Here is Ann’s drawing that the Post killed:












Here is Ann’s drawing that the Post killed:












Today I thought I would share today’s email newsletter that I sent to our cartoonists. Every week I send them a graph of the most reprinted cartoons of the week, and news about their royalty payments and other syndicate stuff that only cartoonists should be worried about. –Daryl
Hi Cartoonists,
Payments
The last royalty payments to the USA cartoonists went in the mail on December 31st; you should be receiving them now. Payments for the 4th quarter of 2024 will go out to the international cartoonists soon. We’ll do the 1099s in about two weeks.
New Podcast: Most Popular/Most Reprinted Cartoons of 2024
Our new podcast is a master class in what editors want. I discuss the 35 most reprinted cartoons of the year with our two cartoonists who dominated reprints in syndication last year, Jeff Koterba and Chris Weyant. See it here: https://youtu.be/SZ42XoU6eUQ
Supply isn’t a good match for demand in editorial cartoons. Think of our syndicate like a store that contains thousands of products for sale, of which almost all the customers select only the same twenty products to buy. This podcast isn’t a judgement on which cartoons are good; it is only a judgement on which cartoons the editors wanted.
You’ll notice some commonalities in the cartoons that the demand side is looking for – funny cartoons that everyone can agree with that express commonly and widely held feelings about the news. Notice that there are no cartoons depicting Trump in the top 35, and no cartoons about news from outside the USA, aside from the Olympics and a couple of space aliens. Both conservative and liberal editors tend to select the same cartoons these days.
Congratulations to Jeff and Chris for their outstanding performance with editors last year. And congrats to the other cartoonists who drew their way into the most popular 35 cartoons last year, Dave Whamond, John Darkow, Rick McKee, Bob Englehart, Gary McCoy, Dave Granlund, RJ Matson, Adam Zyglis, Randy Enos and Guy Parsons. These cartoonists perform well with editors consistently.
The Top Twenty Cartoons of Last Week
Congratulations to Dave Whamond for a commanding performance last week – with the top cartoon and three in the Top Ten! (Enter the image number into the SEARCH on CagleCartoons.com to see each cartoon image.)

Here is Dave’s #1 cartoon of the last week:

And here is Chris Weyant’s #1 cartoon of 2024:

Thanks, everyone!
Daryl
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I tried a new format for our cartoons – a slideshow of the past, best 35 cartoons on YouTube; take a look at: https://youtu.be/IjfJTXdZ5F4?si=V4qxArlwUmZ6A5dQ

Readers tell me that it goes too fast and I should slow it down so there is more time to study each cartoon without pausing. OK. Next time. Here are three cartoons from this nice slideshow that made me laugh.
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Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the least surprising development was the popularity of our turkey day cartoons.
Some cartoonists hate drawing holiday cartoons, but editors and readers clearly love them. Especially in a year where sweeping political change is heading towards Washington.
Rick McKee won the holiday, penning our three most popular cartoons of the week. Turns out lots of people were worried about politics ruining their feasts.
I also enjoyed Dave Granlund’s cartoon comparing the crowded conditions on the Mayflower with the congested roads of Thanksgiving today.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Rick McKee


#2. Rick McKee

#3. Rick McKee

#4. Dave Granlund

#5. Bill Day

#6. Randall Enos

#7. Bob Englehart

#8. Gary McCoy

#9. Monte Wolverton

#10. Bill Day

Here are my favorite Election Day cartoons! Go out and VOTE!
This is a pleasant daydream.

Here’s my new cartoon appreciating poll workers. I debated with myself whether to make them a bronze statue or just people raising the flag Iwo Jima style.

This is an oldie, revised from the cover of one of my Best Political Cartoons of the Year books. I changed it to be an election day cartoon.

Here’s a recent cartoon that was a popular one. I can stretch my mind and imagine why some doofus would vote for Trump; but I can’t imagine why anyone is undecided.

On election day. I’m sure everyone will be nice.

Vote!

I do lots of old folks watching TV.


This one isgood for every election.

I drew this one about Republican efforts to disenfranchise black voters. It takes many forms.

That’s it! Now go out and VOTE!
And don’t miss our new podcast on YouTube!
Here is my first try at doing a cartoon in Procreate.

