Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Rich Powell starts off this panoply of humor with a wordless wonder at Wide Open (Universal), and the best part is that, while the humans are blissfully unaware, the dogs recognize kindred spirits, with perhaps a sense of having been mismatched. Well, if their people have never heard that thing about people resembling their dogs,…
The Creation of the Comic Strip as an Audiovisual Stage in the New York Journal 1896-1900 Eike Exner, for Image Text, explores the origins of “sound” in late 19th Century comics of The New York Journal. Some histories of comics imply that the form started by Outcault was immediately continued by Rudolph Dirks, whose Katzenjammer…
Timing is everything, and while Jeff Stahler (AMS)‘s image of the impossibility of getting it back in the tube is hardly a new metaphor, we’re at a stage where we should be wishing there were some way to do it. It’s astounding to have a vice-presidential candidate openly admit that he is willing to tell…
Letter to The (Battle Ground, WA) Reflector: So naturally we went to the WeirdJoeKent.com website which was, we have to think, the actual purpose of writing the letter. I like the idea of local cartoonists cartooning about the local elections for newspapers or for campaigns. I don’t like that there are no credits for the…
I’ve noted in the past that for empty-nested, retired folks, holidays are when the banks are closed and there’s no mail delivery, but I’ll happily let Arlo & Janis (AMS) make the point again. The United States has two levels of federal holidays: Those we actually observe — New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day,…
Creative spelling, as seen in this Moderately Confused (AMS), is an editor’s nightmare, but one that fortunately has morphed out of control in tune with the technical revolution. I used to run honor role listings in the paper, and, for a while, I’d come across some ridiculous version of a common name and call the…
Gary Varvel (Creators) offers a sensible if not groundbreaking reminder that democracy belongs to the voters. Such messages don’t need to plow a whole lot of new ground, but they have value, particularly in a bizarre world in which people are being urged to distrust the system. We’ve seen school budgets get shot down by…
Nous sommes ici, at the AAEC and ACC Convention in Montreal, and I’m gradually re-learning to shift from English to French and back again as well as recalling that once you find the place you’re looking for and then find a place to park, you have forgotten how to get where you were going. Fortunately,…
A wide range of comic and comic-adjacent items. WESTPORT — Notable work by many of the cartoonists who have called Fairfield County home over the last century are showcased in two new exhibits at the Westport Library. On display are cartoons by: Dik Browne (“Haggar the Horrible”); Mort Walker (“Beetle Bailey”); John Cullen Murphy (“Prince…
I think today’s Deflocked (AMS) is largely an example of lead time. When the first cell phone bans in school were announced, editorial cartoonists leapt to depict disheartened children, though my own suspicion was that the kids would largely shrug it off and either adjust to life in the here and now or find new…
When last we read Jules Feiffer it was his graphic novel trilogy paying homage to film noir and detective fiction. Now Jules returns with a graphic novel for teens and preteens wherein he puts down in comic form a detective story of a far different kind as two youngster are separated from their older sister…
This Comic Strip Is the Best Read for Fans of The Far Side Maria Scrivan’s Half Full is a comic strip with similar offbeat humor to The Far Side that fans will love. Arantxa Pellme, in a two minute video from Comic Book Resources, nominates Maria Scrivan’s Half Full as the rightful successor to Gary…
Our first conflict was brought forth in part by this morning’s Tank McNamara (AMS) and in part by my having missed the first three weeks of the football season and not feeling all that bad about it. There was a point at which I would agree with the fellow suggesting a three-concussions-and-you’re-out approach, and I…
Continuing our roundup of items from Friday with The Return of Jimmy Johnson; FurBabies, FDR, and Fala; L.A.Times’ op-comic by Teresa Wong; Travels with Hilary B. Price; The Wizard of Goldberg Machines; Jules Feiffer takes us to other dimensions; Jack Chick tracts re-engineered; Sandra Bell-Lundy sets the girls free; last chances for Smercomics 2024 and…
A bunch of funny stuff, today and in the past several days, and well-timed given the level of not-funny stuff we’ve all been dealing with. My definition of funny has less to do with pies in the face than with things that make you laugh because you can relate to them. (My sympathies to those…