I’ve got great news for all you creeps, crooks and conmen of the Panhandle political class. Grab your champagne and pop your corks — the idiot cartoonist is officially leaving the Pensacola News Journal!
Yes, editorial cartoonist Andy Marlette announced early this month that he was leaving the paper where he had been employed since 2007. When the parting happened The Daily Cartoonist said it was unknown if Andy had “accepted a buyout, was laid off, quit, fired, or is leaving to colonize Mars.” Since that time neither The Pensacola (Florida) News Journal nor Andy have expanded on Andy’s farewell column, which we have finally read.
… it’s been fun. But the time and opportunity has finally come to go rogue and pursue other long-held artistic interests. Maybe some Impressionist floral painting. Perhaps a Biblical triptych. And absolutely the most subversive art form the world has ever known: kids’ books.
It seems a strange time to leave the paper with Florida politics being what they are: the Florida Panhandle’s congressman is Matt Gaetz who is facing disturbing allegations, while Florida Senator Rick Scott is in charge of the Republican’s national campaign funds, and Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is Ron DeSantis. Andy will continuing to comment on a national scale instead of locally and I’m sure those Florida Men will occasionally make appearances in Andy’s future editorial cartoons.
I shan’t be giving up political cartooning. I’ll still be insulting the sanctimonious sensitivities of folks who take themselves far too seriously through syndicated political cartoons. And I’m continuing to grow the year-old, Florida-flavored comic strip, Shrimp and Grits.
And those national cartoons will still be seen by the local fans through the miracle of syndication,
but Andy’s columns and graphics for the paper will now be a thing of the past.
My dear boss, Lisa Nellessen Savage, said she’d like to keep both in the pages of the PNJ, so I’m happy that you’ll be able to keep seeing them there.
Subscribers to The Pensacola News Journal can read the farewell column here,
others can read it by way of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Editoonists Ted Rall and Scott Stantis, at their DMZ America podcast, use the the loss of Gannett’s last staff political cartoonist as a springboard for a very interesting half-hour discussion, from an insider’s perspective, about editorial cartoonists, the newspaper industry, the Pulitzer, syndication, editor reaction to reader reaction, and the fact that editorial cartooning is not easy.
Editorial cartoonists Ted Rall and Scott Stantis are in a glum mood following the Gannett newspaper chain’s decision to fire/lay off/buy out their colleague Andy Marlette, marking another milestone in the media’s war against political cartooning.
Also, I learn how to say “Gannett” (guh-NETT vs. GANN-et).
DMZ America Podcast 65 (the cartooning discussion starts at the 58 minute mark).
all images © Pensacola News Journal/Andy Marlette
Above, as far as I can determine, are the first two editorial cartoons by Andy Marlette
for The Pensacola News Journal from February 23 and February 24 of 2007.