Laugh Tracks

Richard Thompson wins Cartoonist of the Year!

 

The National Cartoonists Society held their annual awards event Saturday night, and we are proud to announce that after five nominations for NCS awards the past four years, Richard Thompson was awarded the NCS' top prize - the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year!

 

The Cul de Sac creator, who counts among his most vocal fans none other than Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, called the awards ceremony a "happy blur" and promised more reflection to come after he's had time to recover from the night's momentous events. Keep an eye on Richard's blog for more - and in the meantime, check out this tribute to the event by Dave Kellett!

 

We are thrilled beyond words for the recognition Richard has received for his brilliant work! Congrats, Richard!

 

And Thompson wasn't alone among GoComics creators who took home awards Saturday night. Gary McCoy won the Division Award for Gag Cartoons and joined his brother, Glen, in accepting the Division Award for Best Newspaper Panel Cartoon for their work on The Flying McCoys!

 

Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!

Herblock Prize winner Tom Toles profiled

 

Politico.com has a great piece on Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Tom Toles, who will be honored Tuesday with the Herblock Prize. Toles talks about being dragged into editorial cartooning by Douglas Turner, his editor at the Buffalo Courier-Express:

 

“I said ‘No, I don’t want to do that,’” Toles recalled. “‘I don’t have the skills. I don’t have the interest. I don’t have the knowledge.’ That seems like a pretty good case, right? Three disqualifiers.”

 

But Turner wanted him to try it anyway, so he did. “I kept trying to get out of it. Hated it. Just hated it. And I was pretty bad, in my opinion. But he just kept at it and at it and at it.”

 

Read the whole piece on Politico.com.

I got it!

WOOOOOO!!!!!

Sorry, I don't mean to rub it in. Mr. Jef Mallett (one F, two Ts, no Qs) was kind enough to send me an original Frazz (that also featured my name -- and my dad's).

I'm tickled pink about it ... as I was typing this in direct sunlight and I burn easily. 

I'm also lucky enough to have some great originals: Paul Gilligan, Jan Eliot, Bill Hinds, Richard Thompson, Stephan Pastis, Mark Tatulli, Jonathon Lemon, Steve Moore, Phil Frank, Johnny Ryan, Doug Paszkiewicz, Tom Gammill, Nicholas Gurewitch, Scott Hilburn, Ruben Bolling, Rob Harrell, Cathy Guisewite, Chris Baldwin, Corey Pandolph, Shannon Wheeler, Aaron Johnson, Glenn McCoy, Gary McCoy, Pat Oliphant. 

But I don't want you to be embarrassed if you're not included in that list. Just pop one in the mail today and we'll let bygones be bygones. And you may just be featured in this blog. Which Google Analytics confirms is reaching more than 15 people a day (except weekends). 

Thanks, Jef and Patty! I love it.

 

 

Doonesbury up for Eisners!

This year's Eisner nominations are out, and two Doonesbury-related works are among those up for awards.

 

40: A Doonesbury Retrospective is nominated in the Best Archival Collection/Project - Strips category. Doonesbury and the Art of G. B. Trudeau, by Brian Walker, is nominated for Best Comics-Related Book. 

 

Congrats to Garry and Brian!

 

You can check out the full list of nominees here.

Some Hidden R2-D2s (check the George Lucas joke in the link)

http://urlybits.com/2009/10/r2-d2-and-c-3po-in-indiana-jones-raiders-of-the-lost-ark/

Cul de Sac, Red & Rover and Flying McCoys nominated for NCS Reuben Awards!

The National Cartoonists Society has announced their division award nominees, and some of GoComics' very own are on the list!

 

Cul de Sac, by Cartoonist of the Year nominee Richard Thompson, is nominated in the Best Newspaper Comic Strip category (an award for which it was also nominated in 2008 and 2009), along with Brian Bassett's endearing, boy-and-his-dog buddy strip, Red and Rover.

 

The Flying McCoys, by perennial Reuben Award winners Glen and Gary McCoy, is nominated in the Best Newspaper Panel Cartoons category. Nominated in the same category is Pop Culture Shock Therapy by Doug Bratton, whose book, The Deranged Stalker's Journal of Pop Culture Shock Therapy is published by the fine folks upstairs at Andrews McMeel Publishing.

 

You can see the full list of division awards and contenders here!

 

Congratulations and best of luck to all the nominees!

NEWSFLASH: Richard Thompson is awesome. NCS agrees, nominates him for Reuben Award

The National Cartoonists Society has announced the nominees for the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year. For the second year in a row, Richard Thompson, creator of Cul de Sac and Richard's Poor Almanac, is one of the nominees.

Probably for work like this:

Thompson's fellow esteemed nominees are Pearls Before Swine creator and video star Stephan Pastis and animator, author, illustrator and director Glen Keane.

Congrats to Richard, Stephan and Glen!