Coates recognizing a cartoon of mine would be an honor in any context, but putting me into Captain America is a particularly big deal for me. I’ve been a huge Marvel Comics fan since childhood. I’m still a comics nerd, as are many of my friends. So it baffled me how I could have missed this when it came out in 2021—until I realized what must have happened.

As you all no doubt know, Sharon Carter exists in the primary Marvel Universe (Earth-616). A canonical character like Carter knowing about my cartoons in 616 means that I exist as an established figure within the core Marvel canon—which, of course, makes me an active, named entity residing on the primary timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So the reason I didn’t notice that issue dropping is obvious: I had been snapped out of existence by Thanos.

I had assumed my lack of memories between 2018 and 2023 had more to do with cannabis legalization. But now I see that it was definitely Thanos, which also explains the dip in my income over those years and why I am so behind on everything.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to submit a batch of cartoons to the Daily Bugle.

The first contender in our Superhero Showdown is one of 50 previously unpublished cartoons from my new book I Am Going to Eat You… And Other Awkward Truths. It’s called Metadata.

And, since we can’t just have any challenger, we’re bringing back the winner of our very first Cartoon Combat, Me Fine.

If you would like a signed bookplate for your copy of my book, please send your mailing address and what you would like inscribed to paul@paulnoth.com, along with a screenshot of your order, if possible.

Noth Things is member-supported, so please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks!

Thank you for your patience during Cartoon Combat’s hiatus. It’s back this week and better, or possibly worse, than ever. To reward your loyalty, I’m going to mail you a present! Details below.

But first, my cartoon in this week’s New Yorker…

…has me wondering why I do so many about pantomime horses. Maybe it’s because they’re so much easier to draw than regular ones.

My first of the pantomime variety ran in the New Yorker way back in 2008:

Before you accuse me of cultural insularity, you should know I’m equally obsessed with Chinese dragons.

We’re having a five-way royal rumble this week, because I can’t decide which two of these are the best, which may mean they’re all good or they’re all terrible.

First up, we have Scaled Down.

Next up, we have Cards on the Table.

The third contender is called Sub.

Fourth we have Horseman.

And finally, Waiting Up.

And Now, Your Gift

As I may have mentioned, I have a beautiful hardcover collection of cartoons coming out on October 13th. Well, I would like to sign and personalize a copy for each Substack subscriber who buys one, by mailing you this cool signed bookplate!

Just send your mailing address and what you would like inscribed to paul@paulnoth.com. Should you include a screengrab of your preorder or some other proof of purchase? That would be great. Will I send you a signed bookplate without a proof of purchase? Probably, but I am liable to drop in on you in person and demand to see your book—which looks like this, by the way:

Noth Things is member-supported, like PBS, and look what happened to them. Help us avoid the same fate by becoming a paid subscriber. This will get you access to exclusive paid-subscriber content that’s so exclusive there hasn’t even been any yet. But there will be soon. The Substack algorithm demands it if you want to grow your account. So some paywalled content is in the works, though Cartoon Combat will remain free.

I dreaded doing this, but now I actually like it, because there’s genuine joy in my face at seeing how beautiful the book turned out. It has fifty of my best unpublished cartoons, which I’m thrilled to finally see in print—plus over 150 more, including two that originated right here in Cartoon Combat.

Speaking of which, where the hell is Cartoon Combat? It’s easily the most popular part of Noth Things, yet we haven’t had one in months.

Well, I’ve had a rough spring and summer. I’m grateful I took time off to spend with my dad in his final months. Since then, I’ve been helping my mom navigate the bereavement bureaucracy and helping my siblings produce an epic, unforgettable celebration of his life. My dad was a theater and film critic, so it’s only fitting that his sendoff was reviewed in Urban Milwaukee.

But the good news is that Cartoon Combat returns next week, better than ever! Plus, there will be lots of other fun features as we approach the big book launch in October.

In the meantime, it is available for preorder now at your favorite independent bookstore and your least favorite corporate behemoth.