It is my first steps. Like a baby picture. I’ve been getting my arm twisted by my son and a bunch of my artists to get off of Photoshop and my desktop Mac, and move to Procreate on an iPad. Here’s a detail.

My son, Buster, is doing all of his art on the iPad now, as are many of the CagleCartoonists. Some of them brag about how little time it takes them to color their cartoons. Rivers, our anonymous, conservative cartoonist is an example – he draws his cartoons alarmingly quickly in Procreate.
Rivers‘ linework is wonderful. He created his own “pen” for Procreate, that he shared with me and has been encouraging me to use. It is a lovely “pen” but I’m not there yet. I didn’t draw this cartoon in Procreate, I only painted it on the iPad and drew it in pencil on paper. I know. I’m late coming to this, and it took a lot of nagging to get me here, and this first one was a struggle – but I see that I have to do it.
I used watercolor brushes for this one, and it really does look like watercolor. Everyone can witness my next, painful baby steps with my next cartoons. (I cringe looking at this one.) If drawing cartoons was easier and faster, I would draw more cartoons, which is something I really should be doing.
There’s a lot I give up with Procreate. I like CMYK and true black lines on the K channel. Procreate doesn’t do that, and a lot of the things that Photoshop does easily are a challenge in Procreate. Still, gotta do it.
Here’s one from Rivers done in Procreate with his lovely pen.

Here’s one from Pat Bagley, drawn in Procreate, with his charming “carpenter’s pencil” lines.

Here’s a lovely, bloody oldie from the great Steve Sack, all done in Procreate.

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Wow! Two Top Ten Catoons fo the Week in two days! Well … that’s because I was traveling and I’m back now and slowly catching up. This one is the latest Top Ten, for last week! Really! And I’ll get a new podcast up very soon – I promise!
Parents are normally ecstatic when it’s time for their children to shuffle back to school. But thanks to inflation, the price of just about everything remains high, including that cost of school supplies.
Jeff Koterba’s cartoon about budgeting for back-to-school was our most-reprinted cartoon of the week. Bob Englehart’s cartoon about the whole thing being a scam was also popular with editors.
As far as politics are concerned, I chuckled at Chris Weyant’s cartoon about the annoying back-and-forth over crowd sizes, while Dick Wright dinged Kamala Harris for copying Donald Trump’s plan to make tips tax free.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Jeff Koterba

#2. Bob Englehart

#3. Randal Enos

#4. John Darkow

#5. Dick Wright

#6. Chris Weyant

#7. Jeff Koterba

#8. John Darkow

#9. Dick Wright

#10. Dave Granlund

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Wall Street gave everyone whiplash last week, with stocks tanking before bouncing back in a late-week comeback.
Dave Granlund’s “The sky is falling!” cartoon was popular among editors this week, and I loved the imagery of Chris Weyant’s Olympics-inspired toon about the brief stock market crash.
This week’s most-popular cartoon continued on a theme that began a few weeks ago, about people looking for any excuse to ignore the election. With astronauts stuck on the International Space Station until February, they won’t just miss the election – they won’t be back to Earth until after we inaugurate a new president.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. John Darkow

#2. Dave Granlund
#3. John Darkow
#4. Rick McKee
#5. Rivers
#6. Dick Wright
#7. Dave Whamond
#8. Chris Weyant
#9. Jeff Koterba
#10. Pat Bagley
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Afraid of robots taking over? If you’re phone habits are like most Americans, they already have, as Dave Whamond points out in his funny cartoon about artificial intelligence and our growing addiction to screens.
Sadly, a lot of the info we’re reading online is wrong. Frank Hansen mocked Google for its error-filled, A.I.-powered search results that told people to put glue on pizza and to eat rocks.
Fortunately, computers will be drawing all editorial cartoons in the near future, so the robots won’t have to worry about being mocked by us humans.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Dave Whamond

#2. Dave Granlund

#3. Jeff Koterba

#4. John Darkow

#5. Frank Hansen

#6. Jeff Koterba

#7. R.J. Matson

#8. Pat Byrnes

#9. Dick Wright

#10. Rick McKee

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Here are the first Trump conviction cartoons! Enjoy! By Dave Whamond, Pat Byrnes, Rick McKee, me and Ed Wexler!

And don’t miss our great new Trump Bashing Caglecast!
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