Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sunday morning toons: Sympathy

Not for you; not this week; not if we're talking about sympathy from the NRA, America's domestic airlines, federal banking regulators, Congressional Republicans, the Veterans Affairs administration, the Supreme Court, telemarketers, the bean-counters at Disney who are firing extraordinarily talented artists who actually, you know, draw, or – in the posthumous category – Margaret Thatcher. Sorry. But they're all doing well in their own way.

Today's toons were selected by people who think you're part of the problem, from the week's pages at Cartoon Movement, GoComics, McClatchyDC.com, Time, About.com, Daryl Cagle, and other fine sources.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Jack Ohman, Jim Morin, Lee Judge, David Fitzsimmons, G.B. Trudeau, Clay Bennett, Chad Lowe, Matt Wuerker, Jen Sorenson, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Mike Peters.

p3 Order of Maria Theresa for Wildly Overestimating the Opposition (with oak cluster for really great draftsmanship) Eric Allie.

p3 Legion of Honor: Bob Englehart.

p3 World Toon Review: Dario Castillejos (Mexico), Alex Falco (Cuba), Ingrid Rice (Canada), and Paresh Nath (India),


Ann Telnaes asks: What happens when a soldier's no longer good for photo ops?


Mark Fiore introduces us to the very person we'd want oozing into our aquifer: Tar Sand Timmy!


Taiwan's Next Media Animation reveals the deepest secrets of North Korea's newest Dear Leader.


Here's something different: Comic book super heros (and villains) in the style of native American art.


Not just a matter of sympathy: Any fan of classic animation should be saddened to hear that Disney has let go almost their entire team of actual pencil-sketch artists. The irony is painful; the Disney studio created a world-wide market for their art -- back in the day. But there's a larger lesson, too, and Disney has learned it: Fire workers and your stock goes up.
Axing money-losing video game units is one thing, but as The Hollywood Reporter pointed out, both the "studio" and "consumer product" units posted solid numbers in the most recent fiscal year with the "studio entertainment" segment posting a 17% gain in operating income, while “consumer products” brought in $932 million, a healthy 15% year-over-year gain.

The studio claims the decline of the home entertainment side of the business makes these layoffs necessary, though impressing Wall St. also appears to be part of the equation as Disney’s stock has risen to an all-time high, up 2% in the wake of the announcement of the firings.

It's like Sophie's choice, except that you don't want to keep either of them. The Oregonian has announced to its dwindling number of readers:
We think “Family Circus” and “Ziggy” have run their course and we'd like to use that space for a new comic strip. Do you agree?
If you have any feelings one way or the other, you can make them known here.


A couple of months ago, p3 mentioned the broadside against Bill Day by fellow artist Ted Rall over the question of plagiarism. This week, Day strikes back, with rebuttals by Rall and Matt Wuerker in the comments. (All three artists – Day, Rall, and Wuerker – are regulars or semi-regulars here at the p3 Sunday toon review.)


For Superman, it's Kryptonite (and, depending on who you ask, magic). For the Green Lantern, it is (or was) anything yellow. For J'onn J'onzz, aka The Martian Manhunter, it is (or was) fire. Now Tom Tomorrow presents Sparkman and the Blinkster confronting the one force even they can't overcome.


Keith Knight celebrates telephone etiquette in the modern age.


Tom the Dancing Bug imagines the slippery slope we'll never see.


Red Meat's Mister Wally finds relief from his worry.


Nope, nope – that's too desperick. “I Yam Love Sick,” another turn in the totally unhealthy relationship between Olive and Popeye, is best remembered for some of its one-of-a-kind sight gags, especially the operating room scrums. It was directed in 1938 by Dave Fleischer, and animated by Seymour Kneitel and William Henning. (Uncredited: Musical director Sammy Timberg, and voice talents Jack Mercer as Popeye and Bonnie Poe as Olive Oyl.)

If your browser won't display the embedded version, click here

The p3 Big Oregon Toon Block:

Matt Bors imagines the unimaginable, and it's a hoot: arch-humanist Roger Ebert showing up at the Pearly Gates.

Jesse Springer acknowledges a teeny, tiny burst of bipartisanship in the Oregon state legislature:



Test your toon-captioning skills at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

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