To my readers, may you enjoy whatever holiday you observe this time of year.  

Stick with me through the grim stuff and then we’ll lighten up. In the aftermath of the GOP debate, I wondered if anyone else had heard the parts I heard, because the punitry seemed to focus on refugees and terrorism, while chuckling over Trump’s ignorance of a technical term a president should probably know and […]

The first issue of “The American Bystander” has begun arriving at Kickstarter supporter addresses, and the one update to their original plan is that they did print more copies than just for their initial supporters.It’s an odd but appealing project, explained best by publisher Mike Gerber in the Kickstarter video. The goals were modest, to […]

I make no secret of my affection for Rip Kirby, but I don’t think it’s favoritism to declare today’s (well, July 31, 1956’s) strip to be the winner for best dialogue.In the new arc that started yesterday, this actress got a review in which it was suggested she’s no longer an ingenue, and she’s blaming […]

The Knight Life ponders the weird gap between the role models we offer our kids and the roles we expect them to model.Thus was it ever, Keefe, though you do have to differentiate between the characters parents provide to their children versus the characters kids find on their own.When I was researching a story about […]

Romanian cartoonist Pavel Constantin drew this cynical view of the climate talks before the agreement was announced, and I say “cynical” because, while real trees would be at least a partial solution, that tree is, in fact, simply a car deodorizer. Which raises two points:1. It looks like the agreement actually does do more than cover […]

I could probably use my Andy Rooney pics for nearly everything today, because I seem to be stuck in Old Fart Mode. Oh well. It’s always worth the price of admission here. For instance, On The Fastrack made me scroll back my memory bar, and I think the last time I got a Christmas bonus was 1981.Do […]

Kudos to Mark Tatulli for the timing of today’s Lio, which reminded me to go ahead and post my 12-year-old reporter’s review of “In the Heart of the Sea,” which opens today. This is her raw copy, but I’m not making a lot of edits for the weekly publication and I hope Lio can smuggle […]

The late Rex Babin, editorial cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee, was honored with the Mark Twain Award for Journalistic Excellence by the California Press Foundation. His family received the award on his behalf. From the Sacramento Bee Babin, 49, died in March 2012 after a 15-month struggle with cancer. The annual award honors writers and cartoonists […]

Exciting news from Kenosha Festival of Cartooning founder and Director Anne Morse Hambrock. Next year’s line up will include: Ann Telnaes, Jen Sorensen, Wiley Miller, John Hambrock, Rob Harrell and Eddie Pittman. This is a great line-up.The festival will run September 15-17.

Terry LaBan has announced that his strip, Edge City, that he co-created with his wife Patty will be retired this month after a 15-year run.Along with citing the grind of churning out a strip day after day as part of the rationale, Terry also cites that comics no longer hold a position of relevance in […]

Start with a fun one, from Piranha Club, where Bud Grace has been expounding on the pleasures of cruise ship vacations. For my part, you don’t have to exaggerate to make me not want to take one of these trips, though I’d be willing to book passage on a freighter, which is a thing you can […]

My first reaction to Brandan Reynolds’ cartoon was the realization that, while normally a South African commentary on US politics would provoke a knee-jerk “What business is it of yours?” response, Donald Trump is an international issue and not just our own problem.Which, to start with, is the natural result of our sticking our nose […]

Let’s lead off with some non-political short takes. Monty is particularly well-timed for me, because I was streaming the Sopranos yesterday while I did dishes, and I have to say, people in that show sure got a lot of phone calls.About the fourth time I wiped my hands and reached for my pocket, it occurred […]

(Rudy Park) (Phil Hands)In 1979, our seven-year-old’s best friend’s parents were going through a divorce, and we worried about how it would effect him. He knew kids of single parents, but this was the first time he’d seen a marriage break up. So when “Kramer vs Kramer” came out that year, we took him to […]