After last night’s historic election results here in the United States, editorial cartoonists capture the moment … and Daryl Cagle captures the cartoons. Check’em out.

– Van Jensen hangs out with Paul Pope to find out about the new reprint edition of Heavy Liquid, which Pope initiated when he discovered out of print copies selling on eBay for as much as $200: ” ‘That was disgusting to me,’ he said. ‘That was money those fans could’ve spent on other books.’ ”

– Kai-Ming Cha talks to Yen Press’ Kurt Hassler about the imprint’s absorption into Hachette’s Orbit imprint.

– Tom Richmond looks at how Mad Magazine has covered close elections in the past.

– Alan Gardner critiques the revamped Comics.com site.

– Erin Finnegan reports on the MangaNext show in Somerset, NJ.

– Apparently Famous Monsters of Filmland‘s Forrest J. Ackerman is not doing well.

– Doug Wolk reports on last weekend’s APE convention.

– Noah Berlatsky doesn’t care for S. Clay Wilson’s work.

– Jen de Guzman wonders why Slave Labor isn’t getting that many submissions anymore and decides to blame the Internet.

– Because you don’t have enough to read: Here’s Graphic Novel Reporter.

Sure, you can dig out your DVDs of Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but what if you’re jonesing for some Peanuts on the bus ride to work? Well, the Schulz family and Warner Bros. Motion Comics has anticipated the problem and produced 20 new three-to-four minute cartoons featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang, and made specifically for the Web, cell phones and iPods. The Associated Press has the details:

The videos are all new, made with Flash animation and new voices. Even though it’s new technology, attention has been paid to maintaining the integrity of the strip and its beloved animation specials.

“You’re not trying to change it,” said Jeannie Schulz, widow of the Peanuts creator. “You’re trying to keep it the same and freshen it.”

For a limited time, you can download two episodes for free, but only at iTunes. Otherwise, individual episodes will be priced at 99 cents each, or you can buy the full season for $7.99.

NPR, meanwhile, has an interview with the late Charles Schulz’s son Craig, where he talks about how they found the voices for the new animated shorts and the strip’s legacy. He also talks about how he can see his childhood reflected in the strip, in the way that his father drew certain backgrounds and objects that mimiced their own home, a fact I found more fascinating than anything else in the interview.

Cartoonist Roger Langridge shares some comic strips from Nickelodeon Magazine, featuring Spongebob Squarepants reimagined as several different comic strips, like Terry & the Pirates and Peanuts (above).

Via Drawn

– The final Opus strip ran yesterday.

– Who would like to see some of John Romita Jr’s cover drafts? Now let’s not see the same hands.

– Why does Mort of Bazooka Joe fame constantly cover the lower half of his face? The Onion has the answer and it’s not pretty.

– Kick Ass’ protagonist and Chester Brown: Separated at birth?

– Alan David Doane talks to Ivan Brunetti, podcast-style, about the new Anthology of Graphic Fiction collection.

– Ladies and gentlemen, the top 10 immortal characters of pop fiction.

– Same Hat has some excerpts from their interview with author and manga translator Frederik Schodt, the full text of which will appear in their zine, Electric Ant.

– Charles Brubaker talks with Kevin McCormack, creator of the late-lamented strip Arnold.

– Eric Reynolds provides what will likely be the last 2008 SPX report.

– The Comics Comics blog is all love, flowers and rainbows now.

Things were all a-twitter in the Features Department where I work last Friday. Why? Because Gary Trudeau had decided to predict a victory for Barack Obama in Tuesday’s election:

Wednesday’s strip is set in Iraq and features military characters huddled around a television that proclaims “And it’s official — Barack Obama has won. . . .”

In an e-mail to The Times, Trudeau said newspapers should run the strip because “. . . polling data gives McCain a 3.7% chance of victory. There’s a greater risk that their presses will break down on election day. So I’ve been encouraging editors to choose hope over fear. And reminding them that if I’m wrong, it’ll be my face that’ll be covered with egg, not theirs.”

As a result, a number of daily newspapers that carry Trudeau’s strip had to quickly decide whether to run the strip or substitute it for reruns (from this past summer). And no, I’m not telling you what the Patriot-News decided. Go buy a copy of the paper.

Meanwhile, the John McCain camp responded by stating “We hope the strip proves to be as predictive as it is consistently lame.”

You can read more on the story here, here, here, here and here. Oh, and be sure to read this post by News & Record’s John Robinson, where he wonders what all the fuss is about anyway.

To close out the day, here are 13 fun & frightening links — some comic related, some not — to enjoy …

• Splash Page has a preview of Dark Horse Comics’ upcoming Creepy archive.

• Great Caesar’s Post has been running horror posts for the past couple of weeks, including Iron Man pumpkins and Hellboy stories.

• The Beat has the complete “Teratoid Cystoma” from Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack Volume 1 as a Halloween treat.

• Bruce Springsteen has a free song about the Jersey Devil up on his site for Halloween.

• World record zombie walk.

