We’re closing out the year 2010 here soon. The Washington Post has posted their “The Year in Cartoons” featuring Nick Anderson, Pat Bagley, Lisa Benson, Cam Cardow, Danziger, Clay Jones, KAL, Mike Luckovich (4), Jack Ohman (2), Joel Pett, Drew Sheneman, and Scott Stantis.
Newsweek usually posts their year end list. If anyone can find the link, let me know.
I never understand these. I had to pull a bunch of cartoons for my end of the year roundup here, and the cartoon they used of mine didn’t even make the first cut of my top 50 (which was eventually pared to 25). Weird.
Gosh, my heart goes out to you… Me? I am at a complete loss as to why I’m never in these. Maybe I can’t draw.
The NY Times Sunday opinion section did one last week.
Oh, and I’m soliciting cartoonists in the Washington, DC area to tell me what they’re favorite cartoon they did this past year was, and will post the answers on the Washington City Paper’s blog next week.
@Mike: All the more reason to take them with a grain of salt, which is what I was implying. “Best?” Not really.
At least the WP isn’t calling it the “best” – simply “The Year in Cartoons” – it drops the expectations that these are the best of. I haven’t seen the NYT or Newsweeks yet, so I don’t know how they’re labeling.
It probably is one guy deciding and thinking “crap, I have three minutes to do this….I’ll use this…and this”. So yeah, take it with a grain of salt.
It is nice to be included, and being in the Post’s circulation range has turned some heads in my newsroom, which is also nice…and kinda scary. I got a note from my publisher saying “that’s almost as exciting as being printed in the Free Lance-Star” and I don’t know to take that as him being humorous, or defensive.
A mere 1:4 Luckovich to other people ratio is pretty good for one of these things.
@ Clay Jones : I thought yours was the funniest.
These were OK, but some big issues throughout the year were completely avoided.
As has been observed, these things are far from democratic. Should give a clue as to how/what editors think is “good”.
Joe, Thanks! When I pick my cartoons for my newspapers “best of Clay Jones” which runs on New Years eve, I pick mostly local and what were actually the biggest issues. So even when I’m the one deciding what’s going under the title “best”, I’m not actually looking for the best.
Nick, I have no real opinion about the ‘best’ part of things except for it being a marketing thing. Even the 2 annual book collections have a lot of stuff I wonder about especially when Ann Telnaes doesn’t appear the year after she won a Pulitzer.
As far as I know, the WPost one hasn’t run in the paper yet, which is kind of surprising given the online date. They usually do one full page of these on one weekend, and then the following weekend, a full page of Toles (or vice versa). I’m not spending much time reading the Sunday Post since their last round of layoffs, but I think I would have noticed a full page of cartoons.
BTW, the NY Times one isn’t online, but was 2/3 of the page, going up and down.
“I haven?t seen the NYT or Newsweeks yet, so I don?t know how they?re labeling.” -AG
I would suggest you HAVE seen them. If you’ve seen one…
fwiw: This dovetails into Rob Tornoe’s E&P piece: the editor and the cartoonist have forgotten they exist to challenge and entertain their readers. -In that order.
Nick -no disrespect, but unlike moi’, you got a cartoon chosen in a big papers ‘BEST OF’ -so complaining seems a bit OBAMA-ish.
Besides, I liked it.
How about a “worst of..”? That’ll get the tongues wagging.
If anyone cares, the Post put this in print today. 10 cartoons: Sheneman, Kal, Luckovich, Jones, Cardow, Luckovich (again), Stantis, Davies, Pett and Ohman.
Not all the cartoons from the online version made the print version.
They plugged it on the front page with a snippet from one of Luckovich’s and it used the word “best”. You guys can argue about that now.
Hey Mike Lester, you’re in Newsweek’s year end review. It’s listed under “Best of can’t draw” Congrats. The cartoons
are squeezed into the “Interviews” cover story edition for those who missed it. U-DA-MAN!
I’m feelin “dissed”…
Thanks, Jeff Darcy. Quite a surprise and I’m flattered. For those of you hoping to be included in these compilations here’s another in the Professional Cartoonist Advice Series (#0002):
Newsweek chose 9 cartoons. Six of them are by guys named “Mike”. You’re welcome.