Sunday morning toons: Dregs

Okay, fine.

We're letting in one last Brian Williams toon, but only for 11% of its panels, and only because we maintain a soft spot for the artist. But we're not wasting pixels or links on "job fair" jokes imagining that American "boots on the ground" will somehow get us through our third Middle East war in 25 years with a different, better conclusion. Same with polar-vortex-proves-climate-change-is-a-hoax cartoons. And we're spending little time on Rudy the Rictus, and even less on his fellow hate-monger-who's-working-to-stay-relevant Franklin Graham.

But there's little point in denying that Joe Biden took a weird turn this week.

Today's toons were selected, between breaks to check on friends and family back in the mega-snow zone, from the week's offerings at McClatchy DC, Cartoon Movement, Go Comics, Politico's Cartoon Gallery, Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoons, About.com, and other fine sources of cartoon goodness.

p3 Picks of the week: Mike Luckovich, Ted Rall, Tom Toles, Signe Wilkinson, Matt Wuerker, Nick Anderson, Dana Summers, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Nick Anderson.

p3 Legion of Merit: Jeff Danziger.

p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 1): Steve Benson and Clay Bennett.

p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 2): Matt Davies, Clay Jones, and Jack Ohman.

p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 3): Gary Varvel, Cam Cardow, Randy Bish, and Michael Ramirez.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium: Steve Kelley.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Ingrid Rice (Canada), Petar Pismestrovic (Austria), and Alex Falcó Chang (Cuba).

Ann Telnaes makes a perfectly reasonable request.

Mark Fiore presents America: Inventors of Eternity!

Tom Tomorrow covers well-trodden ground until panel seven.

Keith Knight discovers – and rediscovers! – his badge of honor.

Tom the Dancing Bug documents a tragedy.

Red Meat's Ted Johnson engages in a little pillow talk with the missus.

The Comic Strip Curmudgeon wrestles with a TMI episode of Shoe.

Comic Strip of the Day casts a doubtful eye upon literary legacies.

Watch me move! Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo" (1911) is one of ten animated shorts that remain, complete or partially so, from the days when he largely invented animated cartoons by hand (a poor but honest choice of words to describe those pre-xerography days). McCay was always more interested in the theoretical and artistic possibilities of the medium, rather than the commercial, so he never patented his animation techniques, nor did he even copyright all of his work. It's a miracle they even exist for us to see. After promoting his art for many years on the vaudeville circuit, he gave a set of the original films – on nitrate stock, which was susceptible to fire, chemical decomposition, and lord knows what else – to a friend who kept them in his garage, unattended, until the late 1940s. (They were painstakingly restored over the course of several years after their rediscovery, and are now in the Library of Congress.) Early theater audiences weren't entirely sure what to make of comic strips that moved (it would take Disney, a decade later, to set down the story-telling conventions that would govern animation through its golden age), which is why the film begins with a group of clubbing New York actors and artists (including George McManus, who created the classic strip "Bringing Up Father," starring Jiggs and his wife Maggie) and McCay betting that he can in one month make 4000 drawings move.

The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along: Pearls Before Swine, Doonesbury, Rhymes with Orange, Zits, Adam @ Home, Mutts, Over the Hedge, Get Fuzzy, Prince Valiant, Blondie, Bizarro, Mother Goose & Grimm, Rose is Rose, Luann, Hagar the Horrible, Pickles, Rubes, Grand Avenue, Freshly Squeezed, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, and Jumble.

The Big, And Getting Bigger Since We Welcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman looks at the threat level.

Maybe, Possibly, Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen feels for Mother Earth: "I'm just a maid around here!"

Matt Bors illustrates one of several reasons I fear for the future of my niece and nephew.

Jesse Springer marks Oregonians turning a page (an Oregonian editorial joke?) this week to greet their new governor, while taking a shot at a largely pointless distinction many of her fans like to celebrate.

Test your toon captioning kung fu at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.) And you can browse The New Yorker's cartoon gallery here.