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 MAY
29, 2006
THE REUBEN AWARDS WEEKEND
I just got back from Chicago where the
National Cartoonists Society (NCS) held their 60th Annual "Reuben
Awards" convention. Cartoonists are a fun group and we party
hard. The news from the convention is that Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
won the Reuben as Cartoonist of the Year, capping a year in which
he also won the Pulitzer Prize. Mike drew an exceptional cartoon which garnered
media attention and the attention of his colleagues; the word
"why" was written out in the names of the first 2,000
soldiers to die in Iraq; the cartoon was printed on a full page.
Although Mike did lots of great cartoons this year, the impact
of the "why cartoon" harkens back to the day when cartoonists
were given awards for single, great cartoons rather than portfolios
of cartoons. The Reuben Award is the top prize in cartooning;
it is given by a vote of professional cartoonists and covers
all disciplines of cartooning. (The Pulitzer Prize recognizes
only editorial cartoons.)
The NCS's other top award, the "Milton
Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award" was given to British
"gonzo cartoonist," Ralph Steadman (above right) who is best
known for his long association with "gonzo journalist"
and drug enthusiast, Hunter S. Thompson. No one in the NCS had
ever met Steadman, who turns out to have a personality that is
very much like his bizarre drawings. Steadman saw his award as
an opportunity to visit "the belly of the beast" where
he lambasted the cartoonists for the evils of President Bush
and the damage America is doing to the world, in colorful language
that seemed to ramble on without structure. Some of the people
in attendance found Steadman offensive, but most found him to
be a great foil for jokes. An interesting red-state/blue-state
thing happened where groups in the audience stood to applaud
while other batches sat quietly.
 |
That's me in
the photo on the left (in the guy on the right) with Dick Locher, the Pulitzer winning former
cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, who is a regular contributor
to our site. Dick won the NCS's "Silver T-Square Award"
for service to the cartooning profession for mentoring a new
generation of editorial cartoonists through his "John
Locher Memorial Award." Dick has either discovered or
tirelessly championed almost every editorial cartoonist under
thirty years old, who has gotten a newspaper job in the past
thirty years. Dick works with the Association of American Editorial
Cartoonists (AAEC) to fly each Locher winner out to the political
cartoonists' convention where the college-student-cartoonist
can meet his heroes. The Locher winners share a common background
and hang together as close buddies; Dick calls them his "family." |
MAY 23, 2006
ANOTHER CARTOONIST JAILED IN IRAN CARTOON
FUROR
 In
another cartoon furor, the government of Iran has closed down
the "Iran" newspaper and jailed its editor along with
cartoonist, Mana Neyestani. The cartoon (see it here) is written in the Azeri language,
the boy asks the cockroach a question and the cockroach replies
"Namana" or "I don't get it."
The cartoon was "deemed
an insult to Iran's Azeri minority,"
according to Teheran's chief prosecutor.
The Azeri make up about a quarter of Iran's population; they
live in Northern Iran and speak a language that is related to
Turkish. The "Iran" newspaper is state run and is one
of Iran's top three newspapers.
Members of Iran's Azeri minority rioted
in response to the cartoon, pelting government buildings and
banks in Tabriz with stones. It is apparently a common practice
in Iran to mock the Azeri in jokes and it seems that the Azeri
have little sense of humor.
Iran's conservative judiciary has closed
more than 100 newspapers, but this is the first newspaper closed
by Iran's "Press Supervisory Body" and is the first
newspaper closed during the term of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Thanks to Nik Kowsar for alerting me to this story
about his friend, Mana Neyestani, and for drawing the cartoon
above. We share Nik's concern for Neyestani who is being held
in Iran's Evin Prison.
NO MOVEMENT IN LOUISVILLE
Dave Astor from Editor and Publisher posted
this followup article about the cartoonist
position at the Louisville Courier-Journal. Posted here with
permission.
'Courier-Journal' Staff Cartoonist Slot
Remains Open
By Dave Astor
Published: May 22, 2006 4:25 PM ET
NEW YORK The fate of The Courier-Journal of Louisville's open
editorial cartoonist position remains up in the air.
"We still haven't decided what to
do," said David Hawpe, editorial director of the Kentucky
paper, when contacted today by E&P.
Nick Anderson, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer
Prize for editorial cartooning, left The Courier-Journal this
February after accepting a job offer from the Houston Chronicle.
Since then, The Courier-Journal has continued to publish cartoons
-- including the work of Anderson (distributed via the Washington
Post Writers Group) and freelance cartoons by local artists.
When might the paper hire a successor to
Anderson, or perhaps decide not to hire anyone? Hawpe said he
didn't know the timetable at this point. He did report that The
Courier-Journal has received job inquiries from cartoonists around
the country -- inquiries that were probably unsolicited because
Hawpe doesn't think his paper has advertised to replace Anderson.
With the number of staff editorial cartoonist
slots shrinking around the country, any possible opening is of
great interest to political artists.
MAY 20, 2006
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING OF A CARTOON
An inconsequential collegial disagreement
was elevated into a silly controversy when Editor & Publisher posted a story about
a cartoon being rejected from the National
Cartoonists Society's (NCS) Reuben Journal. Each year at
its convention, the NCS prints a kind of memory book for attendees,
called the "Reuben Journal," which includes inside
jokes about members and a section of "personal messages"
or ads from members and syndicates that congratulate their buddies
for being nominated for awards or simply say "welcome to
the convention". The Reuben Journal has the feel of a high
school yearbook.
