Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Tain’t Funny McGee McPherson © John McPherson A New Castle News reader finds no humor in a Close to Home comic: I no longer “read” The News but scan for something of local or personal interest, such as Dr. Roach’s “Your Health.” As on Saturday when a “cartoon” of God’s chosen man, Moses, was right…
I find it perversely comforting that, having praised Popeye the Sailor Mensch on Saturday for giving away a million dollars, I find in Monday’s Thimble Theater (KFS) that he’s having trouble doing it. “Perversely comforting” in that, while I wish it were otherwise, it’s clear that even back in 1937, we had plenty of cynics…
The Oatmeal has it right: Enough already with the Bernie memes. Timing is everything and you had your chance and if you haven’t placed Bernie somewhere and posted it on social media, it’s too late now. We’re fixated now on the horror of Joe Biden owning an expensive watch and a Peloton exercise system,…
I don’t think squirrels are crepuscular, but apparently Harry Bliss and Steve Martin — teaming on this Bliss (Tribune) — do, and who am I to argue with them? I’ve never charted squirrels to see what they do around noon, and perhaps they aren’t diurnal, but then nobody’s out at noon, at least not in…
Pearls Before Swine (AMS) sets the mood for today’s risky choice, which is to have a few laughs while we wait for Joe and Kamala to take the wheel. It’s a risk because there’s nothing new to be said about Trump’s endgame and I don’t want to wallow in it this morning, but if political…
I suppose it would be hopelessly partisan to quote Jerry Ford and say that our long national nightmare is over, but Alan Moir (Sydney Morning Herald) cracked me up with this suggestion of the changes coming at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the crybaby in the window wasn’t necessary but sure was a nice touch. …
Loretta Lockhorn (KFS) offers an apolitical commentary on the cancel culture, which lets us open the topic gently before diving in. “How dare they?” being the operative connection, and, if you want to trace its political applications back far enough, it becomes “How dare they offer medical care and food and mortgages to people who…
Existential Comics gave me a laugh this morning when most quasi-political attempts at humor have failed, and I suspect this one was in the works before last week’s upheaval anyway. We read “Das Kapital” in college, but I don’t remember much about Marx’s personal life. On the other hand, I have encountered this monomoniacal True…
Leading off with a graphic summary by Graeme Bandeira (Yorkshire Post). A slight criticism: I think the caption detracts from the impact, but, then again, viewing us from across the Atlantic likely makes our willingness to execute people seem part and parcel of an uncivilized character. Paul Thomas (Daily Mail) being perhaps a bit…
I’ll admit to spending a fair amount of time going through my memories, which is okay because I’ve got a fair amount of them, both significant and very, very trivial. This Bizarro (KFS) sparked one of the latter. My freshman year phys ed instructor in college was one of those profs who sets himself as…
Pros and Cons (KFS) has the funniest commentary on Trump’s phone call today, except that it’s not, having been drawn I dunno how long ago and Kieran Meehan not being, AFAIK, psychic. But I’m giving him credit for the laugh anyway, if only by default. We covered the phone call yesterday and if you’re going…
If Ionesco or Becket were writing “The Comic Strip That Has A Finale Every Day,” this Frazz (AMS) would be the one to endlessly cycle, it being more absurd than dadaesque. Or, at least, it would become absurd if you simply kept cycling it. As it is, it speaks for the prevailing mood, which is…
The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are in trouble today not because that need was filled by others (cars, trucks, airplanes, and even telephones) but because it was not filled by the railroads themselves. They let others take customers away from them…
Some miscellaneous items from the recent past. On this day 25 years ago, Bill Watterson’s iconic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes bid us farewell. To take us on a path down memory lane, here are some of the best Calvin and Hobbes strips created. Well, some of the best as decided by Mackenzie Cummings-Grady. …
What makes Agnes (Creators) work so well is that Agnes and Trout really are like Lucy and Ethel: They come up with some outlandishly bad ideas, but their hearts are always in the right place. Their poverty helps: While Lucy wanted the spotlight down at Ricky’s club, Agnes is trying to climb out of the…