DarylCagle.comWith the Olympics in full-swing, I thought I’d share this clever mini-series of cartoons from our own R.J. Matson, the political cartoonist for Roll Call. Sadly, these cartoons are right on the mark about a Congress with an approval rating of just 12 percent:
Brilliant Canadian cartoonist Cam Cardow, the staff cartoonist for the Ottawa Citizen, had the cartoon below rejected for being too cynical and unfair. “I think it’s fair comment,” Cam wrote on his Facebook page, “but I’ll accept the cynical tag.”
Cam expanded his thoughts behind the rejected cartoon:
It’s not that I think Canadian athletes are mediocre, (because they are not) it’s just got to do with them up against some really tough competition this year,” Cam wrote. “As a result, some of Canadian coverage I’ve seen has been the proverbial making lemonade when given lemons. There hasn’t been a lot to celebrate from a Canadian perspective so far. In contrast, we have the U.S. coverage which can’t keep up to their medals and victories. It’s not a criticism, just pointing out the reality of it.
Here is the cartoon Cam drew in place of the rejected one:
We’ve heard a lot about the NRA and gun control in the wake of the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Lots of our cartoonists have already weighed in on the issue (check out our collection of Gun Control cartoons), but readers seem polarized by conservative cartoonist Gary McCoy’s cartoon about the call for increases gun control laws following the shooting:
Here’s a sampling of some of our readers’ comments on Facebook:
David Wilder MaGoo: Sorry, don’t see the correlation. Guns don’t fall out of the sky.
Suzanne Chiles: When it’s easier to buy 6000 rounds of ammunition than it is to buy a box of Sudafed, I’d say that yes, we probably do need some more laws concerning the ownership and operation of firearms.
Ivy C Maile Boley: you can’t make laws that make people less crazy, less mean, less marginalized – – laws are supposed to step in when society has failed to uphold our inherent cooperativeness.
Tim Campbell: Stopping deranged people from killing – (left solution) harder access to guns. Stopping teens from having sex – (right solution) harder access to birth control.
Steven Pennella: Total cheap shot considering Democrats are pro-solar power and the fossils of the GOP are pro fossil fuel.
Michael A. Cooper: Why are ALL the gun laws aimed at the law abiding and NOT the criminals?
Rick Wade: If the existing laws were enforced the situation would improve dramatically.
Bob Jones: Cartoon is a non sequitur. Guns and gun violence, unlike sunshine, are not naturally occurring phenomena.
Eric Nelson: Here’s a thought, let’s enforce our laws on the books and close loop holes for gun shows. Tax ammunition like talons out of existence and bring back an assault weapons ban. For those enthusiasts who love assault weapons, I’m sorry. Hell pot is illegal.
What do you think? Comment below or drop us a note on our Facebook page.
On Friday, Lee Enterprises announced it was laying off nearly two dozen employees at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 14 of which came from their newsroom. Among the laid-off journalist is someone familiar to Cagle.com readers – their staff cartoonist, R.J. Matson.
Matson, whose cartoons I syndicate to newspapers nationally with Cagle Cartoons, moved to St. Louis in 2007 to become the staff cartoonist at the Post-Dispatch, and has survived many cutbacks and layoffs along the way.
“I had a good seven year run. No regrets. I had the honor of working with a lot of great journalists, many of whom were laid off or jumped ship, during my time at the Post-Dispatch,” Matson said. “When my number came up, I didn’t take it personally.”
We will continue to syndicate Matson’s great cartoons. He’ll continue to draw four cartoons a week for Roll Call, but he’ll miss drawing cartoons about the local politics of St. Louis and Missouri.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Matson said. “But desperate measures won’t bring in new readers and will alienate a lot of loyal readers, many of whom really like to see their community reflected in local editorial cartoons.”
You can view Matson’s terrific cartoons here.
I drew this cartoon of Michael Phelps during the 2008 Olympics. The swimmers wore body suits then (which have since been banned) and I thought the body suits were funny.
Phelps seems to be having some troubles this time around, but it seemed to all the cartoonists that he swam like a dolphin in Beijing.
Many cartoonists drew Phelps sinking to the bottom of the pool under the weight of his gold medals. Many more drew him as a super hero.
Soon after the olympics there was a little scandal about Phelps smoking marijuana – not something most people would care about, but cartoonists love to draw marijuana cartoons.
I thought this Phelps cartoon was charming …
I’m rooting for Michael Phelps to get it together and come back. He’s good for cartoonists.
I’m sad to report that my friend, cartoonist Dave Thorne, often refered to as the father of Hawaiian cartooning, has died at the age of 82.
Thorne was well known in Hawaii for his funny cartoons and his commitment to educating and reaching out to kids with his work. He would often travel around the island and give “chalk talks” to young people, inspiring them to grab a pen and start drawing.
Up until October of last year, Thorne had been drawing “Thorney’s Zoo”, a gag strip filled with funny animals, for Sunday’s edition of Honolulu Star-Advertiser. I can probably count on one hand the number of newspapers across the country that commission cartoonists to draw local comic strips. Thorn also taught cartooning regularly at UH Manoa for twenty-three years before retiring in 2001.
Here’s a video from 2011 of Thorne as he sketches for kids at the McCully-Moiliili Public Library in Hawaii:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzvPzbzQ1-E]
There’s a nice Facebook tribute page up with people from across the country weighing in and drawing cartoons in Dave’s honor.
Every Friday, we collect the best political cartoons of the week and stuff them into one big, glorious slideshow.
So just relax and catch up on a week’s worth of news with our Best Cartoons of the Week slideshow.
Here’s my new cartoon about the decision by both Mitt Romney and President Obama to pull their attack ads in the wake of the terrible theater shooting in Colorado…
Every Friday, we collect the best political cartoons of the week and stuff them into one big, glorious slideshow.
So just relax and catch up on a week’s worth of news with our Best Cartoons of the Week slideshow.
It’s difficult to watch cable news at times. What do new anchors hope to get from Romney’s surrogates that over any insight or analysis on the campaign:
Obama also has his own army of well-trained surrogates to keep pushing the campaign’s narriative:
Lately, Obama has been on the attack about Romney’s time at Bain Capital and his refusal to release additional years of his tax returns:
Despite the attacks, the candidates have been able to make the choice in the upcoming election clear:
Ever since a report was released last week that shows legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno covered up the child abuse being committed by his former assistant Jerry Sandusky, our cartoonists have been weighing in with their thoughts.
While most critics are calling for Paterno’s statue to be removed (including our cartoonists), Mobile Press-Register cartoonist JD Crowe thinks the entire Penn State football program should be suspended – for 14 years.
Here’s his cartoon:
And here’s what he wrote on his blog:
For 14 years, Jerry Sandusky was allowed to roam, raping children and destroying young lives while the powers at Penn State turned a blind eye and said nothing.
The Penn State football program should be silenced for at least 14 years. It’s as plain as the nose on Joe Paterno’s face.
Do you agree with Crowe, or should the football program not be punished? Comment below or drop us a note on our Facebook page.
Cartoonists like visual metaphors, and there’s no bigger representation of everything that’s wrong at Penn State than the bronze statue of Joe Paterno that stands outside of Beaver Stadium.
Critics are calling for the statue to be town down in lieu of a report that clearly shows Paterno helped cover up the actions of his former assistant coach, convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky.
Here are some cartoons about the statue by a handful of our cartoonists. Think it should be torn down? Comment below or drop us a note on our Facebook page.