 Cartoonist
Keith Robinson drew a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad as
his personal-message-ad for the Reuben Journal; Robinson's cartoon
repeated the same gag as the Mr. Fish cartoon (at right) that first appeared
on our site back on February 7th. The Reuben Journal's editor,
Mell Lazarus, told Robinson that his cartoon
was inappropriate for the NCS's silly, chummy yearbook and Robinson
chafed at the censorship, writing in his blog, "protestors are using the
threat of violence to keep cartoons from being printed. We shouldn't
give in ... And if I start second-guessing and softening my cartoons
because I'm afraid someone will get mad - or even violent - then
I don't deserve to ask for your time to read them."
Of-course, the NCS has members who draw
cartoons for Hustler Magazine, and they don't put sex cartoons
into the Reuben Journal. It's one thing to complain that American
newspapers were too timid to accurately report on the Muhammad
Cartoons controversy when they refused to reprint the offending
cartoons - quite another to complain when your Muhammad cartoon
isn't published in an ad in a silly, collegial yearbook. Robinson
wrote about his rejection in his blog and made a replacement cartoon for the Reuben Journal
that trumpeted that fact that his original ad was censored, directing
other cartoonists to visit his web site to see it.
Sounds trivial, huh? That is, until the
story was picked up by Editor & Publisher,
the journal of record for the newspaper industry, under the banner
headline: "Muhammad Drawing Nixed in Cartoonist Awards
Gala Publication" along with quotes from Robinson about
why it is important to reprint the Muhammad cartoons, and this
gem of a quote, "Robinson joked that, with the Muhammad
cartoon on his Web site, 'I just may have someone else start
my car for a while.'"
While he's at it, Robinson might run out
to the local school and demand that his Muhammad cartoon is reprinted
in the PTA newsletter; that could make him a big man on campus.
MAY 19, 2006
Check
out our "Political Cartoon Week in Review" slideshow
on MSNBC.com.
I apologize for the sparse blog entries;
I've been on a trip to New York, and I just got back. While I
was in the airport I read a great article in the current issue
of Harpers by "MAUS" cartoonist and former New Yorker
editor and cover artist, Art Spiegelman, about the Danish Muhammad
cartoons. Spiegelman recounts the history of the controversy,
but what is different about his article is that Harpers reprints
each of the Danish cartoons with a separate explanation and review
by Spiegelman who gives each cartoon a rating, from one to four
bombs. Sorry, I can't find it on the web, we have to read it
on paper.
I regret that the blog will be spotty for
another month. Next week I'm off to the National Cartoonists
Society's (NCS) "Reuben Awards" convention in Chicago.
The NCS will be giving its lifetime achievement award to "gonzo
cartoonist" Ralph
Steadman, who is perhaps best known to Baby Boomers for his
artwork accompanying the work of "gonzo journalist"
Hunter S. Thompson. I don't know anyone who has met the reclusive
Steadman, and many cartoonists are looking forward to it.
DICK LOCHER
The NCS's "Silver T-Square Award"
is given for outstanding service to the cartooning profession.
This year the T-Square goes to Dick Locher, the Pulitzer Prize winning,
former cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, who founded and runs
the "John Locher Memorial Award" for the
best college editorial cartoonist of the year; the award is named
in memory of Dick's son, John. John assisted Dick in drawing
Dick Tracy when Dick took over the strip in 1983.
It seems that every new, young cartoonist
who manages to get a newspaper job in today's terrible market,
has been a John Locher Memorial Award winner, including: Brian Fairrington, Patrick O'Conner, Adam
Zyglis, Eric
Devericks, Mike Thompson, Kevin Siers, Marshall
Ramsey, Drew
Sheneman, Justin
Bilicki, Nate Beeler and Steve
Breen, to name a few. Either the Locher Award is a new-world
job requirement, or Dick simply finds every good, new cartoonist
before they step into our cruel profession - either way, Dick
does an amazing job with the Locher Award. Take some time to look at Dick's cartoons,
he has a wonderful, unique, bold style with heavy blacks, textures
and thick black lines.
NCS AND AAEC
A week after the NCS convention party I'm
off to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC)
convention in Denver which is much more serious affair, with
newsy seminars and lots of commiserating behind beers about the
lousy job market, damn politicians and "that bastard on
the other side of the room who stabbed me in the back."
Each convention has its own flavor and I enjoy them both.
The NCS and AAEC conventions are typically
scheduled so close to each other that cartoonists decide to attend
one or the other. Editorial cartoonists form a small group in
the NCS which is a broader organization, covering different disciplines
of cartooning. The AAEC focuses only on editorial cartooning,
but also allows student and semi-pro members that would not be
allowed into the all-pro NCS; because of this, the AAEC has portfolio
reviews and how-to seminars that would never happen at the more-exclusive
NCS.
Very few cartoonists go to both conventions, the cartoonists
who go to the NCS disparage the AAEC for being "depressing."
The AAEC cartoonists berate the NCS for not being serious, being
too much of a party, and being "more expensive" (actually,
both conventions cost about the same).
MAY 15, 2006
The Population
Media Center's Cartoon Contest is Kaput
I regret to write that the Population
Media Center (PMC) has suspended their cartoon contest. The
PMC is a great non-profit organization that goes into third world
countries and fights overpopulation problems along with sexually
transmitted diseases, AIDS and the oppression of women, by educating
the local populations and encouraging them to stop their risky
behavior through soap operas on the local media. PMC's innovative
approach has been very successful as the third world audiences
remember and respond well to the educational dramas they hear
on their local radio.
The PMC also works to raise the consciousness
of population relation issues in the first world, and one of
their initiatives was a cartoon contest. Editorial cartoonists
tend to draw on the issue of the day, and long-term issues like
population control, sexually transmitted diseases and the sexual
abuse of women in the third world don't make the headlines and
seldom end up on cartoonists' drawing boards. The PMS's cartoon
contest encouraged cartoonists to take a break from the issue
of the day to focus on these long-term problems, and the winning
cartoons gave the PMC a nice opportunity to publicize the problems.
