Defending a Student’s Right to Cartoon In the case of Gretna High School administrators censoring an Aiden McClaren editorial cartoon. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has heard about the case and is now involved: On April 7, FIRE’s Student Press Freedom Initiative wrote to Gretna Public Schools to urge the school board […]
The 86th Peabody Award nominees have been announced. The Art Spiegelman documentary “Art Spiegelman Disaster Is My Muse” made the list of 20 films up for the award in the documentary category. From the nomination description: This documentary explores the life and work of Art Spiegelman, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” […]
Cartoonist, illustrator, artist Dave Kirwan has passed away. David Michael (Dave) Kirwan June 15, 1951 – April 4, 2026 From the obituary: It was during his childhood spent watching late-night monster movies and creating scenery for summer theater productions that his love for drawing and painting first took hold, as did his eternal fervor for […]
The responses to Dear Leader’s weird, profane Easter message are arriving, but most offer nothing you didn’t see here already. Also, it turns out Ed Wexler’s “Pottymouth President” cartoon that I led with yesterday was a repost from 2019; it’s still a good cartoon but that’s how little news value there is in questioning Dear […]
Featuring John Rose (and Fred LAsswell), Liana Finck, Rob Rogers, Liza Donnelly, Amy Kurzweil, Kate Isenberg, and Polly Lou Adams. John Rose Keeps ‘Snuffy Smith’ In The Funny Pages West Virginia Public Broadcasting interviewed cartoonist John Rose: The hillbilly stereotype is frequently used to shame mountain people, but there are gentler versions, like Snuffy Smith, […]
April sees guest artists continuing their comic strip appearances. Mimi Simon opens her third of four weeks as Rex Morgan M.D. guest artist as Terry Beatty recovers from heart surgery. Terry is scheduled to return as artist with the April 19, 2026 Sunday page. Sandy Jarrell continues into his second week of an extended stint […]
This being Easter Monday, my jaunt through the cartoons was quick, with most cartoonists apparently pausing for the holiday, which I understand. But Ed Wexler leapt upon Dear Leader’s profane, hostile, unhinged social media posting at least enough to point out how undignified the F-bomb was.It’s fair to note that Trump is not the only […]
And here I thought it was the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in a Leap Year. Around this time of year I give a pop quiz to the kids and grandkids asking when does Easter take place every year. Victor Van Acker answers in one panel. In about six months I’ll be […]
It is Easter Sunday 2001 and newspapers across the country are printing articles about a comic strip that is appearing in the color comic supplement. Easter 2001 saw a religious difference of opinion break out when cartoonist Johnny Hart used his B.C. comic strip Sunday page to celebrate his Christian religion that some Jewish leaders […]
The Secretary of Greasy Kid Stuff is hardly the first leader to pervert the message of Christ into a call for killing. As noted here before, while in the West the word “crusade” has come to mean pursuing a goal, in the days of the Iraq War we discovered that, in the Middle East, it […]
The Invention of the Mass Media, a Printing Revolution; Resizing Newspaper Comic Strips; The Tradition of Comic Art Satire; and Leo Baxendale. The Invention of Mass Media The Grolier Club’s The Second Printing Revolution: Invention of Mass Media exhibit ends in a week: This exhibition tells the story of the second printing revolution that took […]
The annual Christmas comic strips from Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) that ran from 1936 to 2010 are well-known, not so well-known are the Easter comics strips that ran for a few years in the 1950s.We turn to The Little Blue Duck by Walt Scott that ran in the two weeks leading up to Easter 1955.
We’ll warm up this morning with this NYTimes gem that’s been going around social media for the past 24 hours. It’s a reminder once again that reporters don’t write headlines but eejits sometimes do.Much of my work as a reporter was large Sunday business features, and I took to dropping by the paper Saturday to […]
New(ish) Flash Gordon Artist Monday, March 30, saw Dan Schkade share creator credits with artist Sandy Jarrell on Flash Gordon. Sandy was one of the guest artists last year in the Lowland Station Tales, now he has returned as the daily and Sunday artist for the foreseeable future – meaning at least through next week. […]
Colorado cartoonist Matt Scharf has passed away. Matthew J. (Matt) Scharf August 21, 1961 – March 30, 2026From the obituary: Matt J Scharf died suddenly on March 30th at his home in Steamboat. Matt was a proud long-time local, sharing his cartoons and graphic design through his publication, “The Valley Voice”. He was also a […]