Sunday morning toons: Vaudeville coming back!

(Updated below.)

BP is on its way to being a more toxic brand than Goldman Sachs; Afghanistan has become the war we just can't say goodbye to; Helen Thomas shows that (Pat Buchanan notwithstanding) coarse anti-Semitic remarks can actually cost you your job in the media -- and it appears that some sort of international sporting exhibition is going on this weekend.

Let's start with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for this week.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Daryl Cagle, Pat Bagley, John Darkow, David Fitzsimmons, Jerry Holbert, Steve Sack, adam Zyglis, Steve Breen, Bill Day, Mark Streeter, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best in Show: Mike Keefe.

p3 Legion of Merit: Milt Priggee.

p3 George Bailey Medal of Honor: Ed Stein.

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


Ann Telnaes two-fer: It turns out the longest war in American history doesn't leave enough time, and the essence of BP's strategy in the Gulf is . . . essence.


Mark Fiore brings you "News in a Nutshell:" Self-Regulation: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?.


Tom Tomorrow asks: What other possible interpretation is there?


At the K Chronicles, Keith likes his sports the way he likes his fruits and vegetables.


Update: Here's Barry Blitt's illustration for this week's Frank Rich NYTimes column on marriage in America.


The Times, they aren't a-changin': The NYTimes is all about the resisting the natural evolution of language. First of all, no "tweets!" Second, you may call them "graphic novels," but the Grey Lady still calls them "comics." Still, here's the latest round-up from their Books section. (See? They're "Books!")

Not just "a bear of little brain," but a deeply-disturbed one, too: Psychological diagnosis comes to bear, as it were, upon the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, and it isn't pretty:

While the world of Winnie the Pooh seems innocent on the surface, "it is clear to our group of modern neuro-developmentalists that these are in fact stories of seriously troubled individuals, many of whom meet DSM-IV criteria for significant disorders," wrote Sarah E. Shea and colleagues in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2000, referring to the handbook of diagnoses.

Portland homeboy Jack Ohman says, sometimes a problem reaches a point where throwing money at it actually starts to make sense.


Vaudeville is coming back: I've always loved "Puttin' On the Act," a vintage Popeye toon released in 1940 and directed by Dave Fleischer. Note. The premise is dated now, even by Popeye standards, but the gags are great, and visually it's a delight. There's a wide-angle shot during the hatstand routine that makes Popeye's apartment look like a loft in the warehouse district, but let it pass. (Also of note: What green leafy vegetable is conspicuously absent in this film?) No one will be seated during the hair-raising Adagio scene!

p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer solves Oregon's budget crisis in three easy [sic] steps:




Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.

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