After 22 years as the editorial cartooning voice of The Record (NJ), Jimmy Margulies was laid off last week. What has become tradition when a staff cartoonist loses their job, I present the Jimmy Margulies exit interview.AG: When we talked in December you indicated that things were stable at the paper. How much notice were […]
Student physicists from the University of Leicester have theoretically proven that spider webs, if scaled up in size, could have in fact stopped a runaway train as scene in Spider-Man 2 (see video below to refresh memory).From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: The students determined that a real spider’s web would, in a proportional scenario, be […]
The Boston Globe has an interesting story about how the Massachusetts Republicans tried to convince Li’l Abner creator Al Capp to run for the Senate. The difficulties that Massachusetts Republicans face in recruiting Senate candidates are nothing new. In 1970 they needed someone to challenge the young Senator Edward Kennedy, and they went so far […]
For the second year in a row, an “altie” has won the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. The 2013 winner announced today goes to Dan Perkins (AKA Tom Tomorrow) creator of This Modern World. Judging this year’s entries were last year’s winner Matt Bors, Jenny Rob of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at […]
Pat Bagley on the current economic standoff.I like his graphic invocation of “The American People Are On Our Side.” Yes, they are, except for the majority who voted in favor of the Other Guy last November. The whole idea of sequestration was that it proposed a solution so horrendous that cooler heads would prevail before it […]
The National Cartoonists Society has announced that this year’s Silver T-Square Award will be presented to Universal Uclick editor and President Lee Salem. Lee has been one of the most influential editors in comics having discovered and cultivated some of the most iconic comics in newspapers including: Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), […]
The original Calvin & Hobbes auctioned off by Brian Bassett’s ex-wife has been sold for a handsome $65,725 (link requires login). Late last year, the Red and Rover and Adam@Home sold an original hand-colored watercolor Sunday strip of Bill Wattereson’s famous comic strip for $203,150.For perspective on this auction, back in 2008, a daily Peanuts […]
A pair of story arcs are beginning this week that promise to comment on the flavor of our times. The major one is in Doonesbury, addressing the death of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s rule, “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.”We’ve always had spin and interpretation and selective perception, […]
As I was going through this morning’s strips, I was struck by the number of cartoonists who did really good work, not by “showing up” in the sense of turning something in on time, but in the sense of simply working well within their established mode.That is, in the sense of having a good “groove” […]
The nice thing about Frazz is that you don’t have to wonder if Jef Mallett is passing on some silly rumor, especially when fitness is involved, given that he is a bit obsessive on the topic.But triathlons aside, the strip is based on intelligent exchanges, and, if Caulfield says Michael Phelps pees in the pool, […]
Tina’s Groove creator Rina Piccolo on why writing for syndicated comics sucks sometimes: This brings to mind the notion that comics – especially the ones in newspapers – are for kids. That is a crazy idea that only two types of people can entertain: those who are ignorant of comics, and those who are just […]
Taking on an additional post to “David Silverman on Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’” post earlier, is another interview by The Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks.Via: The Animation Blog
David Silverman, animator/supervising director of The Simpsons, directed an animated short (Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’) that is up for an Academy Award this weekend. The short debuted before Ice Age: Continental Drift and was broadcast on Fox this last Sunday after the Simpsons. Hollywood reporter interviewed David about the short and The Simpsons.
From Tom Richmond’s blog: I saw an unboxing video of this book some weeks ago and blogged about it being a drool-worthy, albeit expensive, item. Afraid it would sell out quickly, I immediately ordered a copy, much to the chagrin of my gift-idea-starved wife. I just got my copy and I can safely say it’s […]
Jen Sorensen on the imminent demise of the postal service.The USPS faces a combination of factors similar to that which has been so hard on newspapers: Genuine financial issues compounded by fashionable disdain (“snail mail” — Oh, how terribly clever! How whimsically amusing!).Well, except that — as she notes on her blog — the “genuine” […]