Noth Things is now a year old, which means it’s renewal season. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or making sure your current paid subscription doesn’t lapse. Your support makes all of this work possible!

Regularly scheduled Noth Things will resume soon. Thank you for your patience.

You may have noticed that I have taken a short hiatus from Noth Things. This is because my father Dom Noth, was severely ill for the past two months. He passed away peacefully on Friday night, surrounded by his family. True to form, he remained as mentally sharp as ever, and he expressed gratitude for the chance to say his personal goodbyes to close friends and family members.

I was very close to my dad, and I am profoundly grateful that I was able to spend that time with him. I am also grateful that he started his own Substack about a year ago, which will now serve as a memoir of his remarkable life. I only wish he had had the time to write more entries. I intend to post some of the highlights of his long journalistic career on his Substack in the coming weeks.

Memorial tributes will run later this week in his two journalistic homes—the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Urban Milwaukee. In the meantime, I wanted to share a short obituary I wrote for him below.

Dominique Paul Noth

February 19, 1942 – June 26, 2026

Dominique Paul Noth, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on June 26, 2026, at the age of 84. He was the devoted husband of Martha Louise Noth, the proud father of nine children, and the grandfather of twelve. He served Milwaukee as a dedicated journalist and arts critic for over sixty years.

He was born in New York City to a family of newly arrived Holocaust refugees. He later attended Marquette University, where he found a passion for the stage as an actor and director for the university’s influential Teatro Maria.

In the late 1960s, his work began appearing regularly in The Milwaukee Journal. Over the next four decades, he became one of Wisconsin’s most respected film and drama critics, eventually serving as the paper’s arts editor and senior features editor. He was a founding figure of the American Theater Critics Association.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he also shared his love for cinema by teaching a popular course on film at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). Throughout his distinguished career as a critic, editor, and educator, Dominique interviewed major figures in film and theater, including Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Cary Grant, Bob Fosse, Steven Spielberg, Liza Minelli, Ron Howard and Rita Moreno.

From 2002 to 2013, he served as editor-in-chief of The Milwaukee Labor Press, where he reported extensively on labor and cultural issues, while also operating as the publication’s photographer, field reporter, and layout editor.

In 2012, he became the theater and culture critic for Urban Milwaukee, where his insightful reviews appeared regularly until just last month. Over the decades, his writing and criticism earned numerous honors, including multiple gold medals from The Milwaukee Press Club for Best Critic.

While many credit his nurturing attention with the growth and flourishing of the Milwaukee arts scene, he believed his most meaningful contribution was as a husband, father and grandfather. His dedication to the arts, community, and public service lives on in the many family members now grieving his loss.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Elena Fels-Noth; his brothers, Pierre and Jean Noth; and his daughter-in-law, Parnell Noth.

He is survived by his loving wife, Martha Louise Noth, and his children: Jeannie (Jim) Gaffigan; Felicia (David Skurnick) Noth; Paul Noth; Vincent (Jessica) Noth; Danielle Noth; Patrick Noth (Emilea Wilson-Noth); Maria Noth (Jason Michalski); Michelle (Aaron) McCready; and Elizabeth Noth (Rudy Behrens).

He is also survived by his sister, Malou Noth, and his twelve cherished grandchildren: Marre, Jack, Katie, Michael, Patrick, Isaiah, Asher, Maxine, Aiden, Lily, Mason, and Ozzie.

A celebration of life for Dominique Paul Noth will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, with a gathering and reception followed by a memorial tribute at 4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Dominique Paul Noth Memorial Fund in support of the arts, civic life, and community.

Noth Things will be back next week with our regularly scheduled cartoon content.

First up, it’s Sunbaked.

And the challenger, Floaties.

And now the May Tournament of Champions! First up, it’s Bi-Stable Curious.

The challenger is the winner of our Political Battle Royal: Monumental:

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First up, a gritty crime drama that I’m willing to develop into a prestige television series. It’s Big Tommy & Little Tony.

And the challenger—also available for adaptation for a modest, eight-figure sum: Pier Review.

On to the Semi Finals! First up, the most immature cartoon from last month’s Political Battle Royal: Monumental.

