Invulnerable from Thi Bui and The Nib wins RFK journalism award for best editorial cartoon, even though it's perhaps rather a work of cartoon journalism / advocacy. You can see the award here at minute 21 - https://rfk-awards.hosted.
I was one of the judges again this year, as were my colleagues shown here- Sara Duke, Sandy Northrop, Teresa Roberts Logan - and not in the screen capture -Theora Kvitka and Eric Shansby. Yes, the even number of judges meant a lot of wrangling.
Incompletely harvested from Wikipedia -
1983
· Cartoons: Don Wright, Miami News.
· Citation, cartoon: Sam C. Rawls, The Atlanta Constitution
1986
· Citation, cartoon: Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
· Honorable mention, cartoon: H. Clay Bennett, St. Petersburg Times.
1987
· Honorable mention, cartoon: Bill Day, Detroit Free Press, "The Color Black 'n' Blue".
1990
· Honorable mention, cartoon: Mike Peters, The Dayton Daily News.
1993
· Honorable mention, cartoon: Don Wright, The Palm Beach Post, "Perot for President".
1995
· Honorable mention, cartoon: Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Constitution.
1997
· Cartoon: Doug Marlette, Newsday.
1999
· Domestic cartoon: Joel Pett, The Lexington Herald Leader.
2000
Domestic cartoon: Ted Rall
Universal Press Syndicate
2001
Domestic cartoon: Matt Davies
The Journal News
2002
Cartoon Prize: Signe Wilkinson
Philadelphia Daily News
2003
Cartoon: Dan Perkins ("Tom Tomorrow") "This Modern World"
2004
Cartoon: John Sherffius
2005
Cartoon: Mark Fiore
2006
Cartoon: John Backderf
"The City"
2008
Cartoon: Signe Wilkinson
Philadelphia Daily News
2009
Cartoon: Jack Ohman
The Oregonian
2010
Cartoon: Bill Day
Series of cartoons,
United Feature Syndicate
2011
Cartoon: Gary Varvel
"The Path to Hope"
The Indianapolis Star
2012
Cartoon: Stephanie McMillan
"The Beginning of the American Fall and Code Green"
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
2013
Cartoon: Jen Sorensen
2014
Cartoon: David Horsey
“Portfolio by David Horsey,”
Los Angeles Times
2015
Cartoon: Darrin Bell
"Darrin Bell 2014 Editorial Cartoons,"
The Washington Post Writers Group
2016
Cartoon: Angelo Lopez, “Editorial Cartoons,”
Philippines Today
2017
Cartoon: Mike Thompson, “The Flint Water Scandal,”
Detroit Free Press
2018
Cartoon: Ruben Bolling, Andrews McMeel Syndication, Boing Boing, Daily Kos, and GoComics
“Tom the Dancing Bug”
Syndicated by Andrews McMeel Syndication
 |
| Liza Donnelly by Elena Rossini |
by Mike Rhode
We're going to wrap up this crummy, lousy, bad year with an interview with an excellent, world-class, funny cartoonist to put a hopeful spin on starting 2021. The Washington Post ran an excellent article by Liza Donnelly earlier this year in which she pointed out that she was born in DC. With this hook, she's agreed to answer our usual questions.
What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
I do a variety of things, but I am
perhaps most known for my New Yorker cartoons. These are typically single
panel drawings with a caption below them, although I have done many for The New
Yorker that are sequential and sometimes without captions. For other
publications, I have done comic-like narratives, and I do a lot of political
cartoons as well. Some for The New Yorker, some for CNN, Medium, Politico and
others. Lately, I am the innovator of live digital drawing wherein I draw
on my tablet and share immediately on social channels. Sometimes it’s
just a visual reportage, other times I offer my commentary in the drawing of
what I am seeing. I have done this for a variety of outlets: New Yorker,
CNN, CBS, Fusion, others.
How do you do it? Traditional pen and
ink, computer or a combination?
I work in both digital and traditional
pen and ink. It depends on the job. All of my New Yorker finished drawings are
on paper with a crow quill pen and ink. No Photoshop with those. I use an
iPad for my digital work and sometimes enhance or fix with Photoshop.
When (within a decade is fine) and where
were you born? What neighborhood or area did you live in?
I was born in 1955 in Washington and was
raised near Chevy Chase Circle.