Alas, the PMC has lost funding for their
cartoon contest, and there are no more annual contests planned.
Read more about the PMC's 2004 and 2005 contests here: www.populationmedia.org.
MAY 12, 2006
We have a nifty new "Week in Review"
slideshow that is a new, regular feature on MSNBC.com; click
here to check it out.
MAY 11, 2006
Philadelphia Daily News cartoonist,
Signe Wilkinson, has an interesting online debate with a British
journalist about the Danish cartoons. What is interesting about
the Brit's argument is that she flies into a diatribe about the
things that bother her most about America, setting up straw-men
to knock down without much regard for Signe's arguments. This
rebuttal is typical of the mail I get from our angry Muslim readers
who rant about all manner of unrelated subjects in response to
any particular insult. Readers can comment on the "Islamonline.net"
debate by writing to cartoondebate@islamonline.net.
The most common angry Muslim response to
American cartoonists is that American cartoonists are hypocritical
by criticisiing Muslims and their institutions, when we don't
treat Christians or Jews in the same way. The readers typically
presume that I am a Christian and I wouldn't criticize my own.
They also assume that I, along with every right thinking person
in the world, must hate Jews as they do, and we cartoonists don't
draw anti-Semitic cartoons because we're not allowed to do so,
or we're afraid to do so. The question always arises as a retort
- "would you draw a black person, or a Jew in this-or-that
offensive way? No, but you have no qualms about drawing Muslims
doing this-or-that in a way that offends us." The idea that
American cartoonists draw exactly what we think of Jews, Christians
and Muslims, without restraint, and this results in the cartoons
they see on our site, is just too crazy an idea for many of our
Muslim readers to swallow.
MAY 8 2006
CARTOONIST NIK KOWSAR SENTENCED TO JAIL IN IRAN
My buddy, Nik Kowsar, the Iranian cartoonist who fled
to exile in Canada, has just been sentenced in absentia to four months
in prison for the crimes of: "insulting Mohammad
Taghi Mesbah Yazdi head of Imam Khomeini Training Institute,
insulting Ali Larijani, Head of IRIB (Iranian Official Radio
& TV), and other dignities and high ranking clergy and officials
of the establishment." Click here to see Nik's cartoon archive.
E-mail Nik.
AISLIN'S MUHAMMAD CARTOONS PRESENTATION
Terry Mosher (aka "Aislin"), the cartoonist for the
Montreal Gazette, has put together a great presentation on the
Danish Muhammad cartoons that he gives as a speech with Powerpoint.
You
can see it on the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists
(ACEC) website here. Visit
Terry's cartoon archive. E-mail
Terry.
MAY 7, 2006
BANNED IN IRAN
I'm sorry to write that access to our web
site has been blocked by the Iranian government. Those darn mullahs
just have no sense of humor.
MAY 1, 2006
 MUSA KART WINS CASE
Remember
Musa Kart, the Turkish cartoonist who was fined for insulting
the Turkish Prime Minister by drawing him as a cat? The Turkish Supreme Court found in favor of Musa,
upholding his right to insult the Prtime Minister in a cartoon,
and overturned the fine. Read
about it.
APRIL 26, 2006
INTERVIEW WITH TONY SNOW
Fox News anchor/pundit Tony Snow has been named the new White
House Press Secretary. Snow has been a rather outspoken critic
of the president - a trait that is likely to disappear soon as
he takes his new job. Our columnist, Bill Steigerwald recently did an interview
with Snow, before he was approached about the Press Secretary
job; the interview suddenly makes much more interesting reading.
E-mail us with your comments.
 When Tony Snow Was a Pundit
By Cagle Cartoons Columnist, Bill Steigerwald
When President Bush named Fox News Radio
talk host Tony Snow as his new press secretary on Wednesday,
the president noted that the now former radio/TV pundit and commentator
"has sometimes disagreed with me." Examples of that
disagreement as well as Snow's disappointment with incumbency-worshipping,
big-spending Republican congressmen -- can be found in a freshly
edited version of a December 2005 phone interview with Snow,
50, who is replacing the always loyal Scott McClellan.
Q: A few years ago when I talked to
you, you called yourself more libertarian than Republican. Is
that still true?
A: Yeah, I think so. I learned a long time ago that if you sit
around and pledge your fealty to politicians, you're going to
get burnt. So what I like to do is maintain my independence.
I'm clearly conservative. But this week I've been bashing conservatives
on various forms of corruption, including spending money on stuff
that's completely idiotic, like, oh, the fact that they are now
going to have subsidies for people to have digital signals on
their TVs. It's unbelievable. They are actually setting up a
subsidy for people who still have analog televisions as of 2009
or something. They'll give them $40 or $60 per TV to digitize
them. Give me a break!
Q: You recently wrote that Republicans
are cowards because they have forsaken their core beliefs and
betrayed the Republican Revolution of 1994. How so?
A: What happened is when Republicans came in 1994, what did they
say? They said we're going to make government smaller and we're
going to make it more responsive. Instead, what has happened
-- and it's typical, it's natural, it's something that happens
all the time -- is that they decided, "You know what, I'd
rather just stay in office." So they decided to worship
incumbency rather than principle. Well, what happens over time
is that you end up with a government that spends like crazy on
stuff that is not of vital national importance. You find members
of Congress suddenly fudging on things that they had promised
to do. And over time, what happens is that they lose their credibility
with voters. It's exactly the same thing that happened to Democrats
in the run-up to the 1994 congressional elections.
