Cartoon Cavalcade – A Roundup

D. D. Degg Updated: February 17, 2025 at 9:16 am EST 1 minute 1 comment

Editorial cartooning, caricaturing, graphic noveling, webcomicing, comic stripping – we cover the bases.

Martin Rowson, British cartoonist for The Guardian who occasionally shows up in Mike Peterson’s columns, has deceided to celebrate his 66th birthday by reducing his output to once a week:

Just so you know, from 15th February 2025 I’m cutting back to one cartoon a week for the Guardian’s Opinion pages, at my own request which I made about a year ago.

*_{Martin Rowson The Guardian; Valentine’s Day 2025}*

I’m mentioning this because in these foul and tumultuous times, to quote the great Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart, cartoonists have become the go-to canaries in the coal mine. Whether through editorial caprice, heel-clicking political cowardice or finance department boneheadedness, it seems we’re always the first ones over the side or under the wheels.

To be clear, none of this is happening to me, and I’ll continue providing the opinion page cartoon in Saturday’s Guardian for as long as I can still see & hold a pen and they can stand my bad puns. Indeed, given that half the UK’s national daily newspapers now no longer publish a daily political cartoon, the Guardian’s commitment to and support for cartoons needs acknowledging, as does their quiet nurturing of new and diverse cartooning talent.

Read Rowson’s full statement about the state of cartooning in this day and age.

Super Bowl Sideshow

Okay, he wasn’t the halftime show for Super Bowl LIX but he was there doing his part to make the game memorable for some fans.

Tim Banfell knows how to draw a crowd. (Rim shot!) Yes, Tim Banfell is a cartoonist, caricature artist and he can draw (get it) a crowd. Or an individual, depending on who is asking. Banfell, who supplies the Gulf Breeze News with a cartoon each week called “Wrong Key,” which follows the daily lives of the nameless inhabitants of a […]

Lisa Newell for Gulf Breeze News follows cartoonist Tim Banfell as he caricatures fans at The 2025 Super Bowl. (The link worked for me the first time the second try gets me behind a paywall)

The Graphic Novels for Youngsters Boom

Publishers are now churning out thousands of new titles every year for people of all ages, from the youngest readers to adults. Graphic novelists are pushing the boundaries of the art form, telling a wide range of stories in varied illustration styles. And more people than ever are reading these books. Since 2019, sales of graphic novels in the U.S. have doubled to 35 million books a year, a number behind only general fiction and romance.

*_{Images: Little Brown Ink, First Second/Macmillan}*

For Fast Company Elizabeth Segran explores the preteen graphic novel market.

Graphic novels—a term interchangeably used with comic books—are particularly popular among young children still building their literacy skills. Surveys show that in recent years, graphic novels have increased in popularity by 69% among elementary school children. Several publishers now have specific children’s imprints devoted to graphic novels, including Macmillan’s First Second and Hachette’s Little, Brown Ink.

And They Are Not Just For Kids Anymore

ALA’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table (GNCRT) is sharing the nominations for the 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Adults (BGNA) Reading List. These reading list nominations highlight the best graphic novels for adults published in late 2023 through 2024, and it aims to increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators, and aid library staff in the development of graphic novel collections.

*_{American Library Association Graphic Novels & Comics banner}*

The American Library Association highlights choices for 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List.

Bringing a smile to our faces was seeing TDC favorite Jay Stephens’ Dwellings making the list.

Dwellings. Written by Jay Stephens. Art by Jay Stephens. 2024. Oni Press, $34.99 (9781637152911).
A collection of short horror stories all taking place in the fictional Canadian town of Elwich. The art is done in the style of the old Harvey Comics and even includes fake advertisements.

Raina Telgemeier and Art Spiegelman Remain Best Sellers

This American Booksellers Association list of Indie Comics and Graphic Works Bestseller List shows the Maus bump from the Banned Book hysteria continues and Raina’s books abide.

Jenny Jinya’s Death’s Animal Stories

Jenny-Jinya’s comics have a way of reaching into your chest and holding your heart in their hands. Her newest stories are no different—they bring to life the struggles of animals who endure pain and suffering because of humans.

Bored Panda presents a trio of Jenny Jinya‘s Tales of Death. More Jenny Jinya.

Alex Raymond, Austin Briggs, Mac Raboy, Dan Barry…

Jim Keefe: “Artists of Flash Gordon” lecture I did at FallCon 2024 here in Minnesota – Enjoy!

Cartoon Cavalcade by Thomas Craven

Comments ¹

Eric

Okay, if you count the first day of the 21st Century as January 1. 2001, this is the WORST individual comic strip of the first Quarter of said century. (https://comicskingdom.com/six-chix/2025-02-18).

If you count January 1, 2000, as the first day of the 21st century, it’s a strong contender for the worst individual comic strip of the SECOND quarter of the 21st century.

Bianca Xunise’s work is beyond terrible. The other five ladies who do the stip occasionally do decent, and even more rarely, excellent work, but she has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

The draftsmanship is poor and the writing is beyond that. Yes, draftsmanship isn’t all that important in cartooning. Take a look at James Thurber or Cathy Guisewite, they couldn’t draw for shit, but for the most part, their writing was top notch and they had a sense of design. Xunise has none of that. Look at today’s travesty. No story, no joke and bad drawing.

I remember being told by an editor at United Features (during that golden month when I had a development contract—they changed their mind for some reason… but that’s another story), that they got something like 10 thousand submissions a year, ten lucky individuals got development contracts, and of those ten about three managed to get into syndication. How she wasn’t fired long ago is a mystery.

This looks like she somehow discovered that a deadline was looming and decided to devote thirty seconds to it. Jeez.

Feb 18,2025