Hold them side by side. The “Blondie” comic strip created by Chic Young for Sept. 8, 1930 is told in four frames. A well-dressed playboy, Dagwood Bumstead, with a wiry body and dark, plastered hair, introduces a pert, curly-haired woman to his short, roundish father, a blustering railroad tycoon. Exactly 93 years later, the “Blondie” […]

I hope the dog is resting comfortably, because one of us ought to be and the time shift from East to West has really caught up with me. I’m putting off convention coverage for another day and it should be a long one, since I’ve got a red eye tonight and won’t post tomorrow until […]

We know where Mike is, but me? – I’m all over the place. Following are items from hither and yon. Last month we noted that Peter Steiner’s “On the internet no one knows you’re a dog” panel went to auction. Michael Maslin lets us know the results ($175,000) – yeah, a reason to use paper […]

The report from San Francisco is that I’m here without much to report yet, since it’s mostly been a social gathering. Good for me to put faces to names but you have to be here for that to be a factor. Today will mark a day of sessions and I’ll report back. Meanwhile, Harry Bliss […]

Hard copy newspapers are already behind the times versus digital news platforms so what’s another day or two? Lee Enterprises, which purchased the Buffalo News in 2020, announced in February it would be printing editions at the Plain Dealer’s facility in Cleveland and trucking the papers in for local delivery. The last locally printed edition […]

Radio host, columnist, and cartoonist Jay Leeson has passed away. John Thomas (Jay) Leeson V March 5, 1979 – September 28, 2023 Self described as “Prairie Populist. Artist, commentator, communications pro. 7th generation Texan.” From The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (with a gallery of Jay’s political cartoons): Jay Leeson, a West Texas political advocate and media personality […]

As you are reading this, I am en route to the AAEC Convention in San Francisco, which I will report on in the coming days. While you wait, and while I fly, here is what you’d have read in a California paper had you picked one up a century ago today. 1923 was a pretty […]

Jesse (‘Tex’) Atwell interview. Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. Bill Griffith address. Frazz future?; AI Calvin & Hobbes. John M. Burns retires. CXC awards. Mr. Block, socialist. Tom Falco has ended his ban on interviewing cartoonists by posting a 10 With Tom with Jesse Atwell. Tom: How did the GoComics thing come about? Did you […]

Olive and Popeye began on August 30, 2022 with the team of Shadia Amin creating the adventures of Olive on Tuesdays and Randy Milholland doing the same for Popeye on Thursdays. But after a year Shadia gave up the assignment back on August 22, 2023 saying: Hi all! Today my last strip of Olive & […]

Since I’m trying to get out of town for the AAEC Convention in San Francisco, I intended to feature funny stuff this morning rather than getting bogged down in details. However, everything seemed to require explanations, so we’ll start with today’s Betty (AMS). I think of this topic as the place on the Venn diagram […]

Eighty-one years ago Walt Kelly introduced the world to Pogo Possum in a comic book. For the next five years Pogo and Albert the Alligator appeared in those Animal Comics and in a couple Four-Color specials. Then in late 1947 Pogo and friends entered into a kind of limbo. Walt Kelly continued contributing to The […]

The Staunton News Leader is part of Gannett’s USA TODAY Network, and so their comics page will now consist of that newspaper’s choice among a selection of comics as handed down by headquarters in Gannett’s effort to standardize the group’s funnies. Unfortunately Barney Google and Snuffy Smith by local cartoonist John Rose, which The News […]

There was a substantial mix of cartoons this morning about the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, some of them clearly drawn before the vote, others done with apparent haste after the matter had been decided in the late afternoon. Clay Bennett (CTFP) does well with a depiction of the monster shorn […]

The Star Tribune is moving on without an editorial cartoonist, following an announcement Monday that Mike Thompson would be moved from a full-time role to a freelance position. The independent Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Mike Thompson, who the newspaper hired in April of this year as a staff editorial cartoonist, will now cartoon for […]

A rejuvenated Flash Gordon comes twenty years after the last new Flash Gordon comics appeared in newspapers and 90 years after the comic strip first appeared in newspapers. The new daily and Sunday adventures will continue with, and be faithful to, the characters of Flash, Dale, and Zarkov … and Ming. From the King Features […]