Q: Is there anything that President
Bush has done that you are completely jazzed about -- happy about?
A: Completely jazzed about? I get jazzed when my son brings home
a report card full of A's. I don't get jazzed when presidents
do their jobs, so the answer would be "no."
Q: What's the worst or most egregious
mistake the president has made?
A: The lack of spending discipline on the part of Republicans
has been disappointing and frankly so has George W. Bush's inability
to understand the importance of using a veto. Washington is like
a dog pound. You have to have an alpha male. You've got a scent,
mark your territory -- and the way you do that is using the veto.
I know the war is important, but being the lead dog in Washington
is also important and I don't think the president has quite figured
that out yet and I don't think the people closest to him have
either.
Q: Did you have any qualms about going
to Iraq?
A: Of course I did. And I said on "Fox News Sunday,"
when I was still hosting there, and I said it in print elsewhere,
that I wished before he'd gone to war that we'd have seen some
pictures of sites with weapons of mass destruction. Having said
that, I don't have any qualms about it because frankly what you
do have, contrary to the way it is reported in many places, is
a nation that was not only a haven for terrorists but was an
active participant in it. Saddam Hussein was somebody who was
paying bounties on Israeli citizens, was setting up meetings
with al-Qaida, and was trying to do whatever he could to foment
terror around the world. Why? Because it was good for him.
(Click here to read the rest of the
column.)
 APRIL
25, 2006
My buddy, Angel
Boligan of the El Universal newspaper in Mexico City, just
won the World Press Cartoon contest with the cartoon
at the right - yes,. that's a "Trojan Horse TV." This
contest comes with a whopping $28,000 prize! Congratulations
Angel!
APRIL 24, 2066
From Tim Menees:
Dear Cagle Blog Readers:
A curious thing happened last Wednesday: I started getting e-mail
from around the country, some of it short, some long, all supportive.
I quickly realized you, the senders, are fans of Daryl Cagle's
Web site and blog, and had read excerpts from my op-ed piece
about losing my cartooning job at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Daryl had reprinted them on the blog. I received nearly 100 notes.
I was quite moved by all the messages and the fact so many had
taken a moment to write to me.
Pundits (including cartoonists) become pessimistic over the state
of the world, but you reminded me how compassionate and caring
people can be. I am grateful for your e-letters, and have saved
them -- and will answer each one. It may take a bit, so in the
meantime I hope this serves as a sincere thank you.
Tim
Menees
APRIL 22, 2006
NEW STRIP
Local political cartoon comic strips are disappearing; most of
our readers probably have never seen one. (Ed Stein draws a great
local strip called, "Denver Square" in the Rocky Mountain
News, and Phil Frank draws "Farley" for the San Francisco Chronicle,
but it is hard to think of any more). We've just added a great
one to our site, Leo Garza's "Nacho
Guarche" from the San Antonio Express-News.
 Leo started the strip years ago as a 'Doonesbury'-like
cartoon called 'Needles.' From the first depictions of the character,
Nacho has embodied the humble everyman, serving as a foil for
the events of the day. Even his name reflects his lowly origins.
He was named 'Nacho' after a favorite elderly relative of Garza's
and 'Guarache' because Garza thought it would be fun to hear
people struggle to pronounce the word. See
Leo's updating archive here and see a collection of his oldies here. E-mail
Leo.
PAUL COMBS SENDS A NOTE
Hi, Daryl, thanks for writing.
As reported, due to family issues I will
be resigning my post as editorial cartoonist of the Tampa Tribune
effective May 26th. Though I have enjoyed my stay with the Trib
and have learned much from their staff of writers, it is time
to move on in my career as a cartoonist. For the moment, I'm
not at liberty to discuss my plans, however it does include editorial
cartooning and I'm excited about a new set of challenges, goals
and the opportunity to express myself freely.
I understand the Tribune is planning to
replace my spot at the drawing board, which is great news in
the current job climate. Editorial Page Editor, Rosemary Goudreau,
is an advocate for our profession and should be applauded for
her willingness to battle corporate pressure so a local cartoon
presence can remain on the page. We need more like her!
If anyone has any questions, you can contact
me at combscartoons@yahoo.com
APRIL 21, 2006
Tim Menees called me to say that he's received more than a hundred
warm and supportive responses from our readers, and that he appreciates
all the kind words.
RARE JOB SHUFFLE
In our dying profession it is rare for a cartoonist to leave
a job, and any job movement is news. Paul Combs, the cartoonist for the Tampa
Tribune will be leaving his position because of "family
issues" and will be moving back to his native Ohio in May.
Paul took the Tampa position recently upon the retirement of
Wayne Stayskal, who continues to draw in
syndication. Even more rare - the newspaper took out an ad for a new cartoonist.
The Tampa Tribune was flooded with resumes during their last
job search and they turned down many big name applicants; this
time around will be no different, except I'm told that the paper
is in no hurry to fill the job, and it isn't decided whether
the spot will be filled by a full time employee or a freelancer.
It is likely that any new hire will be a conservative.
 APRIL
19, 2006
Tim
Menees, the cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for
the past thirty years and a long time contributor to our site,
was abruptly laid-off in a cost cutting move last February. Tim's
cartoons suddenly stopped appearing in the newspaper with no
notice given to readers in print. Finally Tim has been given
an opportunity to say goodbye to his readers in a touching
and gracious farewell. E-mail Tim at tmenees@aol.com.
Here are a couple of excerpts:
I got the news on a Wednesday night,
the first day of February. Editorial Page Editor Tom Waseleski
called. He had wanted to break the news in person. "I'm
giving you a heads up," he said. "They're cutting your
job."
What?
