Legendary war cartoonist Bill Mauldin is being honored with a stamp from the United State Postal Service. The stamp gets released sometime this month. Mauldin’s cartoons, often featuring his characters Willie and Joe, were honest and supportive of the enlisted soldiers defending the country during World War II while making fun of the brass, which endeared him to millions of “regular guys”. They told real stories of the front lines and the difficulties our soldiers endured using humor, which comforted both the G.I.’s and the people back home who loved them.

I only met Mauldin once, at my first National Cartoonists Society Reubens in 1999 in San Antonio. By then he was ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease and in declining health, and he was difficult to talk to. It was obvious how much he was revered and loved by the cartoonists there, which was very moving when witnessed firsthand. I think it would have been something to have met him before his health problems robbed him of much of his identity. He passed away in 2003.

Congratulations to Bill Mauldin for the well deserved honor, and I am looking forward to getting one of these stamps.

David Paccia is the author of the interesting blog “David-Wasting-Paper“, which features interviews with cartoonists in the form of a series of survey questions. There has been a great run of terrific cartoonists interviewed on David’s site, but I’m afraid that run has come to an end. Yes, David has finally scraped the bottom of the barrel and has stooped to interviewing me for his blog. Looks like he redeems himself next with my friend Rick Stomowski (Soup 2 Nutz), but in the meantime he wears the yoke of shame.

However, do not let that dissuade you from visiting David’s Wasting Paper and reading the other 88 interviews worth reading!

The eternal fanboy question. Turns out (at least for now) in the context of capitalism Batman owns Superman.

Just days after the record shattering sale of Action Comics #1 for $1,000,000.00, a private collector has purchased a copy of Detective Comics #27, featuring the first appearance of “The Bat-Man”, for $1,075,500 at a Dallas auction through Heritage Auction Galleries.

According to the story, the seller originally bought the copy in the 1960’s for $100. Holy Compound Interest, Batman! Assuming he bought it in 1969, that’s about a 25.4% annal return on that investment over 41 years. Thomas Wayne would have been proud!

Cover art by Bill Janocha

I received a pleasant surprise in my mailbox yesterday… the newest issue of Stay Tooned! Magazine in all it’s hot-off-the-press glory. I also got a lot of pre-approved credit card offers, but they were considerably less thrilling. Still, anything addressed to me (and I count “Current Resident” as being addressed to me) in the mailbox in the middle of a Minnesota winter is something. When your mail is delivered by dogsled even the junk mail is welcome.

Stay Tooned! is far from junk mail, though… that is genuine “glad to see it” mail.

Publisher John Read continues his string of excellence with another great issue, featuring among other things:

• Profiles:
  • Jack and Carol Bender (Alley Oop)
  • Roz Chast (Gag Cartoonist- The New Yorker)
  • Jeff Koterba (Editorial Cartoonist)
  • Joe Bluhm (Caricaturist, animator, illustrator)
  • Justin Thompson (Mythtickle)
  • Mort Walker (duh… Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois)
• “Honey, I wanna Be a Cartoonist” by John Hambrock (The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee)
• “NCS Cartoonists USO Trip to the Middle East” by Bruce Higdon (Punderstatements)
• “Reflections of a Gag Writer” by Don Hagist (duh… Gag Writer)
• Regular contributions from R.C. Harvey, Scott Nickel and yours truly

It was particularly cool to see my buddy, the mega-talented Joe Bluhm, profiled in this issue.

As usual the magazine is a great read from cover to cover. I have been singing the praises of Stay Tooned! since it’s first issue and for good reason. John’s efforts are herculean and the results are really top notch. If you are either in the cartooning field, aspire to it or are just a fan and you do NOT have a subscription to Stay Tooned!, you are doing yourself a major disservice. If you are thinking “Oh, I can just go there and buy a back issue whenever I want” then think again… the entire runs of issues 1 thru 4 are SOLD OUT. Gone, vamoosed, poof. Go immediately to their website and subscribe so you do not miss out on another issue. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 (although that would be nice).

While Dick De Bartolo is not actually a monkey as depicted above (this was the only caricature I have drawn of him, hence the silly post title) he will no doubt be doing plenty of monkeying around on “Stu’s Show” today on Shokus Internet Radio.

If you are not familiar with Shokus Internet Radio, it’s a… wait for it…. radio station on the internet. Stu Shokus has a live broadcast on Wednesdays, and callers and e-mailers can pose questions to his guests who are “top celebrities from the world of television, both in front of and behind the cameras”. Writer extraordinaire Mark Evanier is a frequent guest

Today’s show will feature Dick De, who is not only a longtime writer for MAD Magazine but a writer for many classic TV game shows including “Match Game” and “To Tell the Truth”. The show will air today live from 4-6 P.M. Pacific Time, and you can call in with your questions and comments for Dick De toll free at (888) SHOKUS-5 or e-mail them at comments@shokusradio.com.

Dick De is an entertaining fellow, so it should be fun to hear. I don’t believe the show is accessible via podcast or “on demand” anywhere, but they do rebroadcast it at the same time during the week… but then of course you can’t call in and ask any questions, now can you?

A special thanks to my friend and fellow caricaturist Jim Batts for the heads up!

The nominees for the National Cartoonists Society’s highest honor, The Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year have been released to members for their vote. The nominees are:

• Stephen Pastis
• Dan Piraro
• Richard Thompson

Stephen Pastis is the creator of the popular comic strip Pearls Before Swine. Dan Piraro is the mastermind behind the syndicated daily panel cartoon Bizarro, and Richard Thompson writes and draws the syndicated strip Cul de Sac. This is Pastis’s second time on this list, Piraro’s eighth and the first for Thompson.

Nominees for the NCS divisional award categories will be announced sometime in March.