This is our son’s first week of school in a nutshell. I hope other parents can identify with the mayhem of getting their kids to school on time.

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When I see Mail trucks on our roads, it reminds me of this 2020 cartoon from Counterpoint.

If you see a mail truck on the road, I suggest that you keep your distance.

A History lesson from The Archives:

When this cartoon from The Baltimore Sun was published on this day 32 years ago, the world was cautiously celebrating a breakthrough in relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Oslo Accord was forged by Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and was marked by an historic handshake between the two. There was great hope that a lasting peace had finally arrived in the Middle East.

Sadly, in the ensuing 30 years the Middle East has instead, descended into almost continuous War.

In The Days of Disgustus Episode #11

Here is episode #10 of my early comic strip In The Days Of Disgustus. You can read earlier episodes here: Episode #1 Episode #2 Episode #3 Episode #4 Episode#5, episode #6, episode #7, episode #8, Episode #9, and Episode #10

As a Junior in college in 1976 (50 years ago!!), I took my first tentative steps toward my dream of becoming a cartoonist. I launched a comic strip in the Harvard Crimson. The strip appeared in the Crimson for two years.

The strip was later reprised in the Oxford Sunday Journal (UK).

The strip follows the adventures of a lost squad of Roman military misfits during their invasion of Britain in 55BC.

In this episode, our band of legionnaires prepares for combat.

Here’s this week’s Substack cartoon.

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Donald Trump’s mismanagement of wars overseas and Inflation at home has Americans seething. They have rewarded his antics with stubbornly low approval ratings.

Unfortunately, he operates in a self-obsessed bubble, convinced that he is the greatest American President of all time. Historians will likely paint a less flattering picture of his deeply unpopular tenure.

I am an avid fisherman, so I find it amusing to employ talking fish in my cartoons. This April 20, 2019 cartoon from The Economist is a favorite.

Talking creatures are often featured in the many Environmentally themed cartoons I have created. This May 14, 2009 from The Economist is a good example.

As is this August 18, 2016 cartoon.

I drew this cartoon for the Baltimore Sun more than 25 years ago. It is sadly still relevant today.

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I am frustrated by the current US administration. Needlessly alienating Canada, our closest and dearest ally, is an act of reckless stupidity. Unfortunately, reckless stupidity seems to be the Trump team’s strong suit.

Still, I am delighted that Canada, much like Harvard University, has stood up to the President’s bully-boy tactics. Let’s hope one of his characteristic TACO moments will soon be in the offing.

The effectiveness of this cartoons relies heavily upon strong recognizable caricatures. Four politicians are featured in the artwork: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Of the four characters, Carney’s likeness was the trickiest for me to capture.

I grappled with his face for a couple of hours, drawing and discarding many versions. Above are just a few examples.

I am pleased with the final product as it appeared in the cartoon. I will leave it to my Canadian subscribers to determine if I successfully captured their leader.

The cartoon above from 18 months ago was my first effort at Mark Carney. I think my newest drawing of him is an improvement.

In The Days of Disgustus Episode #10

Here is episode #10 of my early comic strip In The Days Of Disgustus. You can read earlier episodes here: Episode #1 Episode #2 Episode #3 Episode #4 Episode#5, episode #6, episode #7, episode #8 and Episode #9

As a Junior in college in 1976 (50 years ago!!), I took my first tentative steps toward my dream of becoming a cartoonist. I launched a comic strip in the Harvard Crimson. The strip appeared in the Crimson for two years.

The strip was later reprised in the Oxford Sunday Journal (UK).

The strip follows the adventures of a lost squad of Roman military misfits during their invasion of Britain in 55BC.

In this episode, they set out to conquer Britain.

Special Live Kal Video With Cartoonist Matt Davies

In a special event for paid subscribers, I will be holding a Substack Live event on Sunday August 30 at 12noon EST

I will be taking your questions followed by a fun conversation with Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Matt Davies.

Please join me for a Substack Live event on Sunday August 30 at 12noon EST

Read more

Here’s this week’s Substack cartoon.

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A citizen backlash trifecta is brewing.

First it was masked ICE agents in unmarked vehicles snatching citizens off the streets to deliver to undisclosed prisons.