And the challenger, last week’s winner: Dr. Bear.

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I used to have a massive fear of doctors and hospitals. I would banish any thought acknowledging the phobia, terrified of setting off a recursive loop of worrying about worrying. But sometimes it was unavoidable—like when I sat in a doctor’s office waiting for the results of a brain MRI after sudden hearing loss.

To distract myself, I checked my phone. An email from my editor had the always-welcome “O.K.” as the subject line, meaning one of my roughs had sold. I believe it was this one:

“Another doctor cartoon?” I thought.

In those days, at least one in every five cartoons I sold was about doctors, hospitals, or death, even though only about one in ten of my submitted roughs covered those subjects.

I already knew I used humor to deflect from my fears. I could also see how subjects I had strong feelings about would have more salience with readers. But sitting in that waiting room, I realized something even weirder was going on: a creative tension between my conscious and unconscious minds.

My unconscious wanted to address and express all my repressed fears, while my conscious mind was mainly interested in creating funny cartoons. The doctor cartoons were a way for my unconscious to sneak notes past the prison guards.

I recalled another vertiginous hospital moment years earlier, when I was admitted for an emergency appendectomy. I remembered that this was my cartoon in The New Yorker that exact week:

When I had drawn that cartoon a few weeks prior, could my body have known something was going wrong with my appendix? Was it putting out a distress signal? Does that sound nuts?

Have you ever had a dream about looking for a place to relieve yourself, only to wake up and realize you urgently need to use the bathroom? Is it really so far-fetched to think artistic creation sometimes works the same way? Was my unconscious trying to let me in on the arrangement when it came up with this idea?

If you had asked me back then what I thought of doctors, I would have said I admired them greatly and that it’s about as noble a profession as one could have. Yet, in my cartoons, they’re usually portrayed as malevolent, insane idiots.

I think this reflects a repressed hostility over the unfairness of the doctor-patient power dynamic. After all, I’m not allowed to tell them that they’re about to die. Why should they have that power over me?

I no longer have a phobia of doctors and hospitals. I still draw cartoons about them—though these days, they hardly ever sell.

Today’s matchup is between two vintage, unpublished medical cartoons from the height of this fruitfully phobic era.

First up, it’s Dr. Bear:

And the challenger: Keepsies.

We will be back next week with the second May Semifinal. Thank you all so much for subscribing. Please consider becoming a paid member, if you can. Also, did you know I have a book coming out?

First up and in living color, it’s King and Country.

Next, an idea so juvenile it amazes me I even submitted it to the New Yorker: Monumental.

The third contender is called Armageddon Outta Here.

The fourth contestant will be known as General Compliance.

And finally, our last contender is called Perfect Prognosis.

Now that the clouds have passed, let’s step into May’s first Semifinal Match. First up, from our Duck/Rabbit Illusion showdown, it’s Bi-Stable Curious.

And the challenger, from last week’s contest, it’s Shell Game.

Thank you for reading Noth Things. To those of you already on a paid tier: you have my sincere thanks. If you haven’t yet made the jump but would like to help keep these cartoons coming, please consider upgrading your subscription here.

Twenty-one years in the making, this book contains over two hundred museum-quality cartoons. It features my funniest work from The New Yorker, alongside at least fifty of my best previously unpublished cartoons. I’d show you those now to prove their museum quality, but then they’d be published, and we can’t have that. Let’s just say they’re significantly better than the ones below, which didn’t even make the cut.

My magnificent publisher, Union Square, has crafted a beautiful, 224-page hardcover masterpiece that will be the pride of your bookshelf and envy of your utility shelves.

How can I guarantee “museum quality”? Because in January 2027, this book becomes a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. That’s right, these cartoons are so good, a major institution believes they can lure people to Wisconsin in January.

In all seriousness, I truly love this book. It’s a joy to see these cartoons—particularly the ones never before published—finally find a home in a physical edition. I’m glad they’re getting a proper debut in print instead of being dumped onto social media. (No offense, Substack.)

