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D. D. Degg December 23, 2024 2 minutes 1 comment

SuprDee Parson, Jack Davis, Bill Watterson, Liz Climo. Plus notable comic strip compilations for 2024 and an animation In Memorial for those we lost in 2024.

ANDERSON, Ind. — The bonds and rivalries of three sisters are the focus of a comic strip that is now syndicated in newspapers around the country. The comic behind it all is Deon Parson aka “Super Dee.”

The 29-year-old is only the third syndicated cartoonist in Indiana since Garfield in 1978.

The Rosebud Comic Strip features three characters in Rosa, Maria, Maricela Gonzalez. They argue, laugh, and have typical sibling shenanigans.

In a four minute segment Sherman Burdette interviews Rosebuds cartoonist Deon Parson.

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“Jack Davis: Legacy of Laughter” is now on the wall (and off the wall) at Ringling College. This exhibit showcases nearly 100 of Davis’ cartoons.

Cartoon fans will enjoy this tasty bowl of eye candy. Cartoonists might feel a sting of professional jealousy. The man was good. Beyond good. Jack Davis was a cartoonist’s cartoonist.

I knew that already. I’ve known that since I picked up Mad Magazine (Jan. ’67) and saw Davis’ “Hogans Heroes” parody. I expect to be impressed. Tim Jaeger says I will be. He curated this exhibition, and he should know. But impressing visitors isn’t his only goal.

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There are now generations of young adults who have no memory of daily newspapers, let alone that back page and Sunday section of comics. Without that experience, I wonder how that legacy survives and continues to inspire everyday readers and young artists. If the volume of classic reprints this year is any indication, however, we graying lovers of newspapers past can’t be the only market for decades-old dailies. Many essential strips enjoyed fresh or continuing reprint projects this year that keeps the likes of Popeye, Nancy, Mandrake and more on current store shelves. Even the most reprinted strip of the last generation got revisited in 2024.

Steve Smith at Panels and Prose revisits some 2024 comic strip and cartoon compilations he finds commendable. Part One – Part Two The books he mini-reviews:

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At first glance, ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’ the comic strip, is about a six-year-old (Calvin) with as BFF a large toy tiger (Hobbes) he pretends to be alive.

This seems great fun for 6-year-olds whose voices are finally heard.

However, as many children have complained, these daily newspaper postings of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ were full of long, too difficult words.

‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is not geared toward kids at all—though many kids still love it. Or, at least not toward those who want to understand every word.

At a second glance, the strip is funny because the 6-year-old does and says much of what we secretly desire to do. If only we’d dare, or would now.

At a ‘third glance’—a level not explored by many, I believe—these funnies may be about yet another person imagining things—not just Calvin.

Psychoanalyzing Calvin and Hobbes as a Social Critique and Double Autobiography is a Blogs entry for The Times of Israel by Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden.

I’m not saying that the above analysis is all there is to Calvin and Hobbes. There’s also much beauty, wisdom, philosophy, humor, puns, psychology, poetry, creativity, freshness, pleading for flexibility, and protest against and mocking of society, nature laws, and human nature in it (and silliness).

For instance, I’m a real expert in certain areas, and I found that Bill, when treating those subjects, ticked all the boxes.

Included is an addenda linking “the best English YouTube clips.”

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We said goodbye this year to many brilliant women and men who devoted their lives and talents to advancing the art of animation and visual effects to new heights. We honor their legacy, celebrate their numerous accomplishments and are forever grateful to them for creating art that moved, entertained and inspired us.

For Animation Magazine Ramin Zahed compiles a list with short profiles of those animators, voices talents, and others associated with the industry that we lost in 2024 (far too long of a list).

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Known for her charming animal illustrations that are “guaranteed to make you smile” (Good Housekeeping), internationally bestselling author and illustrator Liz Climo is back with a new collection of 100 comics that celebrate the joy of life’s littlest moments. Every page of Life in the Present [link added] is brimming with her patented blend of humor and warm-hearted wisdom, and her adorable bears, otters, bunny rabbits, and hamsters (among others) help us all to see the beauty in life’s least significant occasions.

On a more pleasant note Chad Burdette at Comics Watch spends a half hour talking to Liz Climo.

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