Confirmed. Fishman = Loren Fishman. See update below original story.
original March 10 post:
New Mallard Fillmore comic strips are being signed “Fishman.”
After about 3½ months of reruns new Mallard Fillmore strips have begun appearing this week.
But they are not being signed by creator Bruce Tinsley.
Last year Reed Brennan notified subscribers to the comic that, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, reprints are being issued for the MALLARD FILLMORE daily strips for release Nov. 11-16, 2019. A Sunday reprint for Nov. 24 will also be provided.”
After a few notices they stopped the announcements, though the reruns continued.
Now, beginning March 9, 2020, new Mallard Fillmore strips have appeared with the Fishman signature.
No announcement has been forthcoming, and it is unknown as to whether this is a temporary or permanent situation. The general consensus is that the new cartoonist is Loren Fishman, though that has not been confirmed*. The circumstances involving Bruce Tinsley remain a mystery.
*update March 23:
I can confirm that cartoonist Loren Fishman is “Fishman.” It may be a week or two before King Features publicly acknowledges it, but that recognition is forthcoming.
So Loren Fishman might be the new Mallard Filmore cartoonist as the strip tackles the 2020 elections (and maybe Coronavirus/COVID-19 fears)?
Heck, we haven’t found out for nearly a year why Darby Conley stopped doing Get Fuzzy strips and when Andrews-McMeel hasn’t pulled the plug on the Get Fuzzy strip for good.
My theory is that Tinsley just didn’t give a warm one any more, so he hired Fishman to draw the duck-man for him. Not sure if Tinsley’s writing or supervising in some way, but these give me the same sensation as Al Plastino’s Peanuts strips.
The machine lettering was the first thing that caught my eye, like when Tom Ryan went to a Selectric (Orator font) to letter Tumbleweeds.
What strikes me about the comics you reprinted is that they contain actual jokes, which I don’t expect from Mallard Fillmore.
It’ll take a miracle to make Mallard Fillmore funny. Until I learn otherwise, I’ll stand by the opinion I expressed eleven years ago (https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2009/11/19/mallard-fillmore-protested-at-newsday/).
It will be a few more weeks until the first Sunday Fishman signed Mallard Fillmore strip since this week on March 15, 2020 and maybe the next few Sunday weeks will be Tinsley signed Sunday Mallard Fillmore reruns.
3/20/20 strip regarding Bloomberg campaign interesting. How about substituting Sen. Rick Scott (FL) instead. He used personal wealth to gain governorship and senate seat. Also see how he gained wealth with Medicare fraud.
I just miss Bruce Tinsley’s style and hope for his work to return to the syndication. He has a concise, to the point, way of delivering his wry, political humor. If he’s sick, I pray for a speedy recovery back to norm.
Bruce Tinsley’s Mallard Filmore has been much less funny in the last few years as he has seemed to slip too far into the right wing echo chamber, but the new cartoons from Loren Fishman strain too hard to make a point and as much as I only tolerated Tinsley, I hope he is back soon.
I used to love Mallard’s jabs at the SJW left, but that starch has gone out of the strip under Fishman. The “one-liner” is one of the more difficult acts in comedy, and daily strips are essentially illustrated one-liners. Perhaps, like Doonsberry, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbs, Tinsley’s’ well of ideas ran dry. Watterson and Larsen at least had the integrity to admit it and pul the plug on the patient.
Why the change in the font? We Baby Boomers love Mallard & the conservative leanings we hope will return nationwide someday. But I must now get out a magnifying glass to read the wording! Wasn’t necessary before & not necessary with any other comic strip. Please ramp it up one notch!