The Daily Cartoonist

Industry news for the professional cartoonist

Brian McFadden debuts as New York Times cartoonist

Alan Gardner42 mins

As announced last week, Brian McFadden was tapped to be the featured regular cartoonist for the rework of the New York Times’ Week in Review. His first comic was entitled “The State of Unemployment” and appeared yesterday.

Michael Cavna interviewed Brian about the new arrangement:

“I’ve been given a lot of leeway,” says McFadden, whose online comics can be spiced with saltier language . “I was told what ‘Big Fat Whale’ comics the editors liked, and asked to do more stuff like that, but without swearing and keeping a wider, family audience in mind. In fact, this week’s comic went through the editing process without any changes.”

Because of that editing process, McFadden says he has to get script approval by midweek. “But that’s where weekly comics excel,” he says. “What they lack in immediacy, they make up for in exploring ideas in a deeper way, which I think is the goal of the Sunday Review.”

4 thoughts on “Brian McFadden debuts as New York Times cartoonist”

  2. Great, but he left out block with the unemployed editorial
    cartoonist….or was that the guy on the couch watching the hoarders marathon?

  3. Setting aside, for a moment, the loss of the editorial cartoons, McFadden’s comic (and the Times’s smart selection of him) not only has this project off to a good start, but the promise of a new and brighter future for comics. As McFadden said in his interview with Cavna, “If this spurs editors at other papers to seek out more original work, it?ll be good for all cartoonists.?

    Still, there’s the loss of those political cartoons and their replacement by one, and what that means for comics.

  4. I thought Brian’s first one was very, very strong. Great concept. well conceived and in color as well. The Times they are a changing.
    With news that the Denver Post continues to cut off their nose to spite their face (more comics being cut) it’s time for all of us to figure out ways to keep our profession alive. I think the Times adding something different is a great idea. Now if other papers will just follow suit and add a few local cartoons drawn exclusively for their readers we might be on to something.

Comments are closed.

Top