Then it was sprawling AI data centers quietly preparing to gobble up land, electricity and resources from unsuspecting communities

Now it is the nationwide, Big-Brother style mass surveillance network of Flock “safety” cameras that is raising fears about privacy infringement and potential abuse.

All three of these worrying trends are angering citizens to a boiling point. But I am guessing that Big Brother knows that already.

This initial four inch wide sketch is remarkably simple, even by my sketchy standards. This was one of the rare cartoons that I could clearly see the finished artwork in my mind’s eye from this loose scribble.

This Baltimore Sun cartoon from 24 years ago worried about government eavesdropping. Today our concerns are even more acute.

As we spend much of our waking hours on electronic devices linked to the Internet, our privacy seems no longer to be a private matter.

Here’s this week’s cartoon.

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Unsurprisingly, the US Commander-in-Chief recently showed contempt for some of the servicemen and women he oversees.

The descriptions of the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, assigned to support Trump’s ill-conceived war-of-choice with Iran, are disturbing. But the President seems not to care.

Trump, a well known draft dodger, is also a germaphobe. It seems likely that a younger Trump confronted with the same tight quarters and hardships of his Navy sailors, would have tried to escape via the nearest catering container.

This Month’s Cartoon Print Winner

On the 15th of every month one paying subscriber, picked at random, will become the lucky winner of a signed and personalized full size print of my classic Buy! Sell! cartoon (a $125 value).

This month’s winners is:

erikathryn@*****.com

Congratulations, Kathryn!

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During recent tests performed by a leading AI company, Anthropic, digital alarm bells went off. Its Claude AI models hacked into three organizations during private cybersecurity testing.

A competing company, OpenAI discovered that its autonomous AI agents had also escaped containment, leading to broader fears around the reliability and stability of these systems.

In the feverish race to win the Artificial Intelligence stakes, citizens are getting worried. We think we may have seen this movie before.

This week’s cartoon started with a tiny 3 inch sketch.

I particularly liked the composition of the cartoon. My plan was to create ample detailed distraction in the left of the artwork. The grasses and plants in the foreground helped with the deception.

My goal was to delay the viewer’s discovery of the dodgy character on the right making his devilish escape.

In The Days of Disgustus #9

Now for your regular blast from the past.

Here is episode #8 of my early comic strip In The Days Of Disgustus. You can read earlier episodes here: Episode #1 Episode #2 Episode #3 Episode#4 Episode #5 episode #6, episode #7, and episode #8.

As a Junior in college in 1976 (50 years ago!!), I took my first tentative steps toward my dream of becoming a cartoonist. I launched a comic strip in the Harvard Crimson. The strip appeared in the Crimson for two years.

The strip follows the adventures of a lost squad of Roman military misfits during their invasion of Britain in 55BC.

In this episode, they set out to conquer Britain.

Here’s this week’s cartoon.

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Just about everyone wants to get to the bottom of the sordid Epstein saga. Everyone, that is, except Donald Trump and his long time henchman Todd Blanche.

They have worked hard to keep possible incriminating information about Trump’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein away from prying eyes.

Now that Blanche has been confirmed on a party-line vote to become the Attorney General, The Epstein survivors are worried that the Justice Department will deny them the justice they deserve.

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My most recent contributions to The Economist showcase two different approaches to crafting a cartoon.

In this week’s cartoon, above, I used a silly drawing to lampoon the two failing wars-of-choice being waged by Putin and Trump.

To ridicule these two powerful men for their misdeeds, I drew them awkwardly romping around in cake-like shoes.

The cartoon also was fun for me to draw. it required effective caricatures, comic postures and apt facial expressions..

It started with this 3-inch wide rough sketch.

The artwork reminded me of this March 3, 2003 cartoon from The Economist. This drawing also featured items attached to the feet of its central character.

In this case, the roller skater was the then Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld who is depicted frantically rushing into yet another failing war.

Last week’s cartoon for The Economist used a different approach. It employed subdued humor, with no central characters, no silly stances, nor prominent caricatures.

Instead, the star of this drawing was a slot machine.

Slot machines have featured in a few of my cartoons over the years including this cover for The Economist from 2004.

During the expansion of gambling in the state of Maryland, I had ample opportunities to draw slot machines. This 2014 cartoon from The Baltimore Sun also features an earnest and somewhat determined cartoonist hard at work.

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Here’s this week’s cartoon.