I spent much of last year mining my archives for the very best unpublished work to include in the book. Here are two wordless wonders—both featuring medical stretchers—that didn’t make the cut.

First up: Code of the West.

And the challenger: Shell Game.

Now, onto our Main Event: The April Tournament of Champions! We’re down to the best of the best.

In the first corner, we have: VR Driver.

And the challenger: Dock ID.

Pre-order “I Am Going to Eat You… And Other Awkward Truths,

Thank you all so much for subscribing. Please consider becoming a paid member, if you can. See you soon!

The “duck-rabbit illusion,” created by an unknown artist, first appeared in the German humor magazine Fliegende Blätter in 1892. It was later popularized by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his Philosophical Investigations and is what psychologists call a bi-stable (or multi-stable) percept.

These optical illusions fascinated me as a kid. Like most of my childhood obsessions, they began appearing in my cartoons almost from the start. Two unsuccessful early attempts to get the duck-rabbit into the New Yorker can be seen in today’s Cartoon Combat.

My first multi-stable percept cartoon made it into the magazine in August 2006. It featured the “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law” illusion—originally created for Puck by W.E. Hill in 1915—shown here chatting with her more famous contemporary, Charles Dana Gibson’s “Gibson Girl.”

It took over ten years before the Duck-Rabbit finally made its New Yorker debut in December 2014.

Then, in July 2017, both illusions teamed up:

A psychologist emailed me to suggest that the bedside lamp should have been the famous Rubin Vase illusion, effectively making the drawing the Avengers of multi-stable percepts. I decided that was a bridge too far, because the vase wouldn’t really serve the joke.

One of my favorite duck-rabbit cartoons won’t be found in the New Yorker or on this Substack; instead, it is among the fifty never-before-published cartoons in my forthcoming collection, I Am Going to Eat You… And Other Awkward Truths. I hope to officially announce the book soon, but in the meantime, here is a preview:

Our first contender in this all-duck-rabbit showdown is Animal Barber.

And our challenger—the implications of which I suggest you avoid over-analyzing—is Bi-Stable Curious.

Now onto our main event: our second April Semi-Final match. As luck would have it, our first contender features another favorite recurring character—Dock ID.

Our challenger is the winner of last week’s Dairy State Mashup—Badger Care.

Thanks for being part of Noth Things. To those of you already on a paid tier: you have my sincere thanks for supporting the work. If you haven’t yet made the jump but would like to help keep these cartoons coming, please consider upgrading your subscription here.

My childhood dream of a personal reign of terror can finally become a reality.

When I first heard the news, my actual reaction was to start rattling off Wisconsin artists more deserving than myself: Lynda Barry, Denis Kitchen, P.S. Mueller, Craig Thompson—the impressive list goes on. And since part of my decree is to “ensure the continued vitality of the comic art form,” I plan to profile, interview, and promote many of these great Wisconsin creators in these pages over the next—wait, how long am I doing this for? Three years?!

Oh, heavy lies the head that wears the cheese crown. If they expect me to reign terror for three whole years, I’d better pace myself. So, for now, let’s kick off my regime with a tour of the Dairy State as it has appeared in my work over the years: Madison, Port Washington, Waukesha, Sheboygan, Green Bay, and finally my home town of Milwaukee.

Since we have an all-Wisconsin fisticuffs this week, it’s only fitting that our first contender feature “Fighting Bob” La Follette himself, in Forward.

And the challenger—weighing in at more than is healthy—Badger Care.

Now, onto the April Semifinals. First up, the winner of our Easter match: Grocery Prices.

And the challenger, coming off a decisive victory over Asimov-bot: VR Driver.

Thank you all so much for subscribing and supporting my iron-fisted rule. Reigning terror does not come cheap, so please consider upgrading to a paid membership.

And with that, on behalf of the state of Wisconsin, I’ll letcha go.

That last one was a published in the Caption Contest, and I’m trying to remember what the original caption was. I want to say something like, “Would you like to testify before congress or after congress?” But that doesn’t quite make sense, given the setting.

First up in court cartoon showdown, we have Radical Departure.

