16th Comics Rendez-vous in Gatineau

Famed comic novel author Emil Ferris will be in Gatineau Sunday December 1st., where she will be signing copies of the French language translation of her book My Favorite Thing is Monsters from 10:30 to noon and from 2:30 to 4PM at Gatineau's City Hall, 25 Laurier.

Small bookstores are booming after nearly being wiped out

From CBS News.

A growing number of shoppers will be supporting their independent neighborhood bookstores on Small Business Saturday. After nearly being wiped out a decade ago, small bookstores are booming.

Mike Lane 1941-2019

From The Baltimore Sun.

Mike Lane, pictured in 2002

Former Evening Sun editorial cartoonist Mike Lane took pleasure in tweaking his subjects but found more happiness in being with members of his family. 

He was surrounded by them when he died Sunday, November 16 at his home in Roland Park of complications of cardiac surgery. He was 78.

Gahan Wilson 1930-2019

From Heavy.

Born on February 18, 1930, in Evanston, Ill., famed author and cartoonist Gahan Wilson, died November 21 at a memory-care facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 89.

Donald Trump’s Handwriting Is Now A Font Called Tiny Hand

From Fast Company.

Although he’s known for his incessant tweeting, an interesting fact about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t really use computers outside of his iPhone.

Although he aspires to lead the most technologically progressive nation on Earth, the Republican presidential hopeful has admitted he didn’t own a computer until 2007.

Stan Roach 1931-2019

From the Dawson College website.

Born on January 10, 1931 in New Waterford, Cape Breton, Stan Roach passed away in Montreal on Monday, November 18th.

He studied at Mount Carmel School where the Sisters of Charity encouraged his love of drawing by arming him with coloured chalk and sending him from one classroom to the next to draw on the blackboards.

Something fishy

Michael de Adder posted this cartoon yesterday which I thought looked familiar. Irish Times cartoonist Martyn Turner provided the answer this morning:

How donkeys and elephants came to represent Democrats and the GOP

From Business Insider.

As the 2020 US presidential election nears, badges, election leaflets, and TV graphics showing the image of the elephant and the donkey are everywhere.

As anyone with even a passing interest in US politics knows, the elephant represents the Republican Party and the donkey the Democratic Party.

What is less well known is how the animals came to adopted as symbols for the two biggest political forces in the US.

Comic Book Journalist Tom Spurgeon Passes Away at 50

From Word of The Nerd.

Portrait by Michael Netzer

Award-Winning Comic Book Journalist Tom Spurgeon passed away on Wednesday, November 13 at the age of 50.

Cartoonist Zapiro to receive France’s top cultural award

From The Citizen (South Africa).

Ambassador of France to South Africa Aurélien Lechevallier will bestow upon cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro), the award of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) on behalf of the French President Emmanuel Macron in Cape Town.

Utah political figures talk about being drawn into a Pat Bagley cartoon

From The Salt Lake Tribune.

For a Utah politician, there might be no higher honor than being mocked in a Pat Bagley cartoon.

The Weird World of Jon McNaughton

Edited from Current Affairs.

Utah-based painter Jon McNaughton, who has been called the “Trump administration’s unofficial artist", explains the meaning of 10 works from his canon.

"Wake up America"

“Every man, woman, and child in America is enslaved to our national debt. As anartist, I have laid out my vision of the dire circumstances that surround us. Now, more than ever, each American must make a choice: will we unlock the shackles that enslave us, or will we give up the greatest gift we have—our freedom? It is my hope and prayer that America will ‘wake up’ before it is too late… Those who are familiar with my work know I like to use symbolism and metaphor to engage the viewer. See if you can find and decipher the many symbols in this image. In the painting I have intentionally hidden six keys that will WAKE UP AMERICA and release us from the chains of economic and political bondage. Find these keys and share them with as many Americans as you can. If we don’t ‘wake up,’ the next generation may not know what it means to be free”

Elko Free Press apologizes for Halloween cartoon

From iMediaEthics.

The Elko Daily Free Press, a Nevada newspaper, published a cartoon that labeled a ghost with a pointy hood as a Donald Trump supporter.

Now, the Daily Free Press is apologizing for offending readers with the cartoon.

Robert "RJ" Matson Wins Berryman Award

From the National Press Foundation website.

CQ Roll Call cartoonist Robert RJ Matson has won the National Press Foundation’s Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons.

“Cartoonists vs. Conspiracy” International Cartoon Contest

From the United Sketches website.

The rise of conspiracy theories in recent years, the proliferation of false news on the Internet and the worrying emergence of a “post-truth” era where the facts seem to count less and less in the public debate, are of concern to all those who wish to defend democratic values ​​and counter negationist discourses.

To help combat conspiracism, the Memorial of Caen and Conspiracy Watch – the Observatory of Conspiracism, in partnership with L’Histoire magazine, are organizing an International Press Cartoon Contest against negationism and conspiracism, “Cartoonists vs. Conspiracy”.

AAEC launches new website

From the AAEC website.

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists quietly launched its new site last Friday. 

The update, which keeps the same address, replaces a stalwart site that has been running since 2005 (which is like, what, a million years in internet time?)

"Britain’s Best Political Cartoons 2019"

From The Independent.

Tim Benson looks back at the cartoons of 2019 and asks how far can you go to provoke.