(updated with the family’s loving obituary)Editorial cartoonist Dwane Powell has passed away.Drexal Dwane Powell, Jr. November 7, 1944 – April 14, 2019Dwane’s papers are at the University of North Carolina, their biographical note:Drexel Dwane Powell Jr., an editorial cartoonist, was born 7 November 1944 in Lake Village, Arkansas. He began drawing editorial cartoons while in […]
There have been a couple of okay cartoons about the Notre Dame fire and then a raft of weeping gargoyles. I’m going to hold back for a day or so to let more cartoonists weigh in.There’s plenty more out there to comment on, starting with …I was glad to see Darrin Bell recognized with a […]
Only one short month until “America’s Biggest Comic Arts Festival!” Officially it runs May 17 to May 19, 2019, but there’s a signing event on May 16 and a live podcast on May 20th. Get there early and stay late. Like the star of his Badlands comic strip, Steve McGarry is the white hat-wearing good guy riding […]
If seeing Notre Dame Cathedral was on your bucket list, you screwed up.Apparently, parts have been saved, but it will be some time before it’s restored, and then it will be restored, and it will be another century before the restoration feels properly a part of the 850-year-old edifice.But you let other things come first. […]
Comic Strip Cartoonist #10Last month I got the delightful 10th (#10) Anniversary issue of Comic Strip Cartoonist. “Ski” gives us the origin of the magazine, followed by a summary of the first 9 issues. Then we get an enjoyable gallery of comics from cartoonists featured in those nine issues, with an update on what those […]
The Pulitzer Prize organization has announced the 2019 winners. The 2019 winner in the Editorial Cartooning category is Darrin Bell.“For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities calling out lies, hypocrisy, and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration.” Finalists for the Editorial Cartooning category are: Ken Fisher, drawing […]
Kal Kallaugher notes the increasingly authoritarian nature of our perverse executive branch as it veers further from its Constitutional moorings and closer to the extremist views of its worst supporters.The Prez seems to be slipping his moorings in all sorts of ways, mostly in that, between his tweets and the formal statements coming from the […]
Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff and Prince Valiant by Harold Foster; yes, even Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse and E. C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre starring Popeye. Those and others have their fans who proclaim them the greatest adventure strips of all time.They are, of course, wrong.The Greatest Adventure Strip Of All Time began 95 […]
Fathers get so little positive play on the comics page that, having been a single dad, I’m gonna lead with today’s Brevity.Cargo shorts notwithstanding, it’s good to see a father in the funnies who isn’t a clueless, annoying loser.My father, who was otherwise very present and attentive, didn’t teach me to shave. I think I […]
Earlier this week was a wonderful interview with cartoonist Jim Keefe talking about his Flash Gordon and Sally Forth comic strips, and the transition from adventure to humor. Also his admiration for John Romita, Al Williamsom, Joe Kubert, and others who preceded him in the field. It is obvious that Jim enjoys comics.About 40 enjoyable […]
Candorville sets the tone for today, and if Lemont and I share a cynical view of society, it’s at least a cynicism based on a sense that we could be a better place if we didn’t simply lack the will.I’ve seen a raft of black hole cartoons with this or that being dragged into it, […]
The new National Cartoonists Society Board of Directors has been announced.2019-2021 NCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jason Chatfield – President Ed Steckley – 1st Vice President John Hambrock – 2nd Vice President Teresa Logan – 3rd Vice President Joe Wos – Secretary Drew Aquilina – Treasurer Greg Cravens – Membership Chair Karen Evans – National Representative Since […]
Earlier this year Gary Varvel accepted the buyout offered by the Indianapolis Star, now he will return to drawing local politics by way of the Indianapolis Business Journal. IBJ will begin featuring editorial cartoons from award-winning cartoonist Gary Varvel, starting with the April 12 issue. Varvel will contribute a cartoon twice a month to IBJ’s op-ed […]
Non Sequitur sets the mood for our weekly retreat from politics, and not a moment too soon.Things have gotten to a point where even sober people feel the need for partisan divide. One of our grocery stores put a few tables in their deli section so people could sit and have a cup of coffee, […]
Gahan Wilson was interviewed last month.As stepson Paul Winters said then:Gahan was interviewed today for a newspaper piece that will probably go out nationwide. The people on the reporting team were very sweet and sensitive to Gahan. Gahan was on his game…speaking about his life and other things. The Arizona Republic story was posted on the […]