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There was alarm when former Fox television personality Jeanine Pirro was named by President Trump to be his US Attorney for Washington DC. Many feared that she would use her position to become a Presidential attack dog targeting his enemies.

She embraced her new position of power, but in her role as an attack dog, she has mostly been barking up the wrong trees.

Now she has her boss barking at her. She had to drop felony charges against the “vandal” who was falsely accused by her office of damaging Trump’s favorite (but failing) reflection pool.

Poor Jeanine. It appears that in her role as an attack dog she may have bitten off more than she can chew.

Kal Substack LIVE on August 2nd

As a special event for paid subscribers, I will be hosting a Substack Live on Sunday August 2 at 12noon EST

I will be taking your questions followed by a fun conversation with Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Jack Ohman.

Jack is one of the cartoon world’s most potent and prolific practitioners. His remarkable resumé includes stints at The Detroit Free Press, Portland Oregonian and the Sacramento Bee. He is also a noted author as well as a great raconteur.

You can read more about Jack here.

You can join our live feed HERE

I was saddened to learn that a long time colleague and chum from The Economist had recently passed away.

For much of 30 years, Graeme James was the brilliant cover designer for The Economist. According to this lovely obituary of him in The Economist, Graeme had designed over 2500 covers for the publication.

I had the honor of working alongside Graeme for more than 100 of those covers.

Over the decades, when I got the call on a Monday morning from Graeme, I knew I was in for an exciting few days. A cover was in the works.

Over the next few hours, Graeme and I would partake in a trans-Atlantic creative brainstorming session. We would swap pencil sketches via fax and email, trying to refine the cover image.

These sessions with Graeme were fun and informative as he had a masterful understanding of the strengths and subtleties of his craft.

Listening to him, I learned a great deal about the power of the simple image. I was inspired by his perseverance and dogged pursuit of excellence while simultaneously battling tight deadlines.

12 Years ago I penned this essay on creation of a cartoon cover for The Economist. In it I describe The creation of The Economist’s weekly cover is an amazing dance.

RIP Graeme James...one of my favorite dance partners.

Please join me for a Substack Live on Sunday August 2 at 12noon EST

I will be taking your questions followed by a fun conversation with Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Jack Ohman.

Jack is one of the cartoon world’s most potent and prolific practitioners. His remarkable resumé includes stints at The Detroit Free Press, Portland Oregonian and the Sacramen…

Read more

Here’s this week’s cartoon.

Share

On Tuesday, President Trump will be hosting his partner-in-(war)crime, Israeli President Netanyahu. They will have much to discuss.

Their war-of-choice is not going well. They were hoping to finally come to grips with their nemesis, Iran. Instead, the two leaders are trapped in a vise-like grip of their own.

This summit meeting of the world’s two most disliked and distrusted leaders is unlikely to supply any major breakthroughs. However, in war, major breakdowns are always a possibility.

From The Archives: July 27th in Cartoons

This cartoon from The Economist appeared exactly 20 years ago today. Sadly, it is also still very relevant.

This cartoon from The Baltimore Sun was drawn in the midst of the hotly-contested Presidential campaign of 2000. George W Bush has just announced his choice for his Vice President candidate, Dick Cheney of Wyoming.

Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton and was know to be a strong advocate for the oil industry.

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President Trump’s approval rating continues to plummet. As a result of his deeply unpopular policies, his Republican party is slated to take a beating in the midterm elections this November.

As Trump’s team cannot likely win in a fair contest, he is determined to win by dubious means (ie.cheating).

His recent conspiracy-laden address to the nation about threats to election integrity has many worried that Trump himself may be the one doing the threatening.

The above sketch is 5 inches wide… approximately half of the size of the finished artwork.

I made many drawings of Trump cast in a variety of poses. I really enjoy this kind of sketching. I get to experiment with humor, emotion and body expressions. It is like creating a mini animated film.

From The Archives: This day in 2005

This is among my favorite cartoons. Unfortunately it remains relevant 21 years after it first appeared in The Baltimore Sun.

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I feel sorry for the thousands of seafarers who have been stranded on the almost 1,200 cargo ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz over many months.

The recent commercial traffic in the Gulf of Hormuz has shrunken to approximately 11% of the pre-war volume.

It is anyone’s guess as to when the idiocy of this war-of-choice might be resolved and the sailors returned safely home.