The Post-Gazette had to make some serious budget cuts, and I
was one. My last day was Friday, Feb. 3, my son's birthday, the
date Buddy Holly died. I felt as if I had crashed in a cornfield.
But as I cleaned out my office over Super Bowl weekend, I decided
I (a) could curl up behind the couch or (b) get on with it. If
I chose (a), my wife, Kay, would chuck me out of the house. So
I got on with it.
... We tend to reach a comfort zone in our lives; we delay exploring
new territory. I am now heading off, doing some writing, some
cartooning, some painting, some music. Maybe that old saw is
right. When one door closed, a window soon opened for me. I am
"art director" (I've never directed anything in my
life) on a project scheduled to take city kids to Cambridge University,
England, where they will perform Pittsburgh music, from jazz
to hip-hop. You oughta hear 'em.
I am a volunteer teaching one-act play writing at, yes, a state
prison. I told the men about losing my job. I also said I was
on the dole and taking up a collection after class, and they
could contribute in cigarettes.
I was kidding about the collection, and they knew it. Losing
your job is no joke. It turns your life all cockeyed. But if
you also lose your sense of humor, you're dead.
Kay and I are doing fine. To those who ask what I am doing, I
simply say: "Everything."
APRIL 18, 2006
Walt Handelsman of Newsday is doing some great animated editorial catoons.
Take a
look at this gem.
APRIL 17, 2006
Congratulations to Mike Luckovich of the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution for winning the Pulitzer Prize for
editorial cartoons today, it is Mike's second win.
 Wow!
Mr. Fish (Dwayne Booth) got plenty of angry e-mail for his Easter
cartoon from yesterday's newsletter! (Shown at right.) Dwayne
sent me some selections from his flaming e-mail box, along with
his comments about the comments.
In today's newsletter we feature a lovely
Easter cartoon from Cam Cardow of the Ottawa Citizen, to calm
those frayed cartoon nerves. (below.)
Subject:
FROM THE LIBERAL,ARROGANT AND BIASED MAINSTREAM AND OTHER WACKED
OUT SOURCES
YOU ARE ONE SICK SOB !
Bob Guertin
Jamestown, NC
Dwayne,
I love your Jesus Groundhog Day cartoon.
I would also love to see the hate email
you'll get for
it that only proves the cartoon's point.
Kevin Gregg
Mesa, Arizona
Hi.
I really think you messed up with that
cartoon you show about Jesus showing a small light and a big
shadow; moreover, the comment you made was dangerous... yes,
DANGEROUS.
You may say you are entitled to your expressions
and opinions, and I am not attacking that by any means. I am,
however, letting you know that you shouldn't play with God like
that. It is foolish.
If you feel that there is "brutal
intolerance... etc" then you might want to reconsider what
the beginning of time was. It was not man's opinions or views,
but God and His law. People respected God. Now we try to get
Him off our schools, courts, and even our dollars! And then,
when bad things happen, we blame it on Him!! Incredible..!
Of course, you may feel that you run no
risk by doing what you do, but let me remind you that, believe
it or not, one day you too shall stand before God. Let's just
see where you'll be standing... in front of the Great White Throne,
or in Jesus' Court. Yeah... do some research on what these terms
mean and then know this: God loves you and He sent Jesus to die
on the cross for your sins (as well as all of mankind's). If
you believe in Him, you have eternal life. If you don't, then
simple: you will spend your eternity separated from Him, suffering
the penalty for your sins, which were forgiven but you never
trusted Christ as your personal Savior.
 These
words may seem empty and useless to the world today. Surely,
they will seem like water in a desert, when they are destined
to spend eternity in Hell.
Oh yes, the end is coming. Call me a fanatic
or whatever you want, but God is not about crazy saddism or fanatism
like some people like you portray it. You should first understand
in order to criticize, especially when it comes to God. It is
clear that you know nothing about Him, and it is unfortunate
that you dare express your mind on issues that you have no understanding
about.
You have mocked Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. I feel sorry for you; however, I am no one to judge or forgive.
May God have mercy on you.
God bless you.
Issa M. Faraj
PS: Feel free to drop a line to insult
me or whatever. I won't take it personal.
ah, mr.
fish!
what a simply divine cartoon!
thank you! you made my easter.
Jamie
When i saw this I did not no what to say....I
was beside myself. Thank you for putting into a picture, that
which has not been said loud enough.
You have proven that a picture is worth a couple of thousand
words.
Thank You,
jsgreene/cvb
Dear Sirs,
I regularly read the cartoons sent to me
by Mr. Cagle. I greatly enjoy them. They embody the political
expression that I constantly endorse. It is brief, to the point
and strikes at the heart of what others are so ready to shy away
from. For that you are commended.
Unfortunately, this most recent cartoon
(Mr. Fish's Jesus-Groundhog Day-Holy War cartoon) is crass and
uncalled for and genuinely offensive.
Like I said, I like the cartoons that are
usually sent to me. But this one, on the other hand, strikes
out bluntly at everyone who would hold Jesus Christ in any esteem
whatsoever. I'm not saying that it is entirely untrue (there
are many who would believe something to its extent) but as it
does not specify, I feel that it casts a view that far too crass
to be of any use.
Perhaps a cartoon depicting a resurrection
scene with onlookers imposing the view held in the caption. Perhaps
a scene of Fundamentalist pencil-pushers trying to write up wild
moral claims and basing them out of almanacs hundreds of years
old. The point is, don't make Jesus look stupid and thoroughly
oblivious.
In this regard, I suppose that I now understand
what the Muslims felt when their prophet went under libel, but
perhaps also they reacted a little in the extreme. I hope that
my protest can be taken into consideration, perhaps even spawning
more of the reaction-generating material that you produce so
well.
