This year’s festival will focus on the work of Milton Caniff.From the OSU’s web site:Milton Caniff, known as the “Rembrandt of the Comic Strip” for his work on Terry and the Pirates, Male Call, and Steve Canyon, is one of the most honored cartoonists in history, with awards ranging from two Cartoonist of the Year “Reuben” awards from his peers in the National Cartoonists Society, to the Exceptional Service Award of the United States Air Force.  A May 19, 1947 Newsweek cover story about Caniff estimated that the daily readership of Steve Canyon was thirty million people worldwide.Caniff is especially noted for his accurate background research and excellent writing; for his innovative use of graphic techniques in his comic strips; for his unusual public service, especially to the United States Air Force; and for his professional leadership in founding the National Cartoonists Society and the Newspaper Features Council (later named the Newspaper Features Council).Terry and the Pirates provided the vehicle for Caniff’s maturation both as an artist and as a storyteller.

Back in December, Rob Cabrera feature Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade in his feature “Silo Roberts.”…  Now, during the NBA playoffs, that segment will be featured on nba.com (under “Editors Picks”) and will be made into a limited edition series of Topp trading cards.

Tom Armstrong’s “Marvin” was dropped to make room)F Minus made the grade and will stay as will Watch Your Head and Peach Fuzz.Mark Tatulli’s new feature “Lio” has also joined the line up.Opus was dropped early to make room for the trial run of the new features.  Readership protests has brought it back.Cathy was also dropped to make room for the trial; she’s been relegated to the web edition.The Phantom has been dropped completely.Complete details are available on the St Petersburg Times web site.

Jef has been paired up with FIRSTNAMERepresenting “team journalists,” Mallett and Jackenthal will travel more than 1,000 miles across Nevada while taking part in a series of off-beat and traditional adventure sports that includes recumbent bicycling near Battle Mountain, a ranch-hand rodeo in Winnemucca, railroad handcar races in the historic mining town of Virginia City, mountain biking near Austin, autocross racing in Pahrump and Jet Skiing on the Colorado River in Laughlin.  During their six-day adventure, the journalists will compete against nine other coed teams paired by profession, including last year’s Nevada Passage champions, firefighters Brian Rothell of Richmond, Va., and Erin Price of Greensboro, N.C.

The AAEC website provides more details – one important one being that Larry will not actually be leaving the paper permanently.  He’ll still be providing editorial cartoons 3 times a week and continue to work on the paper’s web site which he has done since the mid-nineties.

Last week I pointed you to an article out of the Science Christian Monitor about Clay Bennett and his editorial cartoons that run in their paper.  This week, they’ve interviewed Mark Parisi, creator of “Off the Mark” who tells their readers what it’s like to be a cartoonist for a living.

The News-Review (Roseburg, OR) has added two new features to their line up starting yesterday….  The News-Review did not mention if any features were cut to make room.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/OPINION03/604300301/1271Also leaving the Web team is Larry Wright , an extraordinarily talented cartoonist and our long-suffering softball coach.  Larry learned the hard way that journalists write because they can’t play.

This year’s 38th annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award for editorial cartooning went to John Backderf an alternative newspaper cartoonist who draws the comic “The City.”From the press release:Derf aggressively attacks the institutions, ideologies and attitudes that create an environment for the continuing oppression and exploitation of the powerless.

Book Festival puts artists in touch:Nearly every day for at least the past decade, cartoonist Doug Marlette has taken a late morning telephone call from an old friend on the South Carolina coast.It’s a way for the Pulitzer Prize-winner and his pal, best-selling novelist Pat Conroy, to continue their ongoing conversations about life in today’s culture, Marlette said.  “It’s kind of like having a witness to things that we both apprehend.”

Matt Groening was recently interviewed by AV Club about some of the projects he’s working on. While still cranking out “Life in Hell,” he’s also working on the upcoming Simpson feature film, and four Futurama DVD feature films.  If you’re a fan of Groenings print or television work, this is a good interview.

This year’s John Locher award winner William Warren got some press in his own college newspaper where the sophomore does editorial cartoons.  The story also contains the URL to William’s web site where you can see his editorial cartoons.

Jim Borgman and Jerry Scott will be at Borders bookstore in West Village (near Dallas TX) to sign boosk between 7-8pm tomorrow night, according to Jim’s blog.They will also be appearing on a local morning TV show, talking with Dallas Morning News reporter Mike Peters.

There is a great article over at the LA Times about an upcoming “Sunday at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books” symposium that will examine the future of comics in the newspaper…. Other cartoonists on the panel include Cathy Guisewite (“Cathy”), Jerry Scott (“Baby Blues” and “Zits”) and Lalo Alcaraz (“La Cucaracha”).Berkeley:”I don’t think you’ll ever see another ‘Calvin & Hobbes,’ ‘Bloom County’ or ‘Doonesbury’ again,” says Breathed, 48, who received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1987.

Mike Lynch and Editor and Publisher have announced the new web site for the “Berndt Toast Gang” also known as the Long Island, NY chapter of the National Cartoonist Society.According to E&P other members of the chapter include:”Smitty” comic creator Walter Berndt (1899-1979) — include “The Lockhorns” cartoonists Bunny Hoest and John Reiner of King Features Syndicate, “They’ll Do It Every Time” cartoonist Al Scaduto of King, Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News, “Mad” magazine artist Mort Drucker, and many others.