Former Cincinnati Enquirer editorial cartoonist (and de facto sports cartoonist) and current Zits comic strip artist Jim Borgman returns to Cincinnati to throw out the first pitch of an upcoming Reds game. From The Cincinnati Enquirer: The Enquirer’s renowned former cartoonist Jim Borgman is returning to the Queen City and stepping up to the Reds’ […]

I don’t care a straw for your newspaper articles; my constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures. — William M. Tweed, 1875 This NBC poll result was quoted here before, but, then, Tweed’s comment about Thomas Nast has also been quoted and misquoted many places many times. A […]

Stan Mack, Darrin Bell, Bil Keane, Clare Victor Dwiggens, Garry B. Trudeau, Asher Perlman, and Justin Green. Voices in The Village Real Life Funnies, a strip by cartoonist Stan Mack, was a standing feature every week in The Village Voice from 1974 to 1995. Toting a sketchbook and pencils in a pouch on his belt, […]

Yesterday, Tom Heintjes, known to comics historians for the magazine Hogan’s Alley, posted on Blue Sky that it was the anniversary of the first “Davy Crockett, Frontiersman” strip in 1955, which set me to pondering. First thing I pondered was that Jim McArdle’s version of Davy Crockett looked about as much like Fess Parker as […]

A “cartoon yahtzee” is when five or more editorial cartoonists draw a similar approach to a news story. “The Catch” is Willie Mays refusing the Cleveland Indians an eighth inning run and probable win of game one in the 1954 World Series (Willie stealing second in the tenth inning also helped win the game for […]

I’m going to let Bill Bramhall’s tribute stand for all the Willie Mays cartoons, most of which took advantage of “The Catch” but too many of which cluttered it up, particularly with Pearly Gates cliches. Bramhall keeps it simple, though I have to chuckle over him giving Mays a blue hat rather than a black […]

How else can we start this roundup of recent Peanuts in the news than with the passing of the great Willie Mays. Above is an image from Jeanne Schulz’s Blog of twelve years ago wherein Lee Mendelson explains the connection between himself, Charles Schulz and Willie Mays. An Aside: I was born and raised in […]

Too Much Coffeeman brings up the hostility some people have for banjos, which I confess I don’t understand, but which seems to be of a piece with their hostility towards bagpipes and accordions. I’ll confess to not being a big fan of full-sized accordions — forgive me, Myron Floren — but I enjoy a well-played […]

The weekly Clermont (Florida) Sun will begin publishing a new, locally created comic strip this week. A Clermont school teacher has dreamed-up a comic strip about a talking parrot called Rafie and we will be featuring his adventures in the Clermont Sun. Gary Christensen’s Rafie and Friends starts this week, and readers can enjoy the […]

Start with the good news, which is that I agree with Dave Granlund’s idea though not with the sense of crisis it suggests. That is, kids shouldn’t get drunk and drive around, but while you can’t stop all of them from doing it, it’s not the issue it was when I graduated (gasp) 57 years […]

There is a big difference in the fan reaction to two of King Features’ Big Name adventure strips. Dan Schkade‘s take on Flash Gordon continues to garner praise and excitement. Flash Gordon is one of those pop culture names everyone’s heard of, although most would be at a bit of a loss as to why […]

Most schools are out by now, though Big Nate (AMS) had me searching my memory for how the year’s end went in middle school. In high school, the last week or so was finals and you only showed up if you had one, most of which were NYS Regents exams and were scheduled by Albany. […]

Monica Zurowski scoured The Calgary Herald archives for Father’s Day comic strips. This Sunday is a time for dads — it’s Father’s Day, which happens on the third Sunday of June each year in dozens of countries around the world. It’s not a stat holiday, but it is a day that many people mark by […]

Playboy cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Don Madden has passed away. Donald Lewis (Don) Madden October 14 (24?), 1927 – June (9? 10?), 2024 Don’s brother Tom revealed the death of the cartoonist and paid tribute to him: Don Madden Left This Week for Studio in Heaven, But My Brother’s Cartoons Will Live on Forever. […]

I don’t mind opposing points of view, but I get tired of citing Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and I get particularly tired of political commentators who make it hard to distinguish avoidable ignorance from intentional lying. In case you missed the impetus for Lisa Benson (Counterpoint)’s current cartoon, President Biden attended a conference in Europe that […]