Categories
Blog

Lemmings!

Lemmings jumping en-masse off of a cliff are one of the great chichés that editorial cartoonists rely upon – like the Iwo Jima memorial, clown cars, the Statue of Liberty, movie posters, peeing dogs – it is no surprise to see a new lemming/cliff cartoon and it is fun to see the familiar metaphor with a new twist.  I end up doing a new lemming cartoon once every two or three years.

My lemming cartoon yesterday was about the ongoing tumult in Egypt, and protesting Egyptians running their country off of a cliff.

126311 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Back in 2009, during the Obamacare debate, I drew the Democrat/lemmings jumping off of a political cliff. Of-course, their cliff was on the left.

69009 600 Lemmings! cartoons

 

Back in 2007 at the onset of the mortgage collapse, I drew house/lemmings jumping off of a cliff …

40973 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Way back in 2003 unemployment was on our minds (things never change much) and I drew this graduation lemmings cartoon.

64336 600 Lemmings! cartoons

The lemming metaphor is popular around the world too.  Here is how my graduation cartoon was plagiarized by a cartoonist at a top newspaper in Saudi Arabia.

SaudiPlagiarizedcartoon Lemmings! cartoons

It amuses me to see how the positions of all of the characters in the Saudi cartoon match my own drawing.

Here are some lemmings by some of my favorite cartoonists.  This one is by Mike Keefe from back in 2007 …

36065 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Here’s Colombian cartoonist “Matador” (Killer) with the Eurozone countries as lemmings.

102699 600 Lemmings! cartoons

Joe Heller did the lemmings as a Martin Luther King Day cartoon …

88061 600 Lemmings! cartoons

This lemming/shoppers cartoon by Andy Singer made me laugh …

71378 600 Lemmings! cartoons

This mortgage crisis cartoon that I drew back in 2007 is a twist on the lemmings …

44708 600 Lemmings! cartoons

I did a search on the word “cliff” in our cartoon database and came up with 440 results.  Yipes!  There are cliffs everywhere!

Categories
Blog

Editorial Cartoonists are Like Chickens

ChickenColor600wide Editorial Cartoonists are Like Chickens cartoons

Click to see an even bigger cartoonist chicken.

I’m often asked what editorial cartoonists “are like.”  We’re a rare breed; there are only about 60 of us with full time jobs.  What we do and how we do it can seem strange to most people.

I think the best way to explain it is with chickens.  Editorial cartoonists are like chickens.

A flock of chickens is typically all female, with only one male.  Editorial cartoonists are the opposite, all males in the flock with only a couple of females. We work in little cubicles, for chickenfeed. Editorial cartoonists and chickens are all white (it is possible that you might see a brown chicken, but I don’t remember ever seeing a brown one).

When there is a weak chicken in a flock, the weak chicken’s colleagues will peck it to death. Why?  Social Darwinism.  Killing the weak strengthens the flock – a noble cause.  Chickens are little sociopaths, convinced of their righteousness and operating without feelings of guilt or empathy for what they believe is the betterment of the flock.

Chickens strut around like they are important, knowing their heads will soon be on the chopping block. Like chickens, when you cut off an editorial cartoonist’s head, he will keep running around.  I haven’t tested that last fact, but I’m sure it is true – and it gives us hope for the future of our profession.

Categories
Blog

Women in Combat, Obama’s 2nd Term and Hillary

Here are my most recent cartoons and the sketches that, for some reason, you like to see.  The first one is on Obama’s apparent transformation into a more liberal Obama in his second term.  First the pencil sketch.

2ndTermSketch Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsThen I trace the sketch for line art on vellum.  This is what most people see in the newspapers that still print in black and white.

Line2ndTermTransformation Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoons… and here it is in color.

600Wide2ndTermTransform Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsObama also seems to be getting more of a spine.  Here is the previous cartoon, on Hillary’s testimony in congress.

126033 600 Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoons

126086 600 Women in Combat, Obamas 2nd Term and Hillary cartoonsThat’s really Hillary’s testimony in the small type in her speech balloon, and that’s what she was really thinking in the thought balloon. Hillary is fun to draw, and the glasses are great.

At the right is my most recent cartoon about Defense Secretary Panetta’s announcement that all areas of the military, that had previously been closed to women, will now be open to qualified women – a change that is long overdue.

We have a great collection of cartoons on Women in Combat – come look!

 

Categories
Blog

Thank You For Supporting Editorial Cartooning!

I wanted to let all of our amazing Cagle.com readers to let you know that our campaign for cartoonist Bill Day was a complete success!

Your generosity has been overwhelming for Bill, who will be quitting his job at the bike shop to devote more time to his cartoons, and he will be able to save his house from foreclosure – all thanks to you! In the next couple of months, Bill will be working hard to put his e-book together and deliver the other perks and original artwork promised to over 800 fans who will be keeping him in our troubled profession for at least another year.

In the last moments of the Indiegogo campaign, we broke the $40,000 mark for Bill. The more contributions that come in, the longer he’ll work beyond his one year commitment so please continue to spread the word as you have because you can still make contributions. If you would like to make a contribution visit: http://www.indiegogo.com/billday

And you can see my pitch for Bill at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EPKKLOfkA

And again, many, many thanks for all of your support for Bill and for our profession. A few of Bill’s most recent cartoons are below.

