AAEC News

Dwane Powell steps down

Dwane Powell, the long-time editorial cartoonist for the News & Observer, and a stalwart of North Carolina political commentary, announced he was retiring Nov. 4.

Dwane Powell is retiring today as editorial cartoonist for The News & Observer after spending 35 years lampooning the high and mighty of Tar Heel politics, from dressing former Republican U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms in a cave man outfit to putting a weathervane in former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt's pompadour.

Powell, who turns 65 this week, drew more than 8,000 editorial cartoons that pointed out the foibles, the contradictions and affectations of the state's elected leaders.

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Powell worked briefly for newspapers in Arkansas, San Antonio and Cincinnati before coming to Raleigh in 1975.

"The N&O was what I really considered a dream job for a cartoonist," Powell said. "It was a paper that had a strong journalistic ethical standard. It was in a capital city. And they offered me the freedom to do what I wanted to do."

Among Powell's favorite subjects were Helms, the rock-ribbed conservative; Jimmy Green, the often investigated Democratic lieutenant governor; or "any politician doing something stupid."

In 2008, Powell had a showdown with his paper when they planned to cut his position to part-time. Rather than take the pay-cut and loss of benefits, Powell said he'd quit first. After strong support from readers, the paper backed down and came to a compromise with the cartoonist.

Cartoonists overseas

1) In mid-October, 10 cartoonists from the NCS and AAEC, including Mike Peters, Michael Ramirez and Chip Bok, were part of a week-long USO entertainment tour to visit troops stationed in Germany and the Persian Gulf.

"The group will visit wounded troops at the USO Warrior Center at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and more than a dozen military bases in the combat zone," stated the press release, posted on The Daily Cartoonist. "Committed to showing their support to America’s Armed Forces, they will also make personalized sketches for troops."

Star & Stripes carried on article on the cartoonist's visit, and Chip Bok posted a photos and links from the trip:
http://www.bokbluster.com/2009/10/26/uso-ncs-tour/
http://www.bokbluster.com/2009/10/26/uso-cartoonists-trip-ii/
http://www.bokbluster.com/2009/10/28/more-stuff-about-our-uso-trip/

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2) In the meantime, Daryl Cagle was travelling in North Africa and the Middle East for several weeks, first at the Algiers Comics Festival.

Then he was off to Egypt and Israel, where he was able to engage in a number of interesting discussions on cartooning and symbols:

The cartoon they showed me would make an American editor choke; it showed a spitting snake, in the shape of a Star of David; inside the snake/star was a peace dove, behind bars, and above the snake, in Arabic, were the words, “It’s not about the bird flu, it’s about the swine flu.” I explained that in America this cartoon would be regarded as anti-Semitic, and it would never be printed.

The Egyptian journalists were emphatic, explaining to me that the cartoon was about Israel, not about Jews - an important distinction to them.

“Israel isn’t mentioned anywhere in the cartoon,” I said.

“But we all know the Jewish star is the symbol of Israel,” they responded.

I said, “It is a religious symbol. It is the same as if I took the star and crescent off of the flag of Pakistan and drew a similar cartoon, saying it was about Pakistan.” They didn’t respond to me, my comment was such nonsense. I continued, “The cartoon seems to say that Jews are like snakes and pigs.”

“No, no! We have lots of symbols for Israel that we all know, like the Jew with black clothes and a big hooked nose!” one of the Egyptian journalists insisted with some passion. “We like Jews, we just don’t like Israel!”

All the cartoonists returned from their adventures safe if not sound.

Now in print

The Economist has just published its 2010 wall calendar packed with original cartoon art by Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher. "It took me all summer to complete so I am both delighted and exhausted," said KAL. You can see samples of the elaborate pages and order your own copy by going to:

http://www.kaltoons.com/wordpress/2009/11/kal-2010-wall-calendar/

Jeff Koterba, cartoonist for the Omaha World-Herald, has written "Inklings, a memoir." The 272-page harcover is being published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and chronicles "his chaotic boyhood ... and his complicated father who, like Koterba, suffers from Tourette's syndrome." "Inklings" is now available in bookstores everywhere and online:

http://www.hmhbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=1101287

UN contest deadline pushed back

If you thought you missed your chance to enter this year's contest for the Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award, worry not -- the contest deadline has been pushed back to Nov. 12.

You can get all the details here: http://lurieunaward.com/rules.htm

AAEC Prez pushes for local cartoonists, local issues

By Joe Strupp, E&P

OCTOBER 23, 2009 — The new president of the AAEC says more attention needs to be given to those who draw about local and regional issues, not just national topics.