Thank you very much,
Tom Lutes
Darryl Cagel just sent a link to your
Flash presentations and a link to send you an e-mail. How could
I fail to send loud lauds to someone so perceptive, cruel, and
so consistently spot on? I've followed your cartoons on Harpers
for some time and have shared them in the staff room at school
as well as with my wife (a devout Baptist since she got kicked
out of the Mennonite church for marrying a Spaniard and moving
to British Columbia [long before they split up over the second
child, the fish boat and in general {for me} serendipitous silliness],
where her enlightened attitude in relation to matters of sprituality
and stewardship keeps us both on an even keel because I read
too much of harpers and counterpunch and commondreams and informationclearinghouse),
but I digress, as Tom Lehrer would say, from the mainstream of
tonight's symposium. You are just damn wonderful and courageous
and/or foolish, and I hope the coming storm treats you better
than those you lampoon: may your tag be the reverse of the lamb's
blood on the lintel of G.W. Bush and all of his ilk!
Meanwhile, keep drawing and thinking for
those who need you. And also try pears with your cheese: I particularly
like reine des comices with tomme de savoie, but neither is readily
available here.
Regards,
Dan
Sir,
First, please know that this is not a hate-email. Please take
a few seconds to read it in full.
I recently received a copy of your parody of Jesus and I find
it slightly ironic in light of recent world events. I wish to
briefly address your two criticisms:
1. As Christians, we do not feel we are morally superior to anyone.
In fact, our faith is based entirely upon the fact that we recognize
our sin and need for redemption.
2. I find it slightly hypocritical that you attack Christians
(on one of our holiest days) as so brutally intollerant. I seriously
doubt you will publish a similar parody of Mohammed during the
next Ramadan. Are Christians truly the intollerant ones? If so,
why would you feel safe to poke fun at our fundamentals, but
not others?
I am sorry and saddened that you perceive us to be that.
You must have had some horrible experiences with Christians in
your life to lead you to this view. Let me apologize for them.
I truly hope that you will be more open-minded to our faith one
day. I challenge you to explore what we believe. Study our religion,
and your eyes might become opened to the realization that it
is a relationship.
We are not superior and we are not intollerant. We are simply
loved, and called to love.
Enjoy the rest of your Easter Weekend.
In Him,
Bradley Dean
You have a very bad taste as cartoonist,
I am sure you are a great person at other things.
Happy Easter.
Mocking Christians is easy and the
norm these days......why don't you try one involving Islam and
Mohamed?
Whoooie Mr. Fish!
I thought this hit the bullseye squarely! But boy...are you gonna
get a lotta flack from the "Christians" for this great,
but brutally frank cartoon.
Best Regards... Dean Livingston
I
just can't understand why certain people want to portray Christ
with long blonde hair. When it states cleary, in 1Cor 11:14,
long hair is a disgrace!
Your cartoon is rude &
sacrilegious. There is no need to make a "cartoon"
such as you did. There's nothing funny about it. Just because
you don't believe the same as certain others do, there is no
need to make fun of those people, their beliefs & their God.
you
use your crayons to disparage a man of peace and the savior to
over 2 billion and
We're intolerant!!
I guess you don't have the balls to make similar commentary about
Muslims, Jews, Buddhists or Hindus who contend a faith based
conviction that presupposes their truer understanding of the
universe and therefore an intolerance of their own.
OHHHH NOOOOOOOO
mr. fish......find a deep pond. thats not out intolerance, that's
out sheer bemusement.
-CJ Price
Piscataway, NJ
Well, the Jesus-not-seeing-his-shadow
one was certainly in your face. I'm Unitarian but I tend to minimize
stuff like that. But I'm passing the cartoon's link on to others
in my group!
Keep up the good work.
Don Parker
Valparaiso, IN
And here are Mr. Fish's comments
...
In an attempt to answer some of the
criticism that I've received over the past days regarding my
Easter cartoon, and without trying to either match the rage of
some of my critics or to respond to specific points that require,
as a prerequisite to debate, an acknowledgment of the existence
of a deity that I do not believe in, I simply I have this to
say: Jesus Christ is a symbol for Christianity, whether you believe
that he existed or not, and while artists throughout history
have used this symbol to express the virtues of the Christian
faith of which there are many, not the least of which might
be the commonality we all share as human beings regardless of
race or social standing, real Woody Guthrie/commie stuff
it is equally important to express revulsion and outrage towards
those who embrace the symbol as some divine proof that non-Christians,
or even meeker and less fanatical Christians, are somehow less
deserving of dignity, freedom or peace on earth. Is there no
Christian, for example, more famous than Adolf Hitler? Wasn't
it also the deep baritone of an approving Christian God that
cheered on the Crusades of the 11th and 12th Centuries and the
British and French imperialism of the 17th and 18th and 19th
Centuries and the slaughter of several million American Indians
beginning in the 16th Century?
God, for many, also wears white robes
and has never been above the Mason Dixon Line, nor has he ever
met a homosexual that he could tolerate unless, of course,
it was a homosexual who could recite the Rosary and corrupt his
longings into pedophilia. The point is, that any person or group
of people (Christian, Muslim, Jew) who decide that they are the
Chosen One(s) will often require the existence of evildoers to
give credibility to their fantasy, even if they have to create
the evildoers, themselves to live contrary to, and no Bible verse
(of which there are hundreds of conflicting interpretations)
will ever speak soundly to the needs of a diverse world population.
The Jesus depicted in my cartoon the one worshipped by
the most brutal and savage Christians the world has never known
is the one who said this in Matthew 10:34:
Do not suppose that I have come to bring
peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!
