Industry news for the professional cartoonist
I woke up this morning and discovered that the new horror on social media was that, while small-business owners were describing their experiences during the lockdown, Dear Leader was goofing on his phone and paying no attention. Which you can see here but is it really that much of a shock? Granted we didn’t have…
Bob Moran and I appear to be on opposite sides of the “tearing down statues” issue, but his commentary opens the question to a potentially fruitful discussion. The matter is more complicated in Britain not simply because they have more history to process but because, over here, we’ve focused on a relatively straight-forward false-history concocted…
A slight departure from Friday Funnies, but, while Joe Heller is a political cartoonist, this one is more about life itsownself. I was never particularly thrilled with school, but it was like a job that pays reasonably well and doesn’t suck. Except a few years when it did: If you got a toxic teacher in…
Clay Jones got caught in a bit of changing-story whiplash, which happens. New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees made a stupid statement about kneeling for the anthem, saying that protest was okay but that disrespecting the flag was not. He was immediately slapped down by most of the NFL, including teammates, and issued an apology…
Rex Morgan took a serious step through the fourth wall Sunday, wrapping up a story that had begun with a singer with a bad cough, written in part before bad coughs were a thing, and now to be followed by a storyline that wouldn’t be overshadowed by current events. So now l’il Grundoon has asked…
Steve Sack threads the needle, speaking from Minneapolis where the whole thing started and carefully making the memorial for George Floyd substantially larger than those of other factors in the city. That seems to be well-earned, by the way: Floyd is very warmly remembered in his hometown of Houston, where he was a standout athlete…
There’s not a lot going on over on the editorial side. Statues of Liberty being knelt upon, but not much new insight. But politics have leaked over onto the funny pages, so we’ll look there. First: Will no one rid me of this troublesome website? This Nick Anderson cartoon was taken down at the Red…
Editor’s Note: I’m going to begin floating what has been the “Friday Funnies,” which this week falls on Wednesday. I’d like to schedule two set installments a week, but given a seven-day week, it’s impossible to get more than two days separation on both ends and the locker doesn’t always refill that quickly. So you’ll…
Wiley Miller aids the US Post Office in its hour of need with a cartoon bound to spark letters to the editor. What you might call a cataclysm. I laughed, but I’m a dog owner and recovering Cat’olic, plus I’m only 70 and not yet in the furious-letter-writing demographic. I like cats, but I don’t…
In the category of Happy Timing, F-Minus dropped this strip on the day I finished the heavy lifting on my final week before retirement. Writers don’t actually retire, of course: They keep writing. They just stop getting paid for it. In this case, the fellow is right, despite the limited lesson he took away. I…
I didn’t understand GrubHub before the lockdown, since so many pizzerias and Chinese places deliver anyway and because I couldn’t see the advantage of paying some gig worker to do what it would take you so little effort to do yourself, which is get off your lazy ass and go get the food. It didn’t…
A few days ago we mentioned the St. Cloud Times’ website had signed on for the Andrews McMeel Syndication online package. Well, it seems that was only the tip of an iceberg. Over the weekend a number of other Gannett newspapers announced they too were giving their readers free access to the AMS syndication comic…
Art Young’s Inferno is, unlike Dante‘s before it, not an indictment of sinners per se (hey, we’re all sinners) but the plutocrats and Wall Street criminals that have repeatedly exploited the citizenry through legal legislation with extralegal loopholes. Fantagraphics has just published a superb new edition of this 1934 classic—the “Original Art Edition,” with reproductions…
The conversations in Reply All nearly always demonstrate the comic potential for combining reality with a wink, and, while Lizzie simply can’t help revealing her true feelings, she seems such a real person that it works. A character who is a particular “type” generally becomes tedious, and there are any number of strips with a…
Ann Telnaes salutes Press Freedom Day. And so do I: A lady asked Franklin: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Franklin replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” — Dr. James McHenry (for whom the fort was named) And a favorite quote from Jefferson: The basis of our governments being…