Rex Babin of The Sacramento Bee, who took over as association president last month, says too many competitions -- including The Pulitzer Prizes -- often favor the cartoonists known for drawing about issues such as the economy, Iraq, and health care.

But he contends those who know local and regional issues, such as state politics, city hall topics and local figures, actually provide as much, if not more, of a service to readers.

"There are a lot of exceptional local cartoonists out there doing exceptional work on state and local subjects," says Babin, a 10-year Bee editorial cartoonist who admits he includes himself among those cited. "Cartoon competitions should take them into account when reviewing their work. Cartoonists are trying bold, non-conventional approaches that include local issues, not the widely publicized events that most people cover."

When asked if that included the Pulitzers, he said, "very much so." He added, "It takes a lot more work trying to understand the background of a topic not everyone is familiar with. There are some artists doing great work on subject matter not everyone knows about -- work that is having an effect in the local community."

Pulitzer Board Chair Anders Gyllenhaal of The Miami Herald could not be reached for comment Friday morning. But Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler said of the Pulitzers'editorial cartooning competition: "it is certanly open to the full range of cartoonists. We welcome local cartoonists as well."

Babin, a Pulitzer finalist in 2003, said he does not discount the work of those who focus on national or foreign topics. But he plans to do more with the association to promote the local cartoonists' efforts as much as those who target national topics and figures.

"I am looking forward to trying to help educate people out there that our membership is comprised of cartoonists of diverse backgrounds and practicing different approaches and disciplines in their editorial cartooning," he said. "I want to bring attention to them."

Babin is seeking to create a kind of traveling exhibit of editorial cartoonists' work, of all types, that can tour the nation. "It will also include work that is done online as well," he said, noting the growing use of animation by newspaper cartoonists. "I also plan to send out the message to various journalism groups out there to try to point out all of the work being done."

Joe Strupp is a senior editor at E&P.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004029989#at

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Mike Lane retires

Mike Lane, the former editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun, announced last month that he has retired from editorial cartooning. Lane made the announcement in a letter to Daryl Cagle, whose Cagle Cartoons Syndicate carried his work.

"My quitting editorial cartooning comes because it’s time, not because of my health," wrote Lane. The letter and Cagle's comments can be seen here:

http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/09/17/mike-lane-retires/

New Slate of AAEC Officers Announced

The results are in and counted, and the 2009-2010 Board of Directors of the AAEC 
is as follows: 
 
President: Rex Babin 
President-Elect: Steve Kelley 
Vice President: Mikhaela Reid 
Secretary-Treasurer: V. Cullum Rogers 
Directors: Mark Fiore, Jeff Parker, Mike Thompson 
Ted Rall will also serve on the 2009-2010 Board as Immediate Past President. 
 
The new Board takes office today, September 18, 2009. Congratulations to the new 
Board, and thanks to the old for all its hard work during the past year. 
 
Members also voted overwhelmingly (62-4) in favor of the following amendment, 
which from today is officially part of the AAEC Bylaws: 
 
Article XIX: Ethical Guidelines 
In order the maintain the integrity of the editorial cartooning profession, 
members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists agree to never 
engage in plagiarism, the act of appropriating another creator's work as one's 
own. If a member is accused of a clear and brazen act of plagiarism, the Board 
may act to permanently or temporarily suspend his or her membership. 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
--V. Cullum Rogers 
AAEC Secretary-Treasurer 
 

G-20 Cartoon Show Opens Today in Pittsburgh

An exhibit of political cartoons opens today at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, just in time for the G-20 summit in the city at the end of September.

Co-presented by the ToonSeum and the Andy Warhol Museum and funded by the Pittsburgh Foundation, “Drawn to the Summit: A G-20 Exhibition of International Political Cartoons” will run Sept. 18-Oct. 18, reported E&P last week. The featured cartoonists provide an alternative perspective on such G-20 themes as the global economy and its impact on the environment, human rights, world trade and other critical topics. The show offers the public an opportunity to view a diversity of cartooning styles from around the globe.

Also featured are cartoons by local Pittsburgh artists commenting on what it will be like to have their hometown hosting such an international event. Visitors are able to access a computer set up in the gallery showing an online blog to monitor daily commentaries and sketches by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers and others during the summit, which is set for Sept. 24 and 25.

Curating the show are Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist Rogers and art historian Sylvia Rhor. Admission is included with paid admission to the Andy Warhol Museum.

UPDATE: Rob Rogers has posted an online slide show of the exhibit here: http://tinyurl.com/mnxvsn

Notes from Seattle

JULY 5, 2009 — Now that I’ve had a chance to sleep after Seattle, I am sending a less exhausted version of the note I posted on the L.