• Check out one of the special features from the upcoming Hellboy II DVD release.

• Marvel.com talks to various creators about terrifying moments in comics.

• Character Design looks at various characters from Nightmare Before Christmas.

• Neil Gaiman shows the one-sheet poster for the upcoming adaptation of his book Coraline.

• They Crawl By Night!

• Freddy Krueger, registered offender.

• I’ve had this nightmare before.

• And finally, Halloween is a good time to check out Necessary Monsters if you haven’t yet.

Happy Halloween!

If you’re the type of comics fan who occasionally likes to peruse the newsstand (and bless you if you do), it should be duly noted that this week’s issue of The New Yorker is their annual “Cartoon Issue,” with Steve Brodner talking about how he sees McCain and Obama everywhere; editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich counting down the ways he’ll miss about Dubya; a cute two-page spread by Bruce McCall; a smattering of gag strips pertaining to current events; reviews of Tamara Drewe, Burma Chronicles and Bat-Manga!; spot illustrations by Joost Swarte and — for the piece de resistance — an awesome four-page strip by Robert, Aline and Sophie Crumb about their attending a Crumb family reunion in Minnesota. Hey, Drawn and Quarterly even took out an ad for this issue!

But if you can’t find a hard copy, the magazine’s Web site has a good bit of comics-related content as well, including Cartoon Editor Robert Mankoff answering readers’ questions; an audio file of McCall dissecting his cartoon; a video of Brodner drawing and satirizing the election; and an interview with Dilbert creator Scott Adams:

C.L.: Back to the new book, “Dilbert 2.0.”—What is included?

S.A.: It’s a big, beautiful, ten-pound coffee-table book with a few thousand of my favorite comics, including the ones too naughty to get published in newspapers. It also has stories about the trouble I got into for strips that did get published. I tell the story of how I went from cubicle to cartooning, which required lots of luck and the kindness of strangers. We also include a disc that has every “Dilbert” comic published in newspapers from 1989 until we went to production

WFMU posts a great strip by Jim Ryan that originally ran in their 1996 Catalog of Curiosities. (hat tip: The Ephemerist.)

Having explored the seamier (and steamier) side of the cartoon world with his book Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings, Craig Yoe is taking a decidedly different tack with his upcoming book The Great Anti-War Cartoons, to be published by Fantagraphics in Spring 2009. Featuring work by folks like Francisco Goya, Robert Crumb and Art Young, the book will present “the ultimate collection of anti-war cartoons.” Yoe has a small preview of the book up at the second link.

Like when I came across this editorial cartoon by one Gordon Campbell, which compared Colin Powell to Benedict Arnold. Why? Because of the former Secretary of State’s recent endorsement of Barack Obama. Because, of course, Powell would never in a million years endorse Obama because of his policies. It has to be about race. Here, let Campbell tell you himself:

“The only reasonable explanation for such a public political “about-face” in the midst of this important election is that Colin Powell, perhaps understandably, wishes to see someone who looks like himself in the White House,” Campbell said.

“It’s my opinion that General Powell has based his endorsement of Barack Obama on the color of his skin, not his qualifications, his experience or the content of his character.”

Understandably, a number of editorial cartoonists and other folk have come out decrying the cartoon. Matt Bors goes so far as to dub it “top ten worst political cartoons ever created. Since time began. Hands down.”

Alan Gardner at The Daily Cartoonist (the first link) has more choice quotes, along with reactions by the blogosphere at large.

– The marketing juggernaut continues: Sam Thielman talks with Art Spiegelman about the latter’s new book, Breakdowns.

– The comic strip Rhymes With Orange has a new Web site.

– Chris Arrant profiles Faith Erin Hicks and her new comic The War at Ellsmere.

– Eddie Campbell guides you through Comic Book Morality 101.

– Todd Allen looks at some of the new Webcomic offerings from Shadowline, Liquid and Marvel, and smells trouble … for them.

– Chip Zdarsky shares his ideas for Marvel Comics and it’s totally NSFW (hat tip: Heidi).

– Brigid Alverson writes about plans for the upcoming Haruhi Suzumiya manga.

– Spurious has an interesting essay on Charles Crumb, Robert’s late, tragic older brother.

– Erin Finnegan looks at Tokyopop’s release of Otsuichi’s Goth novel and manga.

– Richard O’Connor blogs about working on an animated They Might Be Giants video with Kim Deitch.

– The Lego enthusiast known as oxcrew has decided to retell the origin of Two-Face using … well, you figure it out. (hat tip: The Ephemerist)

– So Time Magazine is doing gag cartoons now? That’s interesting.

– David Welsh examines Jiro Taniguchi’s The Quest for the Missing Girl.

– Paul Hornschmeier has an amusing new T-shirt available for puchase.

– DJ Coffman and Scott Kurtz go at it on the Internet, and everyone wins.

– Spot the Frog creator Mark Heath has a new Web site up, promoting his gag cartoons.

– I Live Here, the new book from Mia Kirshner, which features comics by Joe Sacco and Phoebe Gloeckner, has its own blog now.

