I’ve said before that editorial cartoons were never an influence on me growing up, as I never paid attention to them, and for the most part that’s true. But there was one huge exception, and that was a cartoon drawn by Paul Fell in 1990 for what was then known as the Lincoln Journal.

Peru State College had won the NAIA Division II national championship, beating Westminster (PA) College at UNO’s Al Caniglia Field. This was 20 years after Nebraska had won a national championship and still several years before their winning ways would resume.

For the people in and around Peru, this cartoon could not have been more perfect. I remember having it hanging in my locker at school. You’d see it hanging in store windows and on the library bulletin board. This particular photo is of a copy I had, which I colored with Crayola markers and hung up in my bedroom (I was 12). It’s still hanging there in my parents’ house, stained by almost 20 years of sticky tack.

It was most definitely the first editorial cartoon that captured my attention. If anyone reading this blog — cartoonist or reader — remembers the first cartoon that really grabbed you, I’d love to hear about it.

I drew the cover of today’s Omaha Reader, which hits newsstands this afternoon. I happen to have several of the stages saved, so I thought I’d share them with you folks.
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from the Omaha Reader

from the Lincoln Journal Star

I realized yesterday that the rights to Night Knight — the serialized comic book that ran in the Journal Star back in the spring of 2005 — have reverted back to me.

The Journal Star never did choose to run a sequel or compile the series into book format (a few options that were being thrown around at one point), and the series never ran online, so I guess I’m just wondering if now, almost exactly three years later, there’s any interest in reading it.

If there is enough interest, I figure what I’d do is set up a separate comic strip page, sort of like what I’ve got set up at PlanarianMan.com, and run a page a day like it originally ran.

So I guess let me know in the comments here if you’d like to see the original series online. It started in April 2005, so maybe I could have it ready to go for the 3 year anniversary.

from the San Diego Reader

In case you miss the Jeff Koterba criticism that used to be so regular on this site, The Bad Cartoonist has taken up the cross. Koterba sent Bad Cartoonist virtually the same cease-and-desist letter he sent me (though much more polite; he didn’t accuse BC of being creepy and obsessed).

But BC articulates the irony quite well.

I am very surprised that cartoonists are not more aware of copyright law. Heck, we rip off copyrights all the time but, heaven forbid, someone posts a sub-par cartoon and makes some comments concerning one’s ability to draw or execute a decent joke and they want to call out the cavalry. This might be news to some of you but parody isn’t ours alone.

I think we’re all just a little sensitive. Sure, it’s ok to rip people to shreds day-in and day-out from behind our comfortable drawing desks. But as soon as someone else does it to us, we have to get our pantaloons in a bunch.

Koterba definitely isn’t the only one to get defensive. Justin Bilicki, one of my very favorite cartoonists out there, recently put up a cartoon response to BC. As evidenced by the comments, I disagree with the point of the cartoon but still think it’s fantastic.

The comments on BadCartoonist.com are the most entertaining source of reaction (as one would probably expect). It’s there that you can find choice exchanges like this:

ANONYMOUS COMMENTER: At least Jeff Stahler has the balls to sign his commentary and not hide behind anonymity.

NICK ANDERSON: Hey Einstein, Why the hell would you post an anonymous comment criticizing anonymity? Are you irony-impaired?

from the Omaha Reader

UPDATE!!! Strangely enough, Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax passed away today.

from the Lincoln Journal Star