The Daily Cartoonist

Looks good. I’ll look forward to it.

Too bad it’s such a politicized feature, as I believe the same feature minus the politics could go a long way toward bringing those “younger readers” in that we keep hearing newspapers want. It’s a real shame that the comics page can no longer be about entertainment, but has to be the equivalent of an editorial cartoon series in order to get an editor’s attention. And since you brought up Prickly City and Mallard Fillmore, may I say in comparison that at least Prickly City does have some entertainment value, while IMHO Mallard Fillmore should never see ink beyond the op-ed page. Too often, Mallard is seen as the antithesis of Doonesbury, and it’s just… not. Anyway, looking at your sample, I would say health insurance premiums are everyone’s problem, not just the left, so maybe there’s some hope for this feature yet.

Jeff,

It’s funny, that the existance of comics itself is pretty much thanks to political satire, when artists used this medium to make fun of political enviroment with what would become editorial cartoons.

Comic Strips with political message had been around since, well ever. Look at some strips considered “classics”, like “Yellow Kid”, which had social commentary; “Little Orphan Annie”, which was against FDR’s “New Deal” policy; “Pogo” went after Joseph McCarthy; “Li’l Abner” preached liberal (later conservative) messages during its run, and that’s just starters.

Generally, political strips doesn’t bother me (although in my case, it’s because I am political) but while people are free to disagree with the notion of politics being discussed at all in the comics page, one thing’s for sure, it is not a new thing.

There’s just been way too much politics/social commetary in the regular comic pages lately and not enough simply funny, non preachy humor. Most people read the comics to escape for a minute or two from the worries of everyday life.

Hmmm… Charles makes an excellent point here, which I hadn’t considered. Maybe it’s an okay thing to have one or two “editorial” strips on the funny page, the same as we have Mary Worth and The Phantom. But all too often, these things oughtta be on the op-ed pages (MF and Doonesbury in particular). From what I’ve seen, I like the art style. Maybe we’ll be fortunate and the strip will lean away from the wackier fringes of politics and be entertaining in its own right.

Oh, by the way, my C & H reference in the previous article had more to do with the influence of Watterson’s style on the sample art, not that I saw this as a knock-off of some type.

;D

Editorial cartoons had their roots in social commentary, as most early American newspapers were begun by partisan political parties, groups, and individuals. But just as capitalists began buying newspapers to create a profitable business, and just as journalistic excellence came to be about non-partisanship, so too did newspaper cartoons move into the entertainment field with the advent of the comic strip. Newspaper visionaries such as Hearst and Patterson worked with cartoonists to create what became wildly popular comic features designed to draw people to the newspapers as a way of increasing sales. There was also an element of competiveness involved. So the comic strip was not borne of the editorial cartoon, but of the entertainment business. Yes, Annie and Abner did offer *some* social commentary but it could be weeks and even months before it cropped up, as it was not considered a purpose of the strips. This was before multiplexes, TV series, comic books, and even radio series. The point was that they were offering a mass entertainment that could not be found anywhere else. Comic strips still remain a medium created primarily for newspapers, yet newspapers have treated them badly. Long live the Internet as the new medium for comic strips.

Edison Lee is a predictable and repetitive strip without imagination. How many times can you reprhrase a joke about how poorly you think the government is mismanaged? If I want to hear the regular rantings about overspending or bad policies, I’ll visit the editorial page. Keep Edison Lee out of my comics.

The misinformation promulgated in the 1-28-07 comic strip of “Edison Lee” is so inaccurate, incorrect and painfully partisan that I feel compelled to attempt reasoning with Mr. Hambrock. Are you an older citizen on the Medicare Part D plan? I think not because surely your dramatic savings would preclude such a ridiculous premise. I realize it’s just a cartoon, but I fear for your state of mind. There are plenty of issues on which the government could do better. Why choose one that is a quiet success benefiting thousands of people? Please get out of your lock-step leftism and admit that sometimes the present administration does something right. Don’t try to mess it up for those of us who need this enlightened program. We can buy groceries or help with a grandchild’s education with what we save.

Anne, this administration’s medicare plan, strongarmed through by Republican leadership bullies in an shocking middle-of -the-night session, is nothing more than a shocking
waste of taxpayer dollars and a pure and monumentally huge giveaway to drug companies.

To make it ILLEGAL for the govt. to negotiate for lower drug prices? How much more direct a pickpocketing of the taxpayer to further enrichen Merck, Pfizer, et al one could one imagine?

It’s an immoral disaster that needs immediate scuttling.

This is actually is a very well drawn and well written comic strip, comparable to Retail. Even though I am not an American and nor in the US I am able to fully relate to it.

Hey, heres somthing interesting: http://www.2theadvocate.com

The paper’s having a poll on wheaher to keep Cathy or Edison.

I personally think people should vote Edison. I mean, I read the guy’s bio, it took him 15 years to get syndicated, 6 of which was spent on this strip. He deserves some support.

Yo,its me Keegan Hambrock……type back….

[...] (You heard it here first: In place of FoxTrot, the Pantagraph will be picking up a brand-new strip, “The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee” by John [...]