What is your training and/or education
in cartooning? Did you leave DC for it?
I began cartooning when I was around 7
years old. I traced two cartoonists I liked— Charles Schulz and James Thurber.
So I am self-taught from early on. I left DC to go to college, and art
study was only part of my plan. I went to the liberal arts college Earlham College
and thought my career would be in biology (my other interest), but eventually my
cartooning took over and I became an art major.
Who are your influences?
As I said, Schultz and Thurber.
But also Herblock, Garry Trudeau, Ben Shahn, Jules Feiffer, Dr. Seuss,
WIlliam Stieg, Saul Steinberg, Claire Bretecher, Nicole Hollander, R.O
Blechman. There are many others, and many more New Yorker cartoonists.
Did you see any of the comics exhibits
or talks that started appearing in DC as the Smithsonian, Corcoran or Kennedy
Center in the late 1960s or early 1970s? If so, any memories to share with us?
Sadly, no. But I do remember when
Saul Steinberg had a big show at the Whitney (or was it the MoMA?) in the late
70’s. That blew me away that a cartoonist could be in a museum show. I
was happy that cartoons could be considered art.
If you could, what in your career would
you do-over or change?
I would not waste so much time worrying
about whether I was good enough. And just draw!
What work are you best-known for?
Probably my New Yorker cartoons, I have
been there over 40 years and counting. But now I am being known for all
my work on social media, including my live drawing and I am known for being an
early feminist cartoonist, although not the first of course. I draw and give
talks about women’s rights a lot.
What work are you most proud of?
Getting into The New Yorker,
particularly at age 24. I am also very proud of the book that I wrote, Funny
Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists. I am writing an
updated version to be published next year. I am proud to have brought the
history of the women drawing cartoons to light.
What would you like to do or work on in
the future?
I hope to continue at The New Yorker,
but I really also want to develop my live drawing journalism. I feel what
I am doing is a way to look at the news in a fresh and innovative way, and I
have been told by many of my fans that it is a rewarding and interesting way to
experience the news. It’s hard to get the large outlets to hire me, but I keep
pushing forward. I also am trying my hand at screenwriting.
What prompted you to compile a book on
woman cartoonists? How do you feel the field has changed since you did that
book? (for example, I see a lot of woman comic book/ graphic novel and web
cartoonists now, even as the editorial cartoon field continues to be mostly white
men.
I became aware of the notion that there
weren’t many women in cartoon field when I was in college. Before that, I just wanted to be a cartoonist and gender was not on my mind. This was at the
tail end of the second wave of feminism, and I felt that equal rights was
achieved pretty much, and didn’t examine my professional world very much.
Boy, was I misguided. As I said, I knew I was in the minority, but it
wasn’t until 1999 when I was invited to be on a panel of women cartoonists at the
American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) convention (which I think was in DC that year). There were five (I
think) of us women at a table for the panel. I was not even a member of the
AAEC, but they asked me to be on the panel because there were/are so few women
drawing political cartoons. I was already doing some political cartoons for The
New Yorker. In preparation for the panel, along with sitting there and
looking out into the room and seeing a standing-room only audience of male
cartoonists—it struck me. What is going on? Why is it there are so
few women doing this? I began my search for answers and it led to me
writing Funny Ladies. I spent a year in the NYC Public Library
researching the archives of the magazine going back to 1925 when it was
founded. The field has changed tremendously. There are so many more
women drawing cartoons now, that is what inspired me to write a new edition of
the book.
What do you do when you're in a rut or
have writer's block?
I do something else for a while, non-cartoon related. It helps to put it
down and return later.
What do you think will be the future of
your field?
I really don't know. I think perhaps The New Yorker will go to an online version and continue to run cartoons, so that's good. Although online payment is much less than in print it is hard to make a living. Thankfully, graphic novels are very popular and I think that's the future of our craft--graphic narratives.
What's your favorite thing about DC?
Growing up, I enjoyed being in the center of the political world. The monuments
and museums are beautiful and I like being close to the ocean. The
diversity was also something I now realize I benefited from. Washington has an
international feel to it, with all the Embassies, and I enjoyed that. I love
the proximity to the Eastern Shore and the Delaware beaches.
Least favorite?
When I grew up in DC it was a heavily segregated city, and I hated that
feeling. I rode the bus a lot to get to downtown or school--there was no
Metro back then-- but hated the car culture. Our neighborhood was just a block
from the DC line with Maryland, but you had to drive everywhere to get
groceries etc.