For the challenger, this cartoonist returns to a familiar theme, with Dock ID.

Finally, Noth Things is honored to announce the winner of the March Tournament of Champions: it’s Lab Maze!

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The whole issue is excellent, including this striking cover by Christoph Neimann.

I’ve enjoyed the magazine’s Future Issues for decades, since back when the future was something we were aspiring to rather than trying to escape. Here are a few cartoons of Futures past.

Our first contender this week is Asimov-bot.

And the challenger… VR Driver.

Now on to the main event: the March Tournament of Champions. First up, after its victory over Plot Twist, we have Climate Migrant.

And our final challenger, fresh off its defeat of Barber, it’s Lab Maze.

Thank you all so much for subscribing. Please consider becoming a paid member, if you can. See you soon!

Our first contender is Grocery Prices.

And the challenger: Too Much Manna.

Semifinals: First up, it’s Barber.

And the challenger, Lab Maze.

Thank you so much for subscribing. A special thanks to all the paid subscribers.

“Go home, cheesehead!”

How did we respond?

We went home, which is what we’d been doing anyway.

This was, of course, before that slur underwent a pejorative semantic shift to denote an in-group solidarity. This allowed us to seize the narrative and—according to our professors of Cheesehead Theory—achieve some measure of collective justice.

My earliest baseball cartoon in the New Yorker, from 2007, is either a sly satire of that year’s doping scandals or a cheap shot at Cubs and Yankees fans.

I remember being thrilled when the magazine bought this next one in early 2015. I like to think the late Stanley Kubrick, himself an obsessive baseball fan, might even have approved.

Though Kubrick never personally reached out from the great beyond to offer an opinion, I did hear from two far more terrifying ghosts: the Grady twins themselves.

Lisa and Louise Burns, the identical twin actresses from Kubrick’s film, messaged me on Twitter to ask if I wanted to play. They requested two signed prints. In reply, I asked if I could include a third print for them to sign and mail back to me. They agreed. But, unlike with Danny Torrence, they never tossed my baseball back. Well, what else could I expect from a pair of malevolent apparitions?

Later that year, the magazine published this one.

And who should reach out but the legendary Chicken himself. Ted Giannoulas emailed appreciatively and inquired about a signed print. Again, I asked if I could include a second print for him to sign and mail back. He cheerfully agreed.

I didn’t realize until writing this very article that, this time, I was the one who flaked. Apparently, I simply forgot to mail the San Diego Chicken his print. Here I am pointing fingers at the Grady twins when I’m just as bad.

I emailed Ted right away and I’m pleased to report that he was very gracious about my ten years of forgetfulness and still wants the print. I guess you don’t become the world’s most famous chicken without also being a pretty nice guy.

One of Ted’s mascot colleagues was the subject of this cartoon in 2019:

This time, I didn’t hear from any ghosts or chickens, but rather from the sports apparel company Phillygoat. They asked for a color version to license for t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise. However, they weren’t quite as enthusiastic about the second idea I pitched them:

But we will give that drawing its chance at greatness, in today’s…

A triple-header this week, in honor of Opening Day. After Hello Gritty, our second contender this week continues our theme of foam rubber novelty sports items. It’s called Number One.

And for our final challenger, let’s bring back the Grady twins, who have haunted my cartoons for decades: it’s Lab Maze.

Finally, the main event: our first semifinal of the month. I wish I could come up with a clever, alliterative term to capture the craziness of a March bracket competition, but I’m drawing a blank. First up, after a slim victory over Abstract Extract, it’s Plot Twist.

And the challenger, from our Battle of the Robins, it’s Climate Migrant.

Thank you so much for subscribing. And a special thanks to my paid subscribers, without whom Noth Things would be nothing at all. See you next week!

April 14th Update:

The Chicken comes through to give this piece a happy ending.

Early on in my cartooning career, that felt like an accusation—as if a prosecutor had me cornered on the witness stand: “Where was your brain, on the night in question, when it came up with this drivel?”

