Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Gannett’s USA Today reports on the company’s second quarter: Gannett, owner of USA TODAY and local news operations in 45 states, reported Thursday that it would undertake a “significant cost reduction program” amid a challenging economic backdrop marred by soaring inflation rates, labor shortages and price-sensitive consumers. The media company reported a net loss of…
There are only so many new ideas out there, and Pardon My Planet (KFS) isn’t the first strip to make an organized/disorganized religion joke. But a good gagster can add freshening elements, and Vic Lee hits some football matters just as the Hall of Fame Game has fans ready for a new season. Specifically, it…
Given that Kansas promotes itself as the “Land of Ahs” — with or without that apostrophe — it’s hardly surprising that cartoonists capitalized on the connection to Frank Baum’s book or, more accurately, the classic 1939 movie based on it, in discussing the vote to preserve reproductive rights there. Clay Jones invokes Glinda the…
Al Williamson The auction last month of some of Al Williamson’s pre-Manning Star Wars comic strip proposal (we featured them on our Facebook page) prompted Diamond’s Scoop to re-present a Williamson profile from 22 years ago. Rip Kirby, of course, was not the end of Williamson’s newspaper work. In addition to a run on Secret…
Anything you can think of is controlled by a handful of companies After a flurry of last-minute filings and orders, the U.S. Department of Justice’s bid to block Penguin Random House’s acquisition of rival Big Five publisher Simon & Schuster is ready for court. Oral arguments are set to begin on August 1 before Judge…
So much outrage. We published a political cartoon last week showing President Joe Biden looking at his Covid test and declaring, “Finally, some positive numbers.” The cartoonist was playing off the idea that Biden can’t catch a break, and even a positive result is a negative result. © New York Daily News/Tribune Content Agency/Bill Bramhall…
Cartoonist and character designer Paul Coker, Jr. has passed away. Paul Allan Coker, Jr. March 5, 1929 – July 23, 2022 Tom Richmond, among others, has reported the death of Paul Coker, Jr. Paul was a gag cartoonist and an illustrator of greeting cards, but more famous as a MAD magazine contributor and a…
Bob Eckstein starts us off today with a cartoon that is only “bathroom humor” by implication, but, then, if you don’t know the expression he’s alluding to, you won’t get the joke. I laughed because I tend to lump podcasts and videos into the category of things I don’t much follow. I like to read,…
When David Lee Finkle stopped creating new Mr. Fitz comic strips earlier this year he mentioned that he might return after taking a few months sabbatical from the deadlines. And so he has: The West Volusia Beacon, Mr. Fitz’s old print stomping ground, reports: They say if you love what you do, you’ll never work…
Tony Dow’s death inspired Ruben Bolling to repost this Tom the Dancing Bug from 2012, which I liked then and I like now, not only because it pokes holes in the rightwing objections to liberal reform, but because it treats the original sitcom with more respect than it usually gets. “Leave It To Beaver” did…
Comic book editor and writer Sid Jacobson has passed away. Sidney R. (Sid) Jacobson October 20, 1929 – July 23, 2022 From Sid’s son Seth: My father, Sid Jacobson, passed Saturday night (July 23rd) at Mission Hospice House in Redwood City, south of San Francisco. He went peacefully after suffering a major stroke during…
The advantage of the Jan 6 Committee holding a hearing in prime time rather than in midafternoon was that more people were home to watch. The disadvantage for political cartoonists is that it meant they didn’t have time to respond overnight, which Deb Milbrath indicated by simply posting her notes on Facebook in an implied…
I’m not in a political mood today, but I’ll feature this Carpe Diem (KFS) because I’m pretty sure that, since Niklas Eriksson lives in Sweden and his panel is not political, his lead time was significant and this is a coincidence. I wouldn’t run it if I thought he were drawing a fist-bump cartoon not…
Starting the day with things we ought not to believe, Ann Telnaes encapsulates the conflicting stories about how the Secret Service accidentally deleted text messages from, golly, of all dates, January 5 and 6, 2021. She includes a nameplate for Nixon secretary Rosemary Woods, for the benefit of those too young to remember Woods’…
Editorial cartoonist Judy Dixon has passed away. Judith Grace (Judy) Dixon (neé McCormack) January 15, 1927 – July 7, 2022 From The Jefferson County (Mo.) Leader obituary: Hall of Fame cartoonist Judith “Judy” McCormack Dixon died July 7 in De Soto at age 95. Mrs. Dixon enjoyed a 70-plus-year career as an artist, the…