APRIL 16, 2006
I got this from Australian cartoon star, Bill Leak, in response
to our story below about his copulating
dogs cartoon.
Hi Daryl,
As you know I'm not much of a web surfer, but I happened across
your mention of me and my controversial cartoon while going where
I'd normally fear to tread in search of some other information
tonight.
Many thanks! You never know which cartoon
- if any - will find its way all around the world. Just my luck
that the one that did in my case had to be of two dogs f*****g!
... I think that the cartoonist's aims
should be to: 1. get a laugh; 2. make a political statement (loud
and clear) and; 3. Provoke discussion and debate.
On this occasion I think I can safely
say I managed all three.
And to prove I'm not about to take a
backward step, I did it again (see attachment). This one appeared
in Saturday's (4/15/06) newspaper.
Best,
Bill
APRIL 14, 2006
A comment from Jimmy Margulies of the New Jersey Record:
Daryl articulated quite well the rather
annoying habit of some who insist on labeling cartoonists liberal
or conservative, rather than looking at the variety of views
expressed in their work. It is obviously easier for some folks
to slap a label on you, and therefore know everything based on
that label, as opposed to seeing shades of gray.
I want to give a further example of why this liberal/conservative
classification does not hold up. Although I have no problem being
described as a liberal cartoonist, and do disagree with the Bush
policies on Iraq, the economy, and a host of social issues, I
also do a lot of cartoons on state issues in New Jersey, where
I live and work. New Jersey has a very liberal Democratic governor,
Jon Corzine, and the legislature is controlled by Democrats as
well. The last two governors were also Democrats.
Yet I have had no shortage of material, nor any difficulty whatsoever
in regularly criticizing those who hold the reins of power in
my state. I don't think that necessarily makes me a conservative
to go after the Democrats. If a cartoonist has the integrity
to detach himself or herself and judge individuals and issues
on merit, then any good cartoonist should be able to attack
those in power regardless of the cartoonist's views, or those
of the people in office.
Jimmy Margulies
APRIL 13, 2006
THE HANNITY & COLMESIFICATION OF CARTOONISTS
When I watch Fox News I see that every
opinion, and every person who has an opinion, is classified as
either a liberal or a conservative. It is a simple way to view
the world as good vs. bad; pick your side and the other side
is bad; we're the good guys. Each side comes with a complete
set of views on every topic. I can order my opinions from liberal
list A or conservative list B, but I can't order a la carte,
because that would be too complicated for TV, and sadly, it would
also be too complicated for newspapers.
I'm a political cartoonist. In the black
and white world of editorial page editors, I'm classified by
some editors as a conservative cartoonist, but most tag me as
a liberal cartoonist. I can't have a variety of views, that would
be too complicated for editors. I'm classified for a complete
set of worldviews based on a few cartoons an editor happens to
read first. Newspaper editorial pages have been "Hannity
and Colmesified."
Unlike TV pundits, most editorial cartoonists
don't conform closely to list A and list B. Liberal readers bash
me for being conservative when I draw cartoons supportive of
the troops in Iraq, while editors call me liberal when I bash
President Bush for busting the budget. My cartoons are syndicated
to close to nine hundred newspapers, so if editors assigned the
cartoonist labels randomly according to the last cartoons the
editors saw, it wouldn't make much difference (I took statistics
in high school); unfortunately, it is not a random process.
I run a syndicate that distributes the
work of about fifty editorial cartoonists to newspapers across
the country. There are about 1,500 daily newspapers and 5,000
non-daily or weekly newspapers in America. The largest, most
visible, urban papers tend to be liberal leaning (a fact that
conservatives complain about loudly) but the vast majority of
newspapers are small suburban or rural, conservative papers.
The conservative editors from these papers complain to us all
the time that they want more conservative cartoonists (not conservative
cartoons, they want conservative cartoonists). Most editors quickly
classify cartoonists as liberal and undesirable after glancing
at a few cartoons, and the editors don't bother even looking
at further cartoons from liberal cartoonists.
We thought we would try a little experiment.
We started labeling our cartoons: "liberal" or "conservative."
The first thing we noticed was that 80% of the cartoons could
not be labeled, such as cartoons about Katie Couric, Barry Bonds,
March Madness and the death of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosovic.
There was no discerning liberal from conservative cartoons when
Anna Nicole Smith went to the Supreme Court, when high oil company
profits were disclosed, when Muslims around the world were rioting
about Danish Muhammad cartoons, when Hamas won the Palestinian
election, when North Korea and Iran bluster about nuclear weapons,
when a new study tells Americans that they are too fat and when
we all suffer preparing our income taxes. The recent immigration
debate defies classification as President Bush and Senate Republicans
support legalizing the illegal/undocumented people who are already
here. When Cynthia McKinney slugged a policeman all of the cartoonists
pounced on her equally. The cartoonists are also in lock step
when they ridicule Saddam's courtroom antics. Jack Abramoff and
Duke Cunningham had no conservative defenders. What is most noteworthy
about our survey is that cartoonists agree about most issues
in the news.
About 8 out of 100 political cartoons are
conservative and 12 out of 100 can be classified as liberal.
We thought that our bright red and blue
labels on the cartoons would force editors to recognize that
our cartoons are not overwhelmingly liberal, but editors just
can't believe their lying eyes. Although editors don't argue
with the labels on each cartoon (they like the labels), they
continue to speak in generalities about the liberal cartoonists
rather than liberal cartoons - "Hannity and Colmesification"
where the pundit must be labeled without much regard for what
he has to say.
