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Miss Cellany in Wanderland

Cartoonists of The New Yorker; Henrik Rehr; Ian Jones’ Bushy Tales; R. J. Matson’s 2024 revue; Scott Adams on drones; Jenny Jinya on Death; Eddie Campbell’s Kate Carew; Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes; Fleischer Brothers’ Inkwell Imps.

On November 21 at the Rizzoli Bookstore on Broadway, At Wit’s End: Cartoonists of The New Yorker received its official launch. The book includes Alen MacWeeney’s striking photographs of more than fifty New Yorker cartoonists past and present with accompanying profiles by Michael Maslin and a select sampling of cartoons. This is the first book celebrating the centennial of cartoonists at The New Yorker. One hopes there will be more. 

Stephen Nadler shows off his signed copy of At Wit’s End: Cartoonists of The New Yorker that doubles as a preview.

As of this writing, Rizzoli [Bookstore] still has books signed by the authors available on its website here.

Cartoonist Michael Maslin posted an extensive account of the book launch event on his Ink Spill blog here.

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You may remember Henrik Rehr as “Rehr MIK” the cartoonist for the last 17 years of Ferd’nand. Or maybe as the author of Tuesday, his personal tale of 9-11. Or his many international comics. Now he has partnered with Jan Solheim.

Wretched follows a woman lost in a feverish, distorted world where language, trust, and reality fracture.

Previews World interviews Henrik and Jan about their new graphic novel.

What inspired the surreal and crime-driven narrative of Wretched?

I emigrated from Denmark to the U.S. in 1992 and the experience of suddenly being in a different and somewhat unfamiliar culture, sparked the idea for the mood of the story.

How did your experience in Danish comics influence the story’s structure and themes?

It didn’t. The structure and themes had nothing specific to do with Denmark. I grew up reading books and comics and watching movies and TV-shows from all over the world. Any ideas I get are born out of that mix.

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36th Annual Cartoon Awards held in Coffs Harbour.

An extra special Rotary Cartoon Awards was held last night, following a year of uncertainty at Coffs Harbour’s National Cartoon Gallery.

It’s the 36th year the awards have been staged, featuring the best cartoonists from around Australia.

NBN News, in a two minute segment reports on the Rotary Cartoon Awards that rewarded Bushy Tales cartoonist Ian Jones for Cartoon of the Year and Best Comic Strip.

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Hmmm., guess I had better get busy assembling mine.

Besides the seemingly endless campaigns, 2024 also saw monumental Supreme Court decisions, budget fights and more. Roll Call cartoonist R.J. Matson was on hand, once again, to offer his unique take on a year full of extraordinary events. These are some of the highlights from this year’s Capitol Ink.

2024 recaps are beginning to appear – here is Roll Call’s selection of R. J. Matson editorial cartoons.

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above: Dilbert Reborn via Reddit Dilbert

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t the only Congressional influencer.

In case you haven’t heard or been paying attention, there have been numerous drone sightings over New Jersey and people are pretty up in arms about it. No ones seems to know anything and it’s causing quite a commotion. One woman who thinks she knows what’s going on is genius-in-her-own-mind Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene is latching on to a theory by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, and claiming there’s more going on. What a thinker.

We Got This Covered covers the Scott Adams – Marjorie Taylor Greene connection.

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Death takes us away in mysterious ways. And while we can’t know for sure when or how we’ll leave this world, it’s the fact itself that we have to make peace with. Exploring the possibilities of the afterlife, artist Jenny Jinya created a few sad comics, and they’re really touching as well.

The Same Artist Who Made People Cry With Her Comic ‘Good Boy’ Just Shared A New One With A Black Cat – from Bored Panda via MSN. More info: jenny-jinya.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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Kate Carew: America’s First Great Woman Cartoonist [link added] is a carefully compiled, linear history of Carew’s career, authored by veteran comics legend Eddie Campbell, with help from the titular artist’s granddaughter, Christine Chambers. Packed with examples of Carew’s work from across her career, it feels beefier than its 160 pages.

Nicholas Burman at The Comics Journal reviews Eddie Campbell‘s new Kate Carew biography.

If I am more respectful of Carew’s work and impact than personally smitten with it, I am enamored with the historical work undertaken here by Campbell. It restrains itself from hyperbole and theoretical rabbit holes, and in this way allows the work and its artist to exist not through a filter but how they actually were. That Carew’s work carries some of the baggage of her epoch, and even more persistent bugbears, does not detract from the undeniable impact she had as an innovator not only as a female journalist but as a cartoonist, too. Kate Carew: America’s First Great Woman Cartoonist is a clear and invaluable guide to a historical figure who embodied a pivotal time where mass media, cartooning and the suffragette movement intersected.

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The director of ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’ opens up about the turbulent journey to bring the first animated Looney Tunes film to the screen in more than 80 years. “We made an indie Looney Tunes movie through Warner Bros. — how surreal is that?”

Scott Roxborough at The Hollywood Reporter tells of the tortured path to complete the Looney Tunes movie.

The Day the Earth Blew Up was planned as an original movie for Max but, like many WB projects — see Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme — fell prey to restructuring following Warner Bros. merger with Discovery in early 2022. Warner allowed the producers to shop it around to independent buyers. After its world premiere at the Annecy Animation Film Festival this year, Ketchup Entertainment, an indie distributor not known for its kids’ programming (previous releases include Hellboy: The Crooked Man and Robert Rodriguez’ Hypnotic), snatched up domestic rights. The film will get an Oscar-qualifying run on December 13, before its 1,500-screen bow in February.

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In other animation news 1928’s KoKo’s Earth Control is one of 28 films added to the National Film Registry.

above: from the UCLA Film & Television Archive

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