So, as long as we’re on the topic of peeking behind the curtain to see the stories behind the comics, here are a couple of other examples.Sherman’s Lagoon is one of my favorites because of Jim Toomey’s deft use of timing and character to create riffs that remind me of the Bob Newhart Show (the […]
This was an exceptionally good day on the comics page, full of doubles and triples and not a few home runs, so let me do a quick NPR rant and say that, if you don’t have a Comics Kingdom and/or GoComics account, well, you’re missing out on supporting some good work, even if you are […]
I mentioned recently that I’m trying to avoid TLDNR Syndrome. Today offers a chance, since a lot of cartoonists have served up strips that require little elaboration.Much as I contend that a good strip makes you laugh because it made you think, there are ones that make you laff, which is different. They still raise […]
Edison Lee takes on a nearly impossible challenge: Coming up with a toy that is more ridiculous and tasteless than what’s already out there.I’m so old. (How old are you?)I’m so old that I can remember when Children’s Television Workshop was about education. Well, I guess it still is.Behold Elmo’s Cell Phone, doing for real […]
Monty strikes at a male obsession appropriate for a three-day weekend. After a couple days of not having to shave, the question comes up of maybe growing some facial hair.Which, by the way, doesn’t relieve you of the need to shave, since nobody’s face grows hair only in the mustache/beard regions.You still have to shave […]
What better, on the day after my blogging site goes down, than this delightful Jen Sorensen rant about Adobe’s toxic lock on graphics and layout?Not only does it continue the theme of our vulnerability to other people’s technical problems, but continues the insights into inner workings. (If you missed yesterday’s posting, please scroll down — […]
(Clay Bennett) (David Horsey)I’ve complained about political cartoonists who didn’t bother to examine the situation in Ukraine before sitting down at their drawing boards (or booting up their drawing boards or whatever one does). I don’t like to belabor a particular current event, but these two pieces certainly deserve mention.Both are by remarkable draftsmen, though […]
I see new people everywhere, starting with a Superhero that Kim, or Sandra Lundy, has been developing for several weeks over at Between Friends. It’s been interesting to have the process be part of the strip, and, to be honest, it’s a good choice to show it this way, because I’m not sure what you […]
It’s been awhile since I’ve had to care about this stuff, but young Edison Lee has an interesting twist on back-to-school shopping.The kid has a way of connecting the dots in a pattern that is sometimes amusingly paranoiac and other times, well, okay, still amusingly paranoiac, but in a way that I can relate to.There […]
Edison Lee coincidentally, and with his usual deadpan elan, provides an entry point for today’s sermonette with an homage to “Bloom County.” Or was that “Opus”?That is, it was Opus the Penguin who famously could not resist infomercials offering turnip twaddlers. But he did it in “Bloom County.” “Bloom County” was a landmark strip that ran […]
Several cartoonists addressing the same topic in their own ways:”Gray Matters” is a relatively new strip by Stuart Carlson and Jerry Resler. It doesn’t have as much Tabasco as I’d like or that you might expect from years of seeing Carlson’s editorial cartoons. It has more of an “ain’t it the truth?” atmosphere, but sometimes, […]
The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee certainly isn’t the first strip to use an imaginary campaign for president as a gag during an election year, but the premise of the strip gives it an advantage, since Edison’s combination of brilliance and naivete regularly steers him away from undue knee-jerk cynicism while keeping him from being […]
Three places you should spend time today, described briefly and linked. No lilies will be gilded in the making of today’s CSOTD.The Big Deal today is emerging reports on the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning, which I really wanted to go to. And, seeing Mike Cope’s extensive collection of photos and Tom Racine’s video makes me […]
One of the recurring gags in the underestimated surrealist comedy, “Green Acres,” was that, just as an apparent need arose, hustler and conman Mr. Haney would appear on the doorstep with a solution.As noted in today’s The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, Mr. Haney’s truck has gone high tech, thanks to Google and our willingness […]
One of my favorite parts of The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee is the stunned incomprehension on the faces of his contemporaries. They’re not hostile to him; they just can’t figure out what this kid is talking about, except that it isn’t what they’re used to.And the realistic part — and, in the creative arts, […]