Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Dog Eat Doug goes back to basics — the friendship between Doug and Sophie — for this one, which cracks me up on the old principle of “It’s Funny Because It’s True.” I don’t deal with this phenomenon, since my babies are now in their 40s and I’ve had ridgebacks — who don’t care about…
Michael Ramirez riffs on George C. Scott’s famous speech in the 1970 film, “Patton,” as Trump continues to deliver convoluted, contradictory explanations of his disastrous trade policy. The (apocryphal) line from the film is “Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it…
Paul Berge’s current blog features a collection of 1919 cartoons about the “Summer Widower,” and he addresses it as something known only in those days. Not sure how old Paul is, but I caught the tail end of the phenomenon. There was a time, O Best Beloved, when people didn’t — couldn’t — go all…
We still haven’t actually seen Eugene the Jeep in this week’s 1936 Thimble Theater, but there’s already a villain seeking to kidnap — jeepnap? — the little fellow. Wikipedia (mostly) disputes the story that Eugene inspired WWII GIs to refer to their small, go-anywhere vehicles as “Jeeps” but doesn’t explain why, or provide examples of…
Jimmy Margulies explains today’s lack of any particular theme. Dear Leader has become so erratic that it’s possible to blend the political with the comical and the only real problem is that he’s got access to the launch codes. We’ve managed to bring Great Truth to that cynical National Lampoon parody of Desiderata: You are…
Damien Glez offers a clever variation on a too-common visual gag, proving that there’s no cliche that can’t be revitalized, and if plastic bags had a different style of handle or were more rigid, this wouldn’t work at all. Which is sort of a backhanded way of explaining why it does. Our co-op is phasing…
Let’s kick off the day with something silly, as Betty brings a needed word into being. It’s a little unfair to real chefs, but, then again, real chefs are only a subset of people who want the waiters to call them “Chef” instead of “Hey You” or, god forbid, “Dave.” And this tip to people…
When Wallace the Brave and Spud set up their ridiculously rickety bike jump earlier, I said it reminded me of the one my eldest went over and broke his arm as a lad. Well, here we are — yes, it’s a fracture — and I’d say Wallace’s mother’s response is more or less mine. Brace…
Either this was an outstanding day on the comics page or my new policy of reading the funny stuff before I dive into political diatribes and get all hostile and depressed is working. Possibly both. I did find a couple of good political cartoons, but they’ll wait until tomorrow. Let’s read some funnies! And,…
Timing is everything, and while this Kevin Siers cartoon references something happening in his hometown of Charlotte, it comes as the apartment house next door to me is on the verge of being converted to an independent living home for special needs people. Which is a worthy cause and they’ll be good neighbors, but…
Steve Sack lays it out in unmistakable, inarguable terms. The excuses simply don’t stand up to any even half-serious inspection. You can quibble a little over the video game panel, which I’d expand to our vulgar, violent media culture generally. There are some countries that don’t let it in, though a list of those cautious…
(I’m going to take a day to let the more serious editorial commentary catch up.) I find it most encouraging that Wallace the Brave is of a generation that wears helmets without thinking too hard about it. Helmets came up with the re-emergence of skateboards, so my kids caught some of it, but they…
I’m not prepared to anoint David Fitzsimmons as the next Nostradamus or even Jeanne Dixon, but he did run this cartoon before last night’s debates. I started to watch the debates, but the Jeopardy! format put me off. Actually, a Jeopardy! format might have been kind of fun: Each candidate could select a question from…
In 1979 Steve Carpenter, an artist for Hallmark Cards, Inc. created a curly haired dog for a greeting card. A Hallmark executive saw the drawing and thought it had possibilities … as a comic strip. Card companies had had a long association with comic characters. In 1960 Hallmark itself began a very successful relationship with…
A word about today’s headline: “Great Expectations” is one of my favorite novels. It’s about how easily a decent young boy can be turned into a snobbish, ungrateful little shit. David Rowe comments on the disappointment from those who, like young Philip Pirrup, had more exalted thoughts about themselves and their fortunes than reality…