A Duke’s Mixture of Comics Items – The Daily Cartoonist

With cartoonists Carol Lay, Ali Fitzgerald, Andrea Beizer, Bill Bettwy, Colleen Doran, G. B. Trudeau, Paul and Brad Anderson, Jeff and Bil Keane, Larry Lieber, and Gilbert Shelton and Ted Richards (with Willy Murphy and Gary Hallgren).

Reading Room: Comics For Earth

In 1952 the lead character in cartoonist Walt Kelly’s popular “Pogo” comic strip found himself in an ecosystem overtaken over by pollution and uttered the immortal words, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Okay, he totally blew the 1970 date of Pogo’s quote* by almost two decades but John R. Platt has reviewed a few environmentally based books for The Good Men Project.

[* In the introduction to 1953’s The Pogo Papers Walt Kelly said, “we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.”]

Here are our reviews of eight new or forthcoming graphic novels and comic-strip collections that tackle the Earth’s problems — from pollution and fossil fuels to extinction and climate change — as well as some of its marvels.

We note a couple books here by Lay Lines cartoonist Carol Lay and New Yorker cartoonist Ali Fitzgerald.

My Time Machine by Carol Lay

… Following cues from H.G. Wells’ most famous novel (presented in this context as nonfiction), our 67-year-old heroine (based on Lay herself) bounces forward in time, encountering autocracies, out-of-control heat, biodiversity loss, flooding, fire, civilizational collapse, and what may become Earth’s dominant form of … life?

That sounds bleak, but strong cartooning and stronger characters — and yes, an undercurrent of humor — make this a welcome exploration of both today and our potential tomorrows.

Squeak Chatter Bark: An Eco-Mystery by Ali Fitzgerald

Hazel McCrimlisk can talk to animals — but she’s no Dr. Doolittle. She’s an 11-year-old girl living in a science experiment gone wrong and learning to communicate with the genetically modified animals around her. She’s also on her own following the kidnapping of her scientist parents by a mysterious monster (a crime that’s been completely ignored by the people who run the Perfect Animals Worlds Biosphere). Hazel and her animal friends, including a pint-sized elephant named Nina, set off in search of her parents and journey through a man-made ecosystem that’s supposed to be an ecological wonderland but gets darker at every turn…

Trump vs. the American comics industry

At the end of my last piece, I mentioned a lack of conversation at this year’s ComicsPro industry summit about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs against Canada and China (as well as Mexico) having massive ramifications for the comics industry. Well… the tariffs are here now. As of this writing, the United States is imposing a 25% tax on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tax on those imported from China.

Jacob Shapiro for The Beat looks at the effect of tariffs on comic books, which include book compilations of comic strips and newsprint for your daily fish wrap.

… even books that aren’t printed in Canada are still using Canadian paper.

Andrea Beizer, Creator of Alice

Andrea Beizer is not just a cartoonist; she’s also an architect, painter, and educator. Her comic strip Alice features a witty and thoughtful older woman navigating life’s everyday challenges—alongside some humorous and surreal interactions with aliens living secretly in her basement.

Alex Garcia for Comics Kingdom shines a spotlight on Andrea Beizer and her Alice comic strip.

Andrea teased exciting new developments, particularly with the delightful alien characters, hinting that Alice might soon become more aware of her extraterrestrial guests. Fans of the strip can look forward to more insightful and entertaining adventures.

Twelve Years of Taking It

Bill Bettwy sent us this great graphic so let’s celebrate 12 years of the Take It From The Tinkersons comic strip that debuted on April 1, 2013.

Pens

In 30 years, I have seen no sign of fading, and recent information on the websites now shows that the pens are lightfast. I suspect they always were, but 15-20 years ago, people didn’t seem as concerned and didn’t list the info. Also, I’ve read the quality of the ink has been improved over time.

Another reason I stopped using them is that the quality of the point changed. It used to have a needle sharp tip, and later pens don’t. It was so sharp, I have permanent tattoos on my fingers from where I stabbed myself with them.

Comic artist Colleen Doran discusses Pens.

I’ve been struggling with my lightfast marker pen choices for awhile since lightfast markers use real pigments and not dyes like Copics do. And because the pigment has larger particles than dye/alcohol based markers, it is harder to find a very fine point tip marker that is good quality, will not wear out quickly, and has the rich black I like for inking.

CNHI Pulls Doonesbury

This action happened a month ago and I’ve been holding off hoping to find a way to read the group’s action without the paywall, something that isn’t going to happen it seems.

Here, from the CNHI site is a partial note.

Earlier this month CNHI made the decision to permanently remove Doonesbury from our newspaper, as well as from all CNHI-owned publications. In its place, the company selected an alternate strip, Marmaduke. Our final printing of Doonesbury was on March 1.

It is unknown how many of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.’s nearly 100 newspapers carried Doonesbury.

On the other hand Doonesbury tops Bill Mann’s list of The Best Newspaper Comics for The Leader. Sort of like the incompatability of Doonesbury and Marmaduke above, Mann’s list contains Doonesbury and The Family Circus.

Larry Lieber on The Daily Grind

Larry Lieber, the legendary artist and writer who contributed to the early Marvel Universe alongside his brother Stan Lee, joins us to discuss his new book CHIRPS. After briefly touching on his storied career—which includes co-creating Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man, and his long run on The Rawhide Kid—Larry dove into this ambitious literary departure that combines elements of fantasy, family saga, and action thriller.

Larry Lieber spent a few years drawing The Incredible Hulk comic strip and a few decades drawing The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip. At around 44 minutes into the interview he describes the constant, unending grind of drawing a daily comic strip.

The Merging of Comic and American History

America was in a patriotic mood. The year 1976 marked two centuries of national independence and the country was on a red-white-and-blue bicentennial binge.

All of this jubilance had a unsettling, desperate feel in a country still recovering from an economic recession, the revelations of Watergate, and military defeat in Vietnam.

Capitalizing on the contradiction were a group of underground comics pioneers — most famous among them, Gilbert Shelton — whose history of the American revolution was first released that same year. The book — a slim album whose 9.75 by 13 inch pages give plenty of space for the art’s grotesque and somehow kinetic style — promises “a comical but essentially historically accurate series summarizing various figures and events of the American Revolution.”

The Comics Journal reviews Fantagraphics reissue of Give Me Liberty! A Revised History of the American Revolution

Two of my favorite subjects – Comics and History. Give Me Liberty went a step further combining two of my favorite subsets – Gilbert Shelton and The American Revolution. Throw in Sam Adams and Ted Richards and it is a can’t miss fusion of amusement and education. (Memories of a read from fifty years ago.)