I bought my fair share of mass market paperbacks (mmpb) in my youth: classics, science fiction, detective, World War Two, and, of course, comicbacks. These books have declined in sales and will be much harder to find as Readerlink, the largest distributor in North America, is reportedly stopping distribution of them at the end of the […]
There’s a lot to like in this cartoon, starting with the dim lighting that counters the bold bragging about a golden age most people aren’t seeing, and the absolute normalness of the woman and child who walk past the shouting speech, getting on with lives that are neither wretched nor glorious.We see the stories of […]
“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Well it is certainly taking its time, we’ll see which way it leans.From Ryan Hooper, Daily Mail Crime Correspondent: The former leader of the British National Party (BNP) has appeared in court charged with two counts of […]
“The joy of Dilbert: Scott Adams brightened our lives by mocking everyday indignities” James Bovard of The New York Post writes a eulogy for the still-living Scott Adams: Scott Adams, the cartoonist who gave the world “Dilbert,” is suffering mightily in the final throes of cancer. After he departs this vale of tears, his glorious […]
‘If seven maids with seven mopsSwept it for half a year,Do you suppose,’ the Walrus said,‘That they could get it clear?’‘I doubt it,’ said the Carpenter,And shed a bitter tear.As noted here the other day, there has been a prodigious amount of black ink spilled on cartoons since the non-release of the Epstein files, but […]
We’ve fallen behind on noting Alex Garcia’s Inside the Kingdom interviews; so… Finding the Funny in the Everyday: Hilary Price and Rhymes With Orange What makes a comic quietly brilliant? In this episode of Inside the Kingdom, we sit down with Hilary Price, the award-winning creator of Rhymes With Orange. Since 1995, Hilary’s strip has […]
The top tier of Jeff Mallett‘s treatise on Christmas traditions in today’s Frazz hits on the American Santa Claus as a long-standing part of Yuletide season, ending with Thomas Nast‘s personification of the elflord. The Birth of a Holiday and the American Santa ClausYesterday Talmadge Boston for The Dallas Morning News told us the story […]
Christmas greetings from First Dog, who gets special placement today because he likes mince pies and fruitcake. I’ve made something of a tradition here of mocking cartoons that mock fruitcake, because it’s a grownup treat and so takes a lot of unwarranted abuse. But here’s a strip from 2002 that explains what has happened to […]
In Oklahoma The Claremore Progress is reorganizing. Much of its “syndicated, non-local content” will be moved to their website leaving more room for local news and affairs in the print edition. The twice weekly print (daily online) newspaper informed their readers here (or here): The Claremore Progress will shift more syndicated, non-local content to its […]
With Calvin and Hobbes, Lum and Abner, Dick Tracy, Luann, Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) and Tom Toro, and Dee Parson (Rosebuds).a boy and his tiger still matter Bradley Worrell for Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine writes of the eduring love for Calvin and Hobbes: When teaching his popular course on comic books and graphic novels, William Kuskin’s classroom […]
Donald Trump is not a lame duck. No offense to Wexler, who is just passing along the current meaning of the term, but the original meaning mattered.The term comes from before 1933, when newly elected officials didn’t take office until March. That left a four month period that featured legislators who had no mandate and […]
“For those who came in late.” The Phantom Story: A lone survivor of a pirate raid is washed ashore on a Bangalla beach and vows to fight injustice. But what happened between those two panels of survivor and oath?We have occasionally had hints. Earlier this year DePaul and Mike Manley gave a two week treatment […]
Todd Spangler for Variety reports: Sony is paying more than a few peanuts to get majority ownership of Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts franchise featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown and more. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) announced that they entered into a definitive agreement with Canadian media company WildBrain to indirectly acquire all […]
I don’t know how many times I’ve alluded to this, but if you’re never seen Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, it’s time you did, because the question of “truth and illusion” is currently far more relevant than it was 60 years ago. The drama is a cross between Theatre of the Absurd plays like Endgame […]
Comic artist and ed-op page illustrator Randy Jones has passed away.Randy Glenn Jones May 7, 1949 – December 12, 2025 From the Randy Jones entry at Lambiek: [Jones] received his artistic training at H.B. Beal Technical school in London, Ontario. Upon graduation, Jones moved to Toronto, where his first illustration job was ‘Goethe’s Faust’ for […]