, yes, I once owned, and Janis is fully justified in her frustration, because what the thing does is to cut down the size of the target by about two-thirds.Wadding up a piece of paper required getting it small enough to pass through the hoop, which meant a […]

 Famed Disney archivist Dave Smith has passed away.David Rollin (Dave) SmithOctober 13, 1940 – February 15, 2019 From the Hollywood Reporter obituary (linked above): Over a 40-year career, Smith created and grew a department for preserving Disney’s films, television projects, theme parks and more in addition to penning several books on Disney history and writing magazine […]

 The Sunday following the unfortunate gaffe in Non Sequitur…Doonesbury by G. B. Trudeau is unable to fully quote President Trump.   

 Heeeee’s Back!Mike Marland, who spent part of 2017 with InDepthNH, the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, has returned to that watchdog group as a regular contributor.  The State of the ArtThe header of this post comes from Rod Emmerson‘s essay on the state of editorial cartooning.So here we are, at the dawn of a […]