– I rather like this feature over at The Washington Post, where readers get to vote on a four editorial cartoons, picking which one delivered the sharpest satire.

– Over at the Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon interviews French Milk author Lucy Kinsley.

– I really enjoyed this highly amusing take on Galactus by Phil McAndrew

– Eddie Campbell uses the new Joker graphic novel as a jumping off point to talk about why comic book artists can’t seem to draw clothes properly:

Note that the Joker’s coat folds right over left in the universal manner of women’s coats instead of that of menswear, left over right. I apologise for picking on this artist, but I see the same problem all over the place. It can happen because the artist is looking in a mirror, but the overwhelming reason in the last twenty years is that comic book artists generally speaking, though there are a few fashion plates to give exception to the rule, are the worst dressed people in the world who mostly get around in t-shirts and draw people in leotards.

– John Jakala notes that his daughter’s day care has banned all superhero-related material from the premises, and wonders whether how harmful they may actually be to young children.

– David Bowie sketches!

– Here are some one-sentence comic synopses. (synopsises?)

It was good to be Gerard Scarfe (best known for his work on Pink Floyd The Wall and the Disney’s Hercules movie) this week as the political caricaturist was awarded a CBE (otherwise known as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for the 40 years he’s spent making fun of people:

Describing one of his most memorable images Scarfe said: “When I made my drawings for Private Eye they were shocking at the time, but by today’s standards they probably wouldn’t be.

“I did a drawing of Macmillan, the Prime Minister at the time, in the pose of Christine Keeler, the prostitute who brought down the Government, on the chair.

“And Private Eye put it on the cover of their annual and WH Smith wouldn’t (stock) it, they sent them all back because of that one drawing.”

(more…)

Lionsgate has released another poster for Frank Miller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit — this one focusing on Denny Colt himself. Or at least actor Gabriel Macht.

The Spirit opens on Christmas.

Every weekday from now until the release of the second volume, Fanta will be posting a Rocky strip by Martin Kellerman.

Extremely popular in its home country of Sweden, Rocky follows the hilarious adventures of its ne’er do well titular character, a twentysomething slacker whose bad luck with the ladies is rivaled only by his equally bad luck with money and success in general.

It’s a really funny strip, and one that deserves a wider American audience, so be sure and give it a chance, OK?

– 20 things Every Superhero Comic Collection Needs.

– Laura Hudson talks to Brian Azzarello about his upcoming Joker graphic novel.

– Seth is curating a series of films from the National Film Board of Canada. Drawn! has the details.

– The Mindless Ones look at the work of ero-guru artist Suehiro Maruo (note: some images are probably NSFW).

– Peter Sanderson looks at the new edition of Patrick Rosenkranz’s seminal history of underground comix, Rebel Visions.

– Fantasy.fr has an interview with Devilman creator and manga-ka Go Nagai.

– Judith Rosen checks out the Comics and Classics store in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

– Craig Fischer has a short interview with alt-cartoonist Ben Towle.

– Evie Nagy looks at all the political comics coming out this month.

– Ooooo, I’m a Johnny Storm!

– Noah Berlatsky did not like David Heatley’s new book. Like, at all.

If you’re a regular reader of Patrick McDonnell’s comic strip Mutts, you’ve probably noticed a number of characters/animals asking people to vote on something called “Proposition 2.” What exactly is Proposition 2? The Oregonian and the LA Times, among several other papers, offer an explanation:

Patrick McDonnell devotes his strip this week to messages he hopes will sway voters to vote “yes” on Proposition 2, which sets size standards for cages housing hens, veal calves and breeding pigs. The New Jersey artist is on the board of the Humane Society of the United States, the major backer of the proposition.

The eight-day series depicts chickens, calves and pigs going door to door. In the opening strip, a chicken asks a man for “some sun and a little piece of Earth.”

Over at The California Majority Report, McDonnell talks about why he’s stumping:

(more…)

– Tom Spurgeon interviews Bill Schelly, who’s new biography of Joe Kubert, Man of Rock, should be out in stores any day now.

– In more depressing newspaper news: Acclaimed editorial cartoonist Chip Bok is taking a buyout and leaving The Akron Beacon-Journal. The number of full-time, on-staff cartoonists at daily papers gets smaller and smaller. Of course, so does the number of editors, reporters, photographers …

– On the BBC, they’re talking about comics.

– The Daily Cross Hatch begins a multi-part interview with Art Spiegelman.

– Go! Comi are so excited about their new 07-GHOST series that they’ve set up a whole Web site for it.

– Cool things to bookmark: Elizabeth Conley, Elena Diaz, Pancha Diaz, Andrew Farago, Shaenon Garrity, Konstantin Pogorelov, Jason Thompson, and Leia Weathington have formed a new group blog, titled The Couscous Collective.

– Steven De Souza, who wrote the screenplay for the 1987 Spirit TV-movie (remember that?) offers his thoughts on the upcoming Frank Miller film.