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Cartoonists Love The Titanic

“Titanic” has burst back into movie theaters sporting an $18 million dollar 3-D makeover. James Cameron, fresh from raking mud off the floor of the ocean, hopes to garner some greenbacks by tailing the re-release on the back of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Cartoonists are all about visual metaphors, and we love a good ship-sinking cartoon (with apologies to Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino). I dug through our archives and found these Titanic-themed cartoons that I’m excited to “re-release” to an entirely new audience. And it didn’t even cost me a dime…

Tom Janssen / PoliticalCartoons.com (click to view more cartoons by Janssen)
Pat Bagley / Salt Lake Tribune (click to view more cartoons by Bagley)
Nate Beeler / Washington Examiner (click to view more cartoons by Beeler)
Cam Cardow / Ottawa Citizen (click to view more cartoons by Cam)
Frederick Deligne / PoliticalCartoons.com (click to view more cartoons by Deligne)
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Taylor Swift Meets… Taylor Jones?

When Taylor Swift was named entertainer of the year for the second year in a row at the Academy of Country Music Awards, I bet she didn’t think things could get much better. Unfortunately, there was no way she could foresee the chance cartoon encounter she would soon make with brilliant caricaturist Taylor Jones.

Taylor Swift

Taylor usually reserves his sharp pen skills for skewering politicians and entertainers, but just this once he couldn’t help but insert himself into one of his cartoons. I asked him why he went this route with his cartoon, and here is his response:

It’s a running joke that I’m about as skinny as an adult man can be without being terminally ill. Like most people in the comedy industrial complex (which includes editorial cartooning), I poke fun at myself to mask my pain, insecurities and stupidity.

Taylor Swift and I are EXACTLY the same height and build — though even she has a bigger chest than me! Add the fact that 90% of people with the first name of Taylor are females under the age of 30, and you have comedy gold! Well, pewter, anyway.

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Help Fund Keith Knight’s New Graphic Novel

My friend, “The K Chronicles” and “(Th)ink” cartoonist Keith Knight, launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month to fund his first graphic novel, “I Was A Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator.”

The book will chronicle Keith’s high school senior year and college freshman year, when he performed as a Michael Jackson impersonator. “It was the best paying gig I ever had, “ he said.

With only  a couple of days left, Keith has just about reached his funding goal. Help him fully fund this project – Keith is a talented cartoonist, and this book promises to be a hoot!

View Keith’s Kickstarter page here

 

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Dangerous Hoodies

The Trayvon Martin case continues to be tried on cable television instead of in a courtroom. In one of the most outlandish comments involved with this whole tradegy, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera said he thought the hoodie Trayvon wore the night he was shot was as much responsible for his death as the shooter, George Zimmerman.

Rivera has since backed away and apologized for his comments, but cartoonists have already latched onto the visual imagery of the hoodie (including me). Here are some cartoons about this suddenly dangerous piece of attire:

Mike Keefe / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Keefe)
Adam Zyglis / Buffalo News (click to view more cartoons by Zyglis)
Jen Sorensen / PoliticalCartoons.com (click to view more cartoons by Sorensen)
Taylor Jones / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Jones)
Jimmy Margulies / The Record (click to view more cartoons by Margulies)
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Five Great Rex Babin Cartoons

In honor of my fallen colleague Rex Babin, I thought I’d share five great cartoons from his archives. The Sacramento Bee has posted a gallery featuring Rex’s best cartoons from 2011.

In a front-page editoral in The Bee, Anita Creamer writes about Rex’s most popular cartoon, which he drew after the “Miracle on the Hudson”:

In Rex Babin’s perhaps most beloved editorial cartoon, huge hands reached down from on high to steady US Airways Flight 1549 as it floated on the Hudson River, passengers standing on its wings.

The “Wings on the Hudson” cartoon showed a different, more emotional side of Babin to Sacramentans who were accustomed to the sharp observations of his political cartoons: It showed his heart.



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Sacramento Bee Cartoonist Rex Babin Dies of Cancer

I’m very sad to report that my friend Rex Babin, the brilliant cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee and a longtime contributor to Cagle.com, passed away this morning after a two year long fight with stomach cancer. A little over a year ago, Rex took a medical leave from his position as the paper’s staff cartoonist, and has been drawing off and on since.

Rex was a friend, and a mainstay in the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, serving as president in 2010.  He was the winner of the National Press Foundation’s 2001 Berryman Award and was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. His cartoons were nationally syndicated by King Features.

My thoughts go out to his family, especially his wife Kathleen and their son Sebastian. What a sad day and a terrible loss for the profession.

Here is his last cartoon, which appeared in the Bee on March 4:

Rex-Babin

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Best Cartoons of the Week

Every Friday, we collect the best political cartoons of the week and stuff them into one big, glorious slideshow.

So just relax and catch up on a week’s worth of news with our Best Cartoons of the Week slideshow.

Pat Bagley / Salt Lake Tribune (click to start slideshow)
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In Defense of George Zimmerman?

Ever since the media latched on to the Trayvon Martin killing (view our collection of Trayvon Martin cartoons here), they seem to be certain of one thing – George Zimmerman, the neighbor watch man who shot the Florida teenager, is guilty of murder.

Most cartoonists have focused on the tragedy of Trayvon’s death, but Michael McParlane went a different direction and focused on the media’s newfound role and judge, jury and exuctioner:

I asked Michael his thoughts, and here’s what he emailed me:

Debates are rampant over whether or not the same backlash would be exhibited if this were a black on black murder. Large groups of people can effect dramatic change, but where are the current protestors, and carpetbaggers, when the crime is not deemed “racist”?

Does he have a point?

RELATED: Five Powerful Trayvon Martin Cartoons

Cartoonist Criticizes Obama for Politicizing Trayvon Martin Murder

My Trayvon Cartoon

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Five Powerful Trayvon Martin Cartoons

As the Trayvon Martin case continues to unfold, a lot of unanswered questions remain about the tragic death of the Florida teenager. As a result, cartoonists have been fine-tuning their thoughts about the shooting. Everything from hoodies to skittles have entered the fray, as well as President Obama’s comment that if he had a son, he’d look like Trayvon (which our conservative cartoonist Gary McCoy mocked as politicizing the event).

I’ve shared my own cartoon and thoughts about the shooting, so I thought I’d post five powerful cartoons about Trayvon, drawn by the nation’s top cartoonists…

Taylor Jones / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Jones)
Rick McKee / Augusta Chronicle (click to view more cartoons by McKee)
R.J. Matson / St. Louis Post-Dispatch (click to view more cartoons by Matson)
Mr. Fish / PoliticalCartoons.com (click to view more cartoons by Mr. Fish)
J.D. Crowe / Mobile Press-Register (click to view more cartoons by Crowe)
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Cartoons: Obamacare on Trial

Why listen to lawyers and pundits talk about the Constitutionality of Obama’s Health Care Reform Law when you can just listen to cartoonists! Our group of ink slingers have weighed in on Obamacare, and you can check out their opinions in our new Obamacare Revisited cartoon collection.

Chris Weyant / The Hill (click to view our Obamacare on Trial cartoons)