DarylCagle.comI just put up a great new Caglecast podcast with me, Taylor Jones and Graham MacKay discussing our cartoons about China and cartoons from China about the USA, by our Chinese cartoonist Luo Jie. We’re having a TRUMP TRADE WAR CARTOON CELEBRATION! Here are some of my own China Trade War cartoons, and I’ll post some more by Luo Jie, Taylor and Graham here soon.
The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter this year, but don’t blame Trump’s tariffs or all the uncertainly created by his administration during his first 100 days in office. No, according to Trump, this is still the economy of Joe Biden, who hasn’t been president for more than three months.
Our most-reprinted cartoon this week, drawn by Dave Granlund, shows a middle class family alongside other endangered species. Another popular economic cartoon came from Dave Whamond, who knew exactly where to put a cartoon of eggs in the jewelry store.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Dave Granlund
#2. Dave Whamond
#3. Bruce Plante
#4. Chris Weyant
#5. Dave Whamond
#6. Dave Whamond
#7. Dave Granlund
#8. Bob Englehart
#9. Dave Whamond
#10. Daryl Cagle
Donald Trump generally dominates the headlines, but this week the news topics were all over the place, from taxes to far-off planets where scientists uncovered possible signs of life.
Our most-reprinted cartoon this week was Dave Granlund’s tribute to Pope Francis, who died this week at the age of 88. We had a number of cartoons about Francis, but Granlund’s depiction certainly struck a chord with editors.
Another popular cartoon was Dave Whamond’s funny take on pollen, proving once again everyone cares about the weather.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Dave Granlund
#2. Dave Whamond
#3. Dave Granlund
#4. Margolis & Cox
#5. Harley Schwadron
#6. Chris Weyant
#7. Jeff Koterba
#8. R.J.Matson
#9. Dave Granlund
#10. Dave Whamond
I’m sorry! I forgot to post the Top Ten of the week last week –so here it is. And I’ll have a new one in the next couple of days.
Nearly all our most-reprinted cartoons last week touch on some impact Trump’s Washington is having on folks. The most-popular was Dave Whamond’s Easter-themed cartoon about the sky-high price of eggs, which have only gone up since Trump took office. But I also loved Rick McKee’s cartoon about a couple on a picnic happy because their cartoon had nothing to do with Trump.
If only we could all live in such bliss.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week – starting with #10:
#10. Pat Bagley
#1. Dave Whamond
#2. John Darkow
#3. Rick McKee
#4. Dave Granlund
#5. R.J. Matson
#6. Chris Weyant
#7. Dave Whamond
#8. Dave Granlund
#9. Margolis & Cox
Donald Trump’s certainly left his mark on the global economy, with his global tariffs continuing to wreak havoc on markets across the world. Here in the U.S., Wall Street has become something of a rollercoaster ride, jumping and falling on every Truth Social post from the president
The interest in everything tariffs was evident this week, as nearly all of our most-reprinted cartoons were about Trump’s tax hike on imported goods. Our most popular cartoon, drawn by Ed Wexler, focused on the poor penguins in Antarctica unexpectedly hit by Trump’s tariffs.
Dave Whamond also drew a pair of popular tariff cartoons – a funny one featuring a keyboard warrior turned tax expert, and another mocking our dwindling 401(k)s. If you haven’t logged into your retirement account lately, don’t start now. I’d wait for all of Trump’s “winning” to kick in.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Ed Wexler
#2. Dave Whamond
#3. Dave Whamond
#4. Dave Granlund
#5. Harley Schwadron
#6. John Darkow
#7. John Darkow
#8. Dave Granlund
#9. Dave Granlund
#10. Dick Wright
IRS agents. VA workers. Park rangers. Air traffic controllers. Social Security administrators. No one employed by the federal government appears safe with Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency waiving a chainsaw across Washington.
Our top two most-reprinted cartoons of the week come from Chris Weyant, and both mock Musk’s blunt and mistake-prone process of trimming the size of the federal workforce. I also enjoyed Jeff Koterba’s cartoon about astronauts returning home after being stuck on the International Space Station, only to find a “Planet of the Apes” scenario playing out in the U.S.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Chris Weyant
#2. Chris Weyant
#3. Jeff Koterba
#4. Dave Granlund
#5. John Darkow
#6. John Darkow
#7. John Darkow
#8. R.J. Matson
#9. Alexandra Bowman
#10. Bruce Plante
Have you heard the phrase doomscrolling? That’s when folks mindlessly consume negative news on their phone without lifting a finger to do anything about it.
