Sunday morning toons: I'll toonify anything that moves!

(The title's our roundabout -- and work/family safe -- allusion to actor Dennis Hopper, Hollywood's most iconoclastic icon, whom we lost yesterday. He'll be missed, in toonland as on earth. [h/t to Anne for walking me through the tricky verb-selection process])

Now let's get down to business, which this week includes kinda-sorta doing something about BP's attack on the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico, kinda-sorta repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, kinda-sorta tightening Facebook's user privacy controls, kinda-sorta reaffirming 60 years of civil rights legislation, and kinda-sorta remembering America's sons and daughters who've served in uniform.

(Wow. "Getting down to business" doesn't carry as much punch as it used to, does it?)

Well anyway, we begin, as always, with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Mike Keefe, Jimmy Margulies, Steve Sack, Adam Zyglis, Milt Priggee, Jeff Stahler, Steve Breen, Ed Stein, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Award for the Definitive Memorial Day 2010 Toon: Brian Fairrington.

p3 Medal of Valor: R. J. Matson.

p3 Recycling Award: Jerry Holbert.

p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence: Daryl Cagle and Mike Lester.

What's Memorial Day about, again? Ask Nate Beeler, Pat Bagley, Joe Heller, Randy Bish, Vic Harville, and Clay Jones.


p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands), Cam Cardow (Canada), and Ingrid Rice (Canada).


Ann Telnaes notes that there are holes, and then there are holes.


Mark Fiore gets a little Seuss-ical about the BP Gulf disaster. Some nice suggestions for ways to plug the hole, though.


Here's this week's Barry Blitt illustration, from tomorrow's Frank Rich column in the NYTimes.


Uhm -- You're on my chunk. This week, Tom Tomorrow demonstrates how the disasters no one could have predicted keep happening over and over.


Yes! The K Chronicles celebrates more of Life's Little Victories, #5221 through #5227.


The Comics Curmdgeon notes that, while you were busy elsewhere, Dick Tracy has gotten slightly weirder, which is no small achievement.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman casts an eye on an old problem in a new setting.


For Memorial Day -- The tall man in the high hat: There are three references contained in this 90-second Bugs Bunny ultra-short (directed by Bob Clampett, released in 1942) that many viewers today might not be used to: First, blackface/minstrel bits were still okay (especially if it was a Jolson reference). Second, Americans were once told explicitly by their government that they would have to pay for wars. Third, Americans once had savings. It was a different world.

Bugs, Elmer, and Porky sing "Any Bonds Today?", written by Irving Berlin some years before and repurposed here with new lyrics by Berlin. According to Wikipedia, the animated short was completed eight days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, but production on it began in late November 1941 -- before the US entered the war. What did Bugs Bunny know, and when did he know it?


p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer has -- let's call them "concerns" -- about the economy taking off while the state of Oregon looks at 9% budget cuts across the board for next year.



And remember to bookmark Slate's political cartoon for the day, and Time's cartoons of the week.