Synchronicity

Today's Edison strip features Honey Boo Boo in the punchline. This is one of those strips that actually is inspired by a real event or conversation. Back at Christmas my 76 year old father looked at me and said "I need your help with a pop culture reference - What is a Honey Boo Boo?"

Just like that. Swear to god. And we knew we would have to work it into a strip somehow. I think John did a great job turning it into a punchline that works with Orville.

As with all syndicated comics, that strip was written weeks ago.

So imagine my surprise when I read today's Curtis:

And then today's Brewster Rockit:

Talk about synchronicity!

Next year let's make January 30 official Honey Boo Boo day and see if we can get ALL the comics on board :-)

The Mike Peters Gun Violence Cartoon That Took My Breath Away

I subscribe to dailyink and one of the editorial cartoonists on my daily reading list is Pulitzer Prize winner Mike Peters. I've always been a fan of Mike's work - both editorial cartoons and Mother Goose And Grimm - and, having met Mike in person, I'm just a fan of him in general.

In my opinion his most recent cartoon on the debate swirling around gun control in the aftermath of the Newtown shootings is an example of editorial cartooning at its finest. I don't generally turn to the op-ed page of my newspaper expecting a light hearted chuckle. I want commentary. I expect it from the syndicated columnists I read, such as E.J. Dionne and David Brooks, and I expect it from the cartoonists as well. That's what I think editorial cartoons are supposed to do. They are social commentary.

Recently I was at a talk given by another Pulitzer Prize winner,  cartoonist Ann Telnaes. A member of the audience asked her if it was hard to show both sides of an issue in her work. Ann's response (I'm paraphrasing) was to say it wasn't hard at all. Because she doesn't do it. Because that's not her job. Her job is to present a certain point of view. It doesn't need to be fair. It doesn't need to be balanced. It must simply make a point.

The point of the above cartoon by Mike is pretty hard to miss.

It took my breath away.

I hope we are ready for some change on this issue.....

A note to family and friends about John's comic strip.....

We understand how difficult it is for some of you to pony up the $ to subscribe to King Features Dailyink and how confusing it may have been to try to access the strip on Comics Kingdom. And, frankly, it's pretty hard for us to post the strip on facebook everyday - especially since they make money off of it that we and we don't.

The new Edison Lee website is for you! You can now read the strip for free every day! You can add it to your bookmarks or subscribe to the feed. You can even go back through all the previous Edison strips right to day one in 2006!

What are you waiting for? Go visit today!

(and every day after that.......)

http://edisonleecomic.com/

Canadian Readers Make Some Noise!

Many Canadian newspaper readers in the Ontario area will have noticed a drastic change to their comic pages. As I understand it a large chain of papers has whittled their comics selection down to 4 comics per newspaper. One of the features most seriously affected is Between Friends by my friend Sandra Bell Lundy.

This sort of thing is starting to happen too often in the newspaper business. It may not do any good but please start creating a ruckus to the editors of these papers. Don't be the sort of reader who just shrugs and says "Oh well, I'll still get to read it on the internet".