Cartoons/Comics/Funnies are serious business. From Walt Kelly to Winsor McCay, Tex Avery to Chuck Jones, Matt Groenig to Lynda Barry, Garry Trudeau to Glen Baxter, R. Crumb to Art Spiegelman, Saul Steinberg to Roz Chast – the list goes on and on – ’cartoons’ are best when they have a bite. Last year I finally read 1993’s “Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art” by cartoonist Scott McCloud. It’s an interesting take on understanding the history of the medium, its cultural significance, and how techniques are used to invite readers in.
With the current chaos of the summer of 2022 here are a few I picked for today that resonate with me.
Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins. He is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the 2013 recipient of the prestigious Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning, and a 2015 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Ruben Bolling is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher. He was awarded a prize for best cartoon in the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Book & Journalism Awards and in 2019 and 2021 he was a finalist in the Editorial Cartooning category for the Pulitzer Prize. His "mordant wit, superior artwork and inventive delivery" won him the 2021 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons from the National Press Foundation.
David Fitzsimmons is an editorial cartoonist and has been with the Arizona Daily Star since 1986. He's won many awards and his cartoons are syndicated to over 700 clients worldwide. Part performer, part caricaturist, part satirist, part clown, and part teacher, he has become a Tucson icon with pen in hand.
Corey Mohler, a software engineer in Portland, Oregon, created Existential Comics in 2013. His work comes closest in nature to the comics I put together at the end of each of my posts, using philosophy as the main component.
Mattie Lubchansky (https://thenib.com/author/mattie-lubchansky/) is the Associate Editor of the Nib and a cartoonist and illustrator living in Queens, NY.
Signe Wilkinson is an editorial cartoonist best known for her work at the Philadelphia Daily News. Wilkinson is the only female editorial cartoonist whose work has been distributed by a major syndicate.
Cartoonist Brendan Loper is a pencil enthusiast and publishes often in the New Yorker.
And finally, an image that appeared online yesterday…there are initials but don’t know the artist responsible. Popped it into google images and zip…
And now…