In support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, several King Features comics will participate in a “Cartoonists Care” initiative this Sunday. More than 50 of the King Features strips “turn pink” and a special Dan Piraro Bizarro signature art piece will be auctioned off.
Each comic strip will feature the internationally recognized pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness, emblazoned with the tagline “Cartoonists Care.” The pink strips will run in newspapers across the country and online.
Bizarro cartoonist Dan Piraro created a special piece of signature art for the campaign. The panel, which features Piraro’s rendering of 26 characters from the participating strips, will be showcased at www.ComicsGoPink.com, a micro-site where readers will be able to view a gallery of all the participating Sunday Funnies and make a donation to one of seven different breast cancer organizations. In partnership with CharityChoice Gift Cards, Dan’s artwork will be auctioned on the site to the highest bidder, who can choose which of the seven different charities shall receive the funds from his or her auction purchase.
“It’s very inspiring to see so many of our cartoonists come together to rally around such an important cause,” said Brendan Burford, Comics Editor at King Features Syndicate. “Nearly everyone has a connection to this heart-wrenching disease, and we felt it was important to make a powerful statement to help support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We could think of no better way to do that than by turning the funny pages pink! We hope the ‘Cartoonists Care’ initiative will help raise awareness and encourage our millions of readers across the country to do whatever they can in the fight against breast cancer.”
This is not the first time the cartoonists have come together to help publicize an important cause. In November 2001, the entire National Cartoonists Society cartooning community participated in Thanks&Giving, in which special cartoons, created for Thanksgiving Day, were auctioned and the proceeds donated to The September 11th Fund, established by The New York Community Trust and United Way of New York City. In April 2008, 45 King Features cartoonists created Earth Day-themed comics to raise awareness for the environment and health of the planet.
The participating comic strips include:
- Apt. 3-G by Frank Bolle and Margaret Shulock
- Arctic Circle by Alex Hallatt
- Baby Blues by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman
- Barney Google & Snuffy Smith by John Rose
- Beetle Bailey by Mort and Greg Walker
- The Better Half by Randy Glasbergen
- Between Friends by Sandra Bell Lundy
- Bizarro by Dan Piraro
- Blondie by Dean Young and art by John Marshall
- The Brilliant Mind Edison Lee by John Hambrock
- Buckles by David Gilbert
- Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk (Medina, OH) and Chuck Ayers
- Crock by Bill Rechin
- Curtis by Ray Billingsley
- DeFlocked by Jeff Corriveau
- Dennis the Menace by Marcus Hamilton
- Dustin by Steve Kelley and Jeff Parker
- Edge City by Terry and Patty LaBan
- Family Circus by Bil Keane and Jeff Keane
- Flash Gordon by Jim Keefe
- Funky Winkerbean by Tom Batiuk
- Grin & Bear It by Fred Wagner and Ralph Dunagin
- H”agar the Horrible by Chris Browne
- Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop by Kevin Frank
- Hi & Lois by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne
- Judge Parker by Woody Wilson and Mike Manly
- The Lockhorns by Bunny Hoest & John Reiner
- Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley
- Mark Trail by Jack Elrod
- Marvin by Tom Armstrong
- Mary Worth by Karen Moy and Joe Giella
- Moose & Molly by Bob Weber Sr.
- Mother Goose & Grimm by Mike Peters
- Mutts by Patrick McDonnell
- My Cage by Ed Power and Melissa DeJesus
- Ollie & Quentin by Piers Baker
- Oh, Brother! by Bob Weber, Jr. and Jay Stephens
- On the Fastrack by Bill Holbrook
- The Lockhorns by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner
- The Pajama Diaries by Terri Libenson
- Pardon My Planet by Vic Lee
- The Phantom by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan
- Popeye by Hy Eisman
- Pros & Cons by Kieran Meehan
- Retail by Norm Feuti
- Rex Morgan M.D. by Woody Wilson and Graham Nolan
- Rhymes With Orange by Hilary Price
- Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig MacIntosh
- Sherman’s Lagoon by Jim Toomey
- Shoe by Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly
- Six Chix – There are six different female cartoonists on this comic, one for each day of the week, but the artwork for Breast Cancer Awareness Month was created by Anne Gibbons
- Slylock Fox by Bob Weber Jr.
- Tina’s Groove by Rina Piccolo
- Todd the Dinosaur by Patrick Roberts
- Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith
- Zits by Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott
Reading my Pink Daily Ink, you could see some cartoonists were much more organised than me and incorporated the subject – Way to go Sandra BL!
I very much appreciate this sentiment. But the whole let’s-destroy-the-integrity-of-our-Sunday-comics-by coloring-them-pink thing didn’t work for me. The best, though, was Mutts, which could draw on a regular device for their pink strip, but the worst was Judge Parker and Rex Morgan using all pink hues. Even Blondie didn’t use all pink but had tasteful uses of the color. The Phantom was far too pink, but at least not all pink. I wish more of the strips would have followed Funky Winkerbean’s lead: in this strip in which cancer has been a part of life, they had some nice symbols but didn’t go overboard with the color itself.