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 […]

I stumbled over the New Yorker Cartoons of the Year 2015 on the newstand and wasn’t sure at first if it was the current issue or a special, but it’s a special.Or, one might say, a softcover book with a very soft cover, since it’s basically a thick (perfect bound) magazine with the only ads […]

(Arlo & Janis) (Anne and God)Let’s start the day with this Juxtaposition.Janis is right: Market forces determine what’s available. If nobody watched the violent, fear-inducing, division-creating, hateful crap on TV and in the movies, they’d stop making it.Arlo is right: Knowing that enough of our fellow-citizens enjoy this toxic garbage to keep it around is […]

I’ll admit from the start that this is not my favorite time of year. Back in the days of listservs, I had a filter set to automatically delete any email that contained the phrase “Twas the night before,” because there was never anything entertaining in the satiric doggerel that followed.And I wish Facebook would figure […]

Tom Racine’s latest Tall Tale Radio podcast episode is now available. Head over to Tall Tale Radio and give it a listen. In this episode: Bill Morrison, whose artistic resume would take up several blog posts by itself, joins me to talk about his amazing career and the path it has taken.  From working in […]

I certainly didn’t go to bed last night wondering what today’s topic would turn out to be. Rather, the question was, which cartoon would be the lead?Clay Jones gets the nod, for having combined the central theme of weariness in his cartoon with an essay that tipped the balance in an otherwise dead heat.Not only am […]

(Jack Ohman) (Phil Hands)I’m going to start with what should be the low-hanging fruit.Obviously, the increasing threats and attacks on Planned Parenthood are tied to the increasingly irresponsible accusations against the organization. And, obviously, it is just as unfair to blame all Christians or all Muslims for horrific acts carried out by the most radical, unhinged […]

I know I’ve mentioned the documentary “Very Semi-Serious” here before. It will air next Monday on HBO. I was kindly offered a sneak peak last night (which was also the night of the screening in New York City with the New Yorker cast of cartoonists – wouldn’t that have been fun to attend).A few thoughts […]

I start each day here with a relatively clean slate, but it’s impossible not to anticipate things a bit.Sometimes it’s as direct as a cartoon posted late in the day to which my response is, “Well, it’s gonna take a lot tomorrow morning to push THAT one off the page.”And sometimes it’s less specific.I came out […]