How often (pre-covid) do you get back?
I don't have family there anymore, so I go back every five years for my
high school reunion, or for a political event. I live draw the ICFJ Gala every
year, which I really enjoy, so that brings me back every year.
What monument or museum do you like to
return to?
I love walking around the Mall and just soaking up the atmosphere, the history.
All the museums are great. My favorite museum in my teens was the Hirshhorn
Museum. I interned when I was in college at the Natural History Museum,
cleaning bat skulls and cataloguing South American rodents (my other love
besides cartooning was biology and I thought that was the field I might end up
in).
How about a favorite local restaurant?
Past or present or both.
Remember, I didn't live in DC as an adult. When I was a kid, we rarely ate out.
But there was a fancy steakhouse downtown that we sometimes went to for special
occasions, name forgotten. There was a Chinese restaurant near Chevy
Chase Circle where we used to get take-out from and sometimes eat there, called
Peking Palace. I don't know if it's still there, but I loved it.
Do you have a website or blog?
Yes, Lizadonnelly.com and my illustrated column on Medium:
LizaDonnelly.Medium.com
How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected
you, personally and professionally?
I have been lucky not to have been affected health-wise, and no one in my immediate life has either.
Professionally, it has given me time to work on long-term writing projects and try some new ones. Also, because I can't go places and live draw, I began live drawing every day from my studio. I hold my phone over my hand and draw something and talk about it. During the pandemic, it made me feel connected to people and I was told the same by others and they said watching me was meditative. I would talk about the pandemic and draw aspects of it, then Black Lives Matter, then the election. Sometimes it's an illustration of an event or people (George Floyd, for instance), sometimes a real political cartoon created in real time for my audience. It was and is therapeutic for me and I get a lot of drawings created while gaining new followers. I learned to loosen up as well and draw freehand in front of an audience, with no preparation. It is a combination of my political cartoons and my video reportage -- a new type of editorial cartooning, if you will, with commentary. I now do this each weekday on Instagram Live (@lizadonnelly) and on a new startup called HappsTV, who approached me to work with them (Happs.tv/@liza).
Liza can also be found at the following links.
by Mike Rhode
A few books that would make good gifts have come in -- well, a lot have, but I'm behind like everyone else these days. Part of my problem is that, as an editor, I assigned two of these to academic reviewers for the International Journal of Comic Art, and then I read those reviewers opinions... so I've linked to those reviews as well.
From the book's Amazon page, we learn - When angsty teenager Mary Shelley is not interested in carrying on her family’s celebrated legacy of being a great writer, but she soon discovers that she has the not-so-celebrated and super-secret Shelley power to heal monsters, just like her famous ancestor, and those monsters are not going to let her ignore her true calling anytime soon. Everyone expects sixteen-year-old Mary to be a great writer. After all, her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother are all successful writers (as they constantly remind her)―not to mention her famous namesake, the OG Mary Shelley, horror author extraordinaire. But Mary is pretty sure she’s not cut out for that life. She can’t even stay awake in class! Then one dark and rainy night, she’s confronted with a whole new destiny. Mary has the ability to heal monsters… and they’re not going to leave her alone until she does.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I'm a big urban fantasy reader these days, especially of books written by women. It's a good choice for a young adult who likes manga, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's funny, and well-drawn (by Li), with some minor family drama, but a lot of fun ideas. As an older white man, I'm not the target audience, but I'll be buying the rest of this series for myself as it comes out. Li's an artist I wasn't familiar with, but I'm going to look into more of her work (some of which is apparently not for this age group).
Drawing Fire: The
Editorial Cartoons of Bill Mauldin, Todd DePastino (ed.), Chicago: Pritzker
Military Museum & Library, 2020. 250 pages; $35.00. ISBN 9780998968940.
