Start with the one that’s simply here because it made me laugh, as Dog Eat Doug often does.My only commentary is that it scared me a little, since the day Doug talks, the strip’s appeal ends, because it’s based on he and Sophie being at the same level.Doug must never speak, except to Sophie.Beside, in […]
The big theme in political cartooning this week has been “inevitability” crossed with a bit of “what have we done?” and Scott Stantis spent the week asking that question in Prickly City. I like that both his liberal and his conservative characters are appalled. First of all, it’s politically accurate: Neither party has a lot to […]
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 […]
Brace yourself for negativity. The flood of “Fred is Dead” cartoons is about to hit.But one of the first out of the gate was this refreshingly decent take by Joe Heller.”How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world,” Portia observed.Joe has it right, but, based on […]
Dave Kellett on what may be the most annoying feature of an increasingly annoying Internet. As it happens, I ranted about LinkedIn almost exactly a year ago. I signed up because everyone said you had to sign up, then realized there was no real point in it and tried to escape, but, like Sheldon’s grandfather, I […]
Pardon My Planet is a flashback not just to my days in an office, but to a particular set of them.I’ve mentioned more than once (including recently) a situation in which my employer began what might be, under the right conditions, termed “constructive dismissal.”The details don’t matter a whole lot, except that I was given […]
My freshman year, I had a history course taught by the department head, which consisted of two very entertaining and informative lectures by him and a test section by his teaching assistants that had nothing to do with the lectures but was based instead on reading assignments.The history course I subsequently took in summer school […]
Joe Martin doesn’t do political cartoons, but today’s Willie ‘n Ethel pretty much sums up the current situation and does it better than the “on the one hand, on the other” political cartoonists who simply repeat the same tired “Congress sucks” blame-sharing cartoons. We are media prisoners of the moronically “even-handed” approach to coverage ably […]
This is like being stuck at the airport. Not like being stuck in an elevator. We’ve got access to bathrooms. That makes a big difference, but we’re still not going anywhere for awhile. And I’d rather sit here than have Capt. Obama feel pressured to take off into a blizzard so I could be part of a […]
After yesterday’s conceptual extravaganza, I’m resting my brain, with the help of this silly “The Flying McCoys” panel.One of the questions anyone in the arts faces is “Where do you get your ideas?”There’s no real answer to that, because the really complex ideas start and build and grow … but the dumb ones, at least […]
The Reubens were last night, and, while I don’t think much of awards in general, I do like the idea of people getting together, particularly people who tend to otherwise work in well-lighted garrets, in isolation from anyone who does what they do.And, while even a Pulitzer won’t protect you from the beancounters these days […]
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” […]
I’m currently working on a series for kids about Theodore Roosevelt and conservation, and, as part of that, was going through political cartoons of the era.This two page spread by Puck cartoonist L.M. Glackens ran in that publication in 1906, when William Randolph Hearst was a candidate for governor of New York (click on it […]
Over at Daily Kos, Jen Sorensen riffs on what happened when our children stepped into the crossfire between — among — those who care about them and the hordes of science haters, Obama haters, radical anarchists and lobbyists.Poor little mushrooms just popped up and got mowed down. Never had a chance.For those who missed it, […]
Jen Sorensen isn’t the first cartoonist to work with the concept that the president has gone too far for too little, or that the Republicans are being not simply stubborn but purposefully obstructive. But I like the blandness of this Slowpoke, the way the matter-of-fact depictions clash with the absurd demands they illustrate.There are aspects […]