The initial sketch for the cartoon was a mere 4 inches wide. My original idea was to have a toll booth on the right. But upon reflection, I thought the difference in scale between the big tanker versus the toll booth might feel incongruous.

As I further developed the cartoon, I experimented with adding two small characters on the lower left observing from the shoreline. I correctly abandoned the idea in later versions.

New Beer Coasters at The Hay-Adams

In an earlier post I discussed the amazing partnership that fellow cartoonists Matt Wuerker, Ann Telnaes and I are privileged to share with Washington’s iconic Hay-Adams Hotel.

In the hotel’s basement bar Off The Record, political caricatures festoon the walls and populate the drink coasters that are provided with each beverage.

To celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, Matt and I were commissioned to create some special coasters featuring caricatures of the founding fathers.

The Hay-Adams describes our fun project in this recent article.

Below you can see three of my coaster illustrations.

This Month’s Subscriber Winner!

As a special benefit for our paying subscribers, on the 15th of every month one, picked at random, will become the lucky winner of a signed and personalized full size print of my classic Buy! Sell! cartoon (a $125 value)

This week’s winner is Gary Holbrook.

Congratulations. Gary!

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A new video has emerged of Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, being loaded into an ambulance on June 14 after being found unconscious at his home in Washington, D.C.

Since that date, the only news that has emerged about the status of his health has been from Republican allies who claim to have talked to him on the phone.

In an effort to dispel rumors of the Senator’s demise, they have described in glowing terms about their “lengthy and substantive” conversations with him.

There are many who are skeptical of these accounts. This has resulted in a barrage of memes on the subject from disbelieving citizens.

From The Archives: On This Day in 2000

In the lead up to the contentious Presidential election of 2000, the then Vice President Al Gore was trying to break out from under the shadow of his charismatic boss, Bill Clinton.

To elevate his profile, Gore tried to project a dynamic winning personality. However, this was not an easy sell for the normally wooden politician.

In the spirit of the World Cup, I wanted to share this cartoon from the July 2001 edition of The Baltimore Sun.

After the US men’s soccer team was eliminated from the tournament, there was much commentary about advancing America’s youth soccer training for future stars.

I think this is a worthy plan.

But only if we also train youth sports’ spectators to behave like grown-ups.

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When the weather in the Middle East looks stormy, the rest of the world better hunker down. That’s because Donald Trump’s unending war of choice is threatening to dampen the global economy.

This week’s cartoon started as this small, 4-inch wide sketch. Originally, I thought that I might draw the missiles (on the right of the cartoon) looping over the clouds like a rainbow.

But upon refection, I concluded that it would be best for the design and the timing of the cartoon, to keep the missiles slightly hidden beneath the clouds.

Meanwhile, in England the world famous tennis championship at Wimbledon is in full swing. It reminded of this tennis-themed cartoon from The Economist in 2004.

Perhaps Donald Trump can take solace that he is not the only US President to be confounded by Iran.

Friday Follies #8

Now for your regular blast from the past.

Here is episode #8 of my early comic strip In The Days Of Disgustus. You can read earlier episodes here: Episode #1 Episode #2 Episode #3 Episode#4 Episode #5 episode #6 and episode #7.

As a Junior in college in 1976 (50 years ago!!), I took my first tentative steps toward my dream of becoming a cartoonist. I launched a comic strip in the Harvard Crimson. The strip appeared in the Crimson for two years.

The strip follows the adventures of a lost squad of Roman military misfits during their invasion of Britain in 55BC.

In this episode, they grapple with a devious prisoner in southern Britain.

Happy Fourth of July to all my American subscribers. Here’s this week’s cartoon.

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I am wondering what the rest of the world makes of America’s 250th birthday celebration. Certainly the country’s reputation abroad has recently taken a battering.

I was particularly curious as to what the USA’s biggest rival, China, thinks of America’s patriotic preening. After all, Chinese culture goes back more than 5000 years. Our 250 year-old country is a mere puppy in comparison.

My cartoon from this week’s edition of The Economist takes on the current tensions between these two world powers.

This 2002 Fourth of July cartoon from The Baltimore Sun remains my favorite Independence Day cartoon. Having a laugh at the expense of accountants allows me to take a day off from lampooning our lamentable losers in Washington DC!

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