Conservatives prefer cartoons that reinforce
their preconceived worldview; cartoons that deviate are annoying
and are noticed; conservative cartoons are reassuring and less
noticeable. Cartoons that bash president Bush are annoying to
conservative editors. The most common complaints we get are that
too many cartoons criticize the president even when those
cartoons are conservative, such as bashing the president for
overspending, or when the cartoons are bipartisan, bashing the
president for FEMA's poor response to Hurricane Katrina. The
other big complaint is that there are too many cartoons about
Iraq - in fact there are fewer cartoons about Iraq now that the
story is old. I had an interesting call from a New York Times
reporter recently who wanted me to confirm the false notion that
there are more cartoons about Iraq now as criticism of the president
grows; of-course, the Times has no editorial cartoonist and runs
a pitiful weekly editorial cartoon round-up that they call, "Laugh
Lines" so it is no surprise that the Times would be oblivious
to what goes on with cartoons in other papers.
It is our role as cartoonists to bash the
people in power; we may be perceived as liberal just because
the president and congress are run by Republicans now. During
the orgy of Clinton-Lewinsky cartoons, cartoonists could have
been called conservatives - but we weren't - that was before
editors were Hannity and Colmesified.
TERRIBLE L.A. TIMES ARTICLE
The LA Times ran a terrible
article today about the famous
Palm restaurant, which has walls festooned with celebrity caricatures
by famed courtroom artist and caricaturist Bill Lignante. The
Palm is moving and plans to move their walls along with them
to their new location. In an article about the cartoons on the
restaurant walls, nowhere will you see Bill's name mentioned.
CORRECTION: I was wrong, Bill's name
is mentioned half way down on page two of the article. Sorry.
The article also doesn't mention a recent
travesty where the Palm restaurant painted over the walls in
their back dining room - covering and destroying wonderful cartoon
art by many great cartoonists (including me). My two favorite
masterpieces that the Palm restaurant chose to destroy were a
huge crowd scene by Sergio Aragones and a mini-mural by famed
Mad Magazine cover artist and science fiction artist, the late
Kelley Freas, who painted Alfred E. Newman surrounded by a flock
of dinosaurs in stunning color.
To complain about the attitude that the
Times shows toward cartoonists, both in this article and in their
dismissal of their editorial cartoonist, write to the reporter
who is responsible for this article, Claire Hoffman at: claire.hoffman@latimes.com.
APRIL 8, 2005
TURKISH ANIMALS NOT AN INSULT?
Last
June we reported on Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart who was
being sued by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
for depicting the Prime Minister as a cat. Erdogan also sued
the Turkish cartoon magazine Penguen for depicting him
as a variety of animals. Read
more about the case on the FECO site. The
court recently decided that drawing the PM as an animal was "not
an insult." Attorneys for the PM have filed an appeal
to the decision.
APRIL 2, 2006
Aussie PM Howard responds to Bill Leak's cartoon:
PRIME Minister John Howard yesterday
invoked the French philosopher Voltaire when he said he did not
approve of Bill Leak's provocative cartoon, but would
defend to the death his right to be tasteless.
... But the Indonesian embassy in Canberra
last night condemned both Bill Leak's work, which was published
in The Weekend Australian, and a similar cartoon in the Indonesian
newspaper Rakyat Merdeka last week, which featured Mr Howard
and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as fornicating dingoes.
"The Indonesian embassy views these cartoons as malicious,
tasteless," said second secretary Dino Kusnadi. ... the
Indonesian embassy believes there is a responsibility from the
media to be sensitive and attentive of the consequences of their
actions."
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd also called for
an end to the "tit-for-tat cartoon war", which was
not helpful in terms of the Indonesia-Australia relationship,
he said.
Bill wrote a nice response
to this silliness today. Here are
a couple of quotes:
... things are getting a bit tropical
for me because of a cartoon I drew for the weekend edition of
this newspaper. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dissociated
himself and the Government from the cartoon in question, which
I thought was a pretty strange thing to do. Does he normally
associate with cartoons? If so, how does he do that? I mean,
I associate with a lot of cartoonists but I don't take the cartoons
themselves out for nights on the town.
... Humour is such an intangible commodity.
Until recently, we cartoonists relied on our own instincts and
produced things we thought were funny. Now, apparently, we're
supposed to second guess everyone out there who will see the
fruits of our labours and then hold back for fear of upsetting
someone. What a ridiculous proposition.
Imagine a comedian standing on stage and having to ask his audience
permission first before launching into a joke: "Excuse me,
there will be a reference to two copulating dogs in my next joke.
That okay with you?"
"No!"
Cartoon about a cartoon by Nik Scott.
APRIL 1, 2006
DINGOS TAKE A LEAK
 My buddy Bill
Leak, the cartoonist for the Australian in Sydney, is drawing
some attention for this cartoon showing Indonesia's president
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono humping another "dingo" representing
Indonesia's independence-minded Papua province. Bill drew the
cartoon in response to a front page cartoon in the Indonesian
newspaper, Rakyat Merdeka, which showed Australia's Prime
Minister John Howard and his Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
as copulating dingoes. The Australian reports:
In that image, a shaking Howard is mounted
on Downer with the Prime Minister saying: "I want Papua!!
Alex! Try to make it happen."
Mr Howard dismissed the Indonesian cartoon, although Mr Downer
described it as grotesque and "way below standards of public
taste".
Indonesia has been stung by the decision of Australia's immigration
department to issue three-year visas to the group of Papuans,
including prominent separatists and their families, who arrived
by boat in northern Australia in January. In response, Indonesia
has recalled its ambassador to Canberra, postponed an agreement
on jointly fighting bird flu, and angry Indonesians have protested
outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
See? It's simple --and our readers complain
that they don't "get" the foreign cartoons. Shame.
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