Industry news for the professional cartoonist
Mark Parisi is the creator of the comic panel Off The Mark and his wife, Lynn Reznick Parisi, is the business manager for the strip. Off the Mark has been sold both in and out of syndication (currently syndicated through Universal Uclick). He’s been doing paid cartooning professionally since 1987 when his feature was picked…
Things must be somewhat settle. I haven’t seen many reports of comics being dropped/picked up in a while. There are a few to report. Michael Cavna reports that the Washington Post is now running Frazz in their Style section daily. Apparently Frazz was running in the KidsPost but not daily. The Post also moves Doonesbury…
With the announcement of the end of Little Orphan Annie, Time Magazine is looking at the best long-running comics. They also allow you to order them in your order of preference. Here’s their original list: B.C. Dennis the Menace Beetle Bailey Annie The Katzenjammer Kids Gasoline Alley Blondie Dick Tracy Prince Valiant Brenda Starr
Last fall, I reviewed the new roll out of United Media’s comics.com and compared it to other major syndicate offerings, including uClick/Universal Press’ GoComics.com. Last month, uClick released a major upgrade/redesign to GoComics improving many of the features that were eclipsed by comics.com. uClick’s mobile friendly site. uClick has always had one of the better…
American Heritage has a great article on the original The Katzenjammer Kids – which turns 110 years old today. The original Katzenjammer Kids was a pioneer in cartooning – establishing the basic visual language used in comics today. Around the turn of the twentieth century, two popular art forms began parallel transformations. Up until that…
The Wisconsin Journal asked John Kovalic, creator of “Dork Tower“, to critique the National Security Adminstration’s kids site “I really think the characters are terrific,” responds cartoonist John Kovalic, creator of Dork Tower. “Kind of the perfect mix between Disney World and Guantanamo Bay. I can’t wait for the theme park.” He adds that “being…
When we were reading Hamlet junior year, the professor asked why there was the gravedigger scene, and we all dutifully responded about easing the tension, to which he said, “Shakespeare had a clown in his troupe and had to write something for him.” I don’t know if I accept that, but for either reason, here’s…
Socialists Charles Schulz and Al Vermeer, Walt Kelly and Jim Henson – Pogo and Muppets, Al Brodax animates The Beatles for TV, Wild Takes Animated by Tex Avery and others, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – the comic strip. Peanuts, Priscilla’s Pop Push Progressivist Propaganda Nat Gertler stumbled upon a 1963 syndicated column by…
Edward Gorey, Maria Scrivan, James Sturm, Jerry Fearing, Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud, Michael Maslin, Bill Watterson and Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts, The Stanleys, and encouraging developing cartoonists. Rich Johnston shares news of the print run for Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud’s forthcoming book: The Cartoonists Club, a new graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier and…
Harry Bliss (Tribune) arrives in the nick of time and we’re gonna take a break from the apocalyptically insane political goings. I need the comic relief and I also need to catch up with what’s on the funny pages. Though Ben (MWAM) is closer to the mark than Bliss, because all the leaves are brown…
Tommy Siegel offers an explanation of what happened this week, and, while foolish arrogance doesn’t explain it all, I feel free to skip politics today and just offer some laughs and general social reflection. I think the political cartoonists need some time to reflect and refocus. There have been some good responses, as seen here…
La Cucaracha (AMS) confesses to having faced lead time, but Alcaraz did a nice job of predicting where we’d be at this stage. Mind you, Alcaraz has long been on record against Latino voters who support Trump, as this political cartoon from June attests. It may be disappointing, but not surprising, that he spotted the…
Dogs and Halloween aren’t always a good combination, but today’s Bliss (Tribune) brought back a memory of a ridgeback who enjoyed dressing up. Some of my dogs have tolerated it, some haven’t, but he thought it was fun, so one time I put him in a Canadiens jersey, balanced a hockey helmet on his head…
This Buckets (AMS) is as close to the Washpo/LATimes thing as I’m getting today. As I wrote yesterday, I’m impressed that the Post has allowed so much pushback from staff, so it’s pretty clear that nobody in the front office feels they speak for the CEO. OTOH, I’m somewhat confounded by all the calls not…
Brace yourself, Willie. Here comes a flood, and it’s not just special sauce. Granted, I posted a David Rowe version yesterday, but that’s the advantage he gets with a 15-hour time difference between Sydney and New York: He slipped in ahead of the crowd. Jack Ohman — Smerconish Pat Bagley Phil Hands Nick Anderson —…