From the book's Amazon page, we learn - The first career-spanning volume of the work of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin, featuring comic art from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm, along with a half-century of graphic commentary on civil rights, free speech, the Cold War, and other issues. Army sergeant William Henry “Bill” Mauldin shot to fame during World War II with “Willie & Joe” cartoons, which gave readers of Stars & Stripes and hundreds of home-front newspapers a glimpse of the war from the foxholes of Europe. Lesser known are Mauldin’s second and even third acts as one of America’s premier political cartoonists from the last half of the twentieth century, when he traveled to Korea and Vietnam; Israel and Saudi Arabia; Oxford, Mississippi, and Washington, DC; covering war and peace, civil rights and the Great Society, Nixon and the Middle East. He especially kept close track of American military power, its use and abuse, and the men and women who served in uniform. Now, for the first time, his entire career is explored in this illustrated single volume, featuring selections from Chicago’s Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Edited by Mauldin’s biographer Todd DePastino and featuring 150 images, Drawing Fire: The Editorial Cartoons of Bill Mauldin includes illuminating essays exploring all facets of Mauldin’s career by Tom Brokaw, Denise Neil, Cord A. Scott, G. Kurt Piehler, Jean Schulz, and Christina Knopf, with a Preface by Tom Hanks.
This book is aimed at me - an older white male - except most of Mauldin's career took place before I was an adult. Never mind that ... he was an excellent cartoonist and a true proponent of a free and equal America with rights for all. After these past four years, we need to return to his values more than ever. While I got a review copy from the Pritzker, I would have gladly bought this is I saw it in a store first. Todd DePastino does an excellent job rounding up a diverse group of essays and providing the relevant grounding for cartoons that can be 70 years old now. IJOCA's review is here.
From the book's Amazon page, we learn - An in-world book from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Wakanda Files—compiled by request of Shuri (Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War) as part of her quest to improve the future for all people—is a collection of papers, articles, blueprints, and notes amassed throughout history by Wakanda’s War Dogs. In a nod to Wakandan technology, the pages of the book have a printed layer of UV ink with content that is visible only under the accompanying Kimoyo bead–shaped UV light. Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Wakanda has been on the forefront of what is technologically possible. Their ability to stay ahead of the rest of the world is second only to their ability to keep themselves hidden. As the architect behind many of Wakanda’s great advancements, Shuri is constantly seeking ways to improve what has come before. To aid in her search, she researches the past for context, reference, and inspiration by compiling The Wakanda Files. Organized into areas of study, including human enhancement, transportation, weapons, artificial intelligence, and more, The Wakanda Files trace the world’s technological achievements from the era of Howard Stark and early Hydra studies to modern discoveries in quantum tunneling and nanotechnology, weaving together the stories, personalities, and technology that are the fabric of the MCU.
This book is aimed at a young adult audience too, probably received as a gift, given the price. It must be popular this season as Amazon appears to be sold out. As a teenager, I would have loved this book. As an adult, I admire the cleverness of the packaging (especially that little uv light which is the middle detachable ball there on the right in the photo), and the conceit of being a set of spy reports from the MCU. There's not enough Black Panther in here, which makes sense because the book is a report to him, but that may disappoint people who expect to find him in a book with Wakanda in the title. In conclusion - a good grandparent's gift to a fan of Marvel movies, if not the comic books. IJOCA's review is here.
All 3 books were provided by the publisher's representatives. We don't receive anything but the books, and that includes advertising or link revenue. So buy them from your local store if you can.
From DC's anarchist cartoonist, Mike Flugennock -
"Kick Me Hard"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=
Right about now, I'm sure most of you are laughing yourselves silly at
all the Progressives out there who voted for Biden under the delusion
that they could "push him left", when anybody with two brain cells to
rub together could take a look at his record over the past 40 years —
not to mention his lineup of Cabinet picks — and see that anybody who
thought they could push that sonofabitch left is on some kind of
weirded-out psychedelic voyage.
Take, for instance, this whiny-ass tweet from the knobs at DNC front
group Sunshine Movement: "We elected you, Joe, now it's time you act"...
https://twitter.com/
Oh, f'crissake, give me a big, fat break. The old bastard IS acting. He
came right and said that "nothing would fundamentally change" and that
he wouldn't ban fracking right out in front of God and everybody.
"Progressive" voters bought that horseshit like a bunch of ignorant-ass
rubes, and now the DNC is doing the equivalent of taping a big "Kick me
hard" sign onto their backs, like we used to do back in seventh grade —
and I, for one, have sub-zero sympathy for those losers.
"Jacobin and Democratic Socialists of America promote illusions in a
'progressive' Biden administration", Gabriel Black at the World
Socialist Web Site, 11.25.2020
https://www.wsws.org/en/
by Mike Rhode