With warm regards,

Daryl Cagle

Categories
Cartoons

Women in Combat

Women in Combat © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,Army,air force,navy,marine corps,military,Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta,women,medals.children,equal rights,women in combat

Categories
Cartoons

Hillary Clintons Testimony

Hillary Clintons Testimony © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,Hillary Clinton,Secretary of State,testimony,congress,Benghazi,Libya,Senate,best-of-hillary-clinton,benghazi coverup, benghazi inquiry, best of hillary clinton, hillary 2016

Categories
Cartoons

Second Term Transformation

Second Term Transformation © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,liberal,transformation,metamorphosis,Barack Obama,president,1st term,2nd term,second term,inauguration,speech, best of obama,obama second term

Categories
Blog

Soup to Nutz Kickstarter

Soup to Nutz Kickstarter cartoons

I’m a big fan of the comic strip Soup to Nutz by my cartoonist buddy, Rick Stromoski. Rick has started a Kickstarter campaign to do a new book – come see it here.  I’d love to see Rick reach his goal and see the book happen.  I asked Rick to write a few words for my blog …

Since publication of my first Soup to Nutz collection in 2003 I’ve been asked by many readers of my strip when a second book would be coming out. After much consideration and speaking with other cartoonists who have had success with alternative ways of getting their work published, I decided to try the Kickstarter route. The thing that excites me most is the overwhelming positive response in the first few days where I’ve reached nearly 60% of my goal. I also like the feeling of control over what goes into the book and how it will be distributed. Lastly I’m encouraged by the kind words and supportive calls and emails I’ve reeived in these first few days. So I thank you in advance for your continued interest and support.

The Nutz family is definitely not the Cleavers, the Waltons or the Bradys. But you’ll undoubtedly recognize them anyway. Most likely, they’re a lot like the family you grew up in… Where the oldest boy Royboy when not torturing his younger brother, digs up deceased pet turtles weeks after their backyard funerals, middle child Babs advocates for veganism and solutions to global warming, and youngest brother Andrew would rather wear a tutu than a football helmet and prefer Barbies over GI Joe.

Soup to Nutz is a family comic strip unlike most family comic strips.

Soup to Nutz: A Second Helping is a project long overdue …the second collection of Soup to Nutz daily newspaper comic strips most not seen for a number of years.

 

Categories
Blog

Obama Knot and The National Lampoon

Here’s my new cartoon – Obama tied in a knot.  As I was watching the inauguration it seemed to me that Obama won’t be moving too quickly to make all the changes he urged in his speech – therefore, he’s tied up in a knot.  Not too deep, but fun to draw.  Here is the rough pencil sketch …

ObamaKnotSketch600 Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoons

I had to erase and think a bit to figure out how to tie the president into a knot. I was a lousy boy scout.  Here he is in line art, the way most people will see the cartoon in the newspapers.

ObamaKnot600BW Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoons

… and here he is in color.

Obama600WideColor Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoons

And here is the cartoon the very next day in my local newspaper (The Santa Barbara News-Press).

NewsPressKnot600wide Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoons

3634918376 16c64e4bc8 o Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoonsMy previous cartoon was based on a famous old National Lampoon cover. I loved the old National Lampoon – this great one is from 1973, when I was a junior in high school. One of my favorite parts of the National Lampoon was the Chicken Guts comics by Randall Enos – who I now syndicate as an editorial cartoonist!

Unfortunately, I don’t think this cartoon will get reprinted much, because it is name-calling-Republican-bashing, because it requires some popular cultural knowledge, and because it is in a vertical format, which doesn’t fit the standard hole that editors leave open for the editorial cartoon.  Oh well – I’m the boss here at Cagle Cartoons, so I can draw what I want, even if nobody else wants it.

125654 600 Obama Knot and The National Lampoon cartoons

Categories
Blog

Watch Steve Sack Draw Lance Armstrong

Here is a movie of Steve Sack drawing his latest Lance Armstrong cartoon on his iPad.

And here is the cartoon …

125591 600 Watch Steve Sack Draw Lance Armstrong cartoons

 

Check out our great collection of Lance Armstrong cartoons.

 

 

Categories
Cartoons

National Buffoons

National Buffoons © Daryl Cagle,CagleCartoons.com,Republicans,gun,pistol,handgun,debt ceiling,deficit spending,dog,shoot,kill,National Lampoon,magazine,Debt Ceiling

Categories
Blog

Bill Day Fundraising Update – Only $2,000 To Go!

aa bill day Bill Day Fundraising Update – Only $2,000 To Go! cartoons
aa day total Bill Day Fundraising Update – Only $2,000 To Go! cartoonsClick here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!With 10 days left in our Indiegogo fundraising drive to fund the work of brilliant, unemployed cartoonist Bill Day, I’m happy to report that we’re less than $2,000 away from reaching our goal!

Today has also been labeled “Bill Day Day” by the folks behind the popular Facebook page The Pragmatic Conservative. They are posting a Bill Day cartoon every hour, on the hour. So make your way to their page, “like” Day’s cartoons and share them with your friends on Facebook.

Hopefully, we can raise the $2,000 needed and put Bill over the top today! So please continue to spread the word – we may be in the final stretch, but we’re not going to get there without your support, and Bill needs your help now more than ever!

Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!

If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so. There are some really great perks still available for donors – everything from signed prints of Bill’s work to an actual original piece of Bill Day artwork that you can frame and hang up in your home or office!

Donate enough and you could even receive a custom Bill Day cartoon drawn about any subject or topic important to you! That’s a one of a kind item that you can cherish your entire life!

And forward this newsletter to your friends, relatives, co-workers, enemies – the more people that know about our fundraising drive, the more likely we’re going to be successful in preserving one of the most important political cartoon voices in the country.

Again, thank you for all your generosity and support of political cartoons. You guys are the best!

Click here to make a contribution to save Bill Day!