Looks like it’s happening a lot during the Trump administration. Dave Whamond’s call for somebody, anybody to stand up and fight – including Democrats in Washington – was easily our most-reprinted cartoon of the week.
A big item in the news are Trump’s on again, off again tariffs on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico. Right now, they’re paused until next month, which led to a funny cartoon by Bob Englehart featuring a kid and his lemonade stand.
For now, don’t stop scrolling. Instead, check out our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Dave Whamond
#2. Bob Englehart
#3. John Darkow
#4. John Darkow
#5. Dick Wright
#6. Dave Whamond
#7. Jeff Koterba
#8. Dave Granlund
#9. Pat Byrnes
#10. Doug Plante
This week in Washington, one of the big news stories was a fight between Donald Trump and the Associated Press over whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America.
Our most popular cartoon of the week was drawn by Bob Englehart, and features a GPS overwhelmed by the Gulf of American and all the other new names Trump is throwing out there.
I contributed by drawing a cartoon about a depressed student being forced to write “Gulf of America” over and over again on the chalkboard. On some level, it feels like most of us are being punished.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Bob Englehart
#2. Dave Granlund
#3. Bob Englehart
#4. John Darkow
#5. Jeff Koterba
#6. Dave Whamond
#7. Dave Whamond
#8. Daryl Cagle
#9. Daryl Cagle
#10. Adam Zyglis
While Donald Trump’s inauguration is next week, America’s focus has been out west, as deadly fires continue to burn around Los Angeles.
At least 27 people have been killed by the fires, while thousands have been evacuated. Countless lives have been impacted by the destruction, which early estimates say could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
One of our most-reprinted cartoons on the fire was Jeff Koterba’s touching tribute to the first responders, volunteers, and donors who are selflessly helping their fellow citizens in a moment of need. It’s hard to be critical in the middle of a disaster, but I did appreciate R.J. Matson’s cartoon about the blame game going on in Los Angeles, pegged around fire hydrants lacking water during the initial stages of the fire.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. John Darkow
#2. Jeff Koterba
Don’t miss our new Caglecast slideshow of cartoons about the California wildfires!
#3. Dave Granlund
#4. Dave Granlund
#5. Gary McCoy
#6. John Darkow
#7. Bob Englehart
#8. R.J. Matson
#9. Dave Whamond
#10. Jeff Koterba
In the lull between New Year’s and Trump’s inauguration, our most-reprinted cartoons of the week covered a hodgepodge of topics, everything from misinformation to annoying snow to exploding cybertrucks.
Our most popular cartoon this week came from the pen of Chris Weyant, who used recent winter weather to mock Congress over its long history of not living up to its promises.
Adam Zyglis had two cartoons in our top five. One was a look at the devolution of Facebook into X, while the other was a sympathetic look at the tragedy in New Orleans following a New Year’s Day attack.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Chris Weyant
#2. Adam Zyglis
#3. Bob Englehart
#4. Harley Schwadron
#5. Adam Zyglis
#6. Pat Byrnes
#7. Dave Whamond
#8. Pat Bagley
#9. John Darkow
#10. Dave Granlund
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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For the past few weeks, mysterious drones flying over New Jersey have raised a lot of questions that remain largely unanswered by the government.
Authorities have said there’s nothing to worry about, and that a majority of the drone sightings are actually planes and passenger jets. Yet this week, the FAA temporarily banned drone flights over 20 locations in New Jersey “out of an abundance of caution.”
Not surprisingly, our cartoonists were fixated on the drone story, using the timing of Christmas to point their fingers at Santa. I liked Rick McKee’s cartoon, which features three wise men and a drone stand-in for the North Star.
McKee also had our most-reprinted cartoon of the week, but it didn’t have anything to do with drones – it shows Santa being confronted by a kid with an empty stocking. Just wait until Trump’s tariffs kick in.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Rick McKee
#2. John Darkow
#3. Dave Granlund
#4. Gary McCoy
#5. Dave Whamond
#6. Dave Whamond
#7. Rick McKee
#8. Dave Granlund
#9. Bill Day
#10. Dave Whamond