First, I wanted to thank Ted Rall for pulling together a great show AND keeping everything running on time. As was said several times, this was the convention that shouldn’t have happened, but Ted somehow managed to put together a densely packed yet still highly entertaining outing. The speakers who came were notable for being simultaneously inspiring and enraging, both in what they had to say and in the reaction and subsequent conversations they generated among us.

Kudos too to David Horsey, who was a knowledgeable and exceedingly generous host -- the Friday night pub crawl in particular was epic, and set a new standard for trolling back alleys for funky bars. I also wanted to thank fellow Seattleite Sara Thaves for her generosity. I don’t think there was anyone there who didn’t fall in love with Seattle within a day of arriving, thanks to Dave and Sara.

Special credit goes to Drew Rougier-Chapman as well, who almost single-handedly ran this year’s Cartoonists’ Rights Network fundraiser Friday evening, after Bro Russell was unable to make the convention due to illness.

Every convention it seems has one delightful surprise, and this year it was a group of Arab cartoonists the State Dept. dropped on us at the last minute. The 6 guys from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait (and their two translators) threw themselves into the convention with great enthusiasm, even going with us on the pub crawl Friday.

Finally, the weather was perfect -- in fact, unnaturally so, we were told over and over again by the locals. If you missed it, well, you really missed something this year.

As Ted just noted, there will be more reports coming your way soon, enumerating not only the fun we had in Seattle, but a number of important changes and developments regarding the future of this Association, all of which were discussed in great depth by the attending membership. This really was a detailed and working convention, as evidenced by the record setting 4-hour business/future of the AAEC meeting Saturday morning that resulted in quite a few proposals which we voted to put into motion -- or put down for good.

In addition to what Ted mentioned, I want to point out several developments, including a new committee that has been tasked with looking into what we can do (and afford to do) to update the AAEC site to bring it more in line with Web 2.0 thinking; and an invitation from Lucy Caswell to explore the possibility of having the 2013 convention at Ohio State in conjunction with the Festival of Cartoon Art and the grand opening of the new cartoon museum there.

So, suddenly we went from almost having no convention this year to having firm leads for the next five. If that isn’t a good sign, I don’t know what is. —JP Trostle       


Pix online from the Seattle Convention:

http://picasaweb.google.com/parkertoons/AAECSeattle2009#

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41520526@N04/

http://blog.cagle.com/wolverton/2009/07/03/

aaec-convention-in-seattle-selected-photos/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/japenet/


More Links

Catch a few minutes of Mike Peters on stage at Cartoonapalloza at Town Hall on July 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzjHTNfz0hk

Daryl Cagle posted a half-dozen vlog entries online while in Seattle. Catch the live interviews here:

Cartoonists talk shop:
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/03/video-cartoonists-talk-shop-at-aaec-convention/

Cartoonists on twitter
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/03/video-cartoonists-on-using-twitter-facebook/

Steve Kelley
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/04/video-interview-with-new-orleans-cartoonist-steve-kelley/

Mikhaela Reid and Jen Sorenson
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/07/video-interview-with-mikhaela-reid-and-jen-sorenson/

Tim Eagan
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/04/video-interview-with-tim-eagan-of-deep-cover/

Cam Cardow
http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/07/04/video-interview-with-canadian-cartoonist-cam-cardow/

Fall Deadlines

Deadlines, get your deadlines here! The first wave of deadlines for fall contests and books is fast approaching. Here’s what you want to know:

2010 BECY

Via Chuck Brooks: “It is time again to select and submit your five best cartoons of 2009 for Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 2010 Edition. Deadline for cartoon submissions: Monday September 21, 2009.

“If you submit electronically, send your five cartoons as an e-mail attachment to me at charlesbrooks@pelicanpub.com. Files should be a minimum of 300 dpi at 100 percent of cartoon size. Files may be sent in either TIF or JPG format, and as line art or gray scale, depending on the original. If you have technical questions, please contact Pelican’s production manager Terry Callaway at (504) 368-1175, ext. 320.

“If you choose not to submit electronically, please mail your five selections to me at Charles Brooks, Pelican Publishing Company, 1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, LA 70053.”

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2009 Berryman Award

The application deadline for the 2009 Clifford K. & James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons is 5 p.m. Monday, October 5, 2009. The competition is open to editorial cartoonists of newspapers and magazines whose work was published between Sept. 1, 2008 and Sept. 1, 2009. Complete details and entry form can be found here: http://www.nationalpress.org/info-url3520/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=235882