The more I fumbled for an answer, the guiltier I sounded. Imagine trying to explain the “meaning” of something like this:

Then in 2010, the following cartoon prompted so many “I-don’t-get-its” that I decided to plead a blanket Fifth to all future questions. I resolved never to explain another one again.

But simply saying, “I never explain them,” sounded rude and pretentious. So I would pivot to: “Sometimes I don’t get them either.”

This felt true, but it sounded like a dodge—and maybe a bit pretentious in its own right, as though I were implying my work was deep and mysterious, which would be a bold claim to make about cartoons as dumb as those in question.

My favorite cartoons are both funny and inexplicable. That’s the honest truth, and yet it felt dishonest to tell people that I don’t always get them myself.

Then recently, a reader in India messaged to inform me that one of my cartoons was used on the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT), an intensely competitive entrance exam for elite MBA programs. Here—from a test, mind you, by and for people smarter than me—is the question:

I read those multiple-choice options with a growing feeling of elation as I realized there’s a better-than-average chance that I would get the answer… wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit this as scientific proof beyond a reasonable doubt: I truly do not get my own cartoons. I cannot tell you how liberating this is.

This week’s competitors are both cartoons I find funny, but for reasons I cannot put into sworn testimony. Our first contender is called Practice.

And the challenger, which is called Barber.

Finally, we are proud to announce the winner of our February Tournament of Champions. Beating out Keytarist on the Roof—a personal favorite—it’s Private Detective!

Thank you so much for subscribing—especially those making financial contributions. I really hope to build Noth Things into a thriving sanctuary for funny and original cartoons. Your contributions are what make that possible.

I’ve drawn many “first robin of spring” cartoons, but have I ever published one?

An over-reliance on Google has left me with digital amnesia. So we’ll need to run a search:

cartoons = Archive.search(query=”noth robin”)

Okay, wrong robin. Also, it’s not a very robin-positive message. Let’s try again:

cartoons = Archive.search(query=”noth robin”, exclude=[”batman”])

Nope. Let’s refine a little more:

cartoons = Archive.search(query=”noth robin”, exclude=[”batman”,”hood”])

Yeah, we’re definitely moving in the wrong direction. Those last two were not only wrong but English, so even if they had been birds they would still be a different robins from those in my yard.

See? That European robin is a bit of a fancy-pants compared to our good-old workwear clad, rust-belted, American robin. Our robin looks like he has to show up for work at 4 a.m. because he doesn’t have healthcare.

Okay, let’s try this one more time:

cartoons = Archive.search(query=”noth robin”, exclude=[”batman”,”hood”,”pooh”,”christopher”])

Finally! Now, that’s an American robin. Work-hard, play-hard. The ones in my yard sound like they’re partying at least as heard as that robin is.

This week’s showdown is between two robin cartoons, and it’s up to you to decide which is truly “first.” Our opening contender, taking an ecological approach, is Climate Migrant.

And the challenger, weighing in at least several ounces, it’s Medal Podium:

Now, on to our much awaited February Tournament of Champions! First up, after narrowly defeating Coma Patient, it’s Keytarist on the Roof.

Followed by the winner of last week’s semifinal bout, Private Detective.

We will be back next week to crown the Champ. Until then, thank you so much for being a subscriber—especially those whose financial contributions keep this bird soaring.

I’m taking Jean’s lead. At the end of every month, one randomly selected paid subscriber will receive not just any old doodle but their choice of any original drawing from Cartoon Combat, so long as it’s available and not crumbling to pieces, which can happen to the best of us.

My pencil roughs for The New Yorker can sell for $700–$1,000, so surely our Cartoon Combat contenders must be worth at least a couple of hundred, right? Plus, given how sickly I’ve been this year, their value could skyrocket at any moment.

If you missed out on buying a Picasso in 1905, you don’t want to make the same mistake twice.

Imagine how your daily life will be ennobled by the presence of such beauty in your own home.

Our contenders this week are all about art and beauty. First up, we have Plot Twist.

And in the opposite corner, this week’s challenger, Abstract Extract.

Onward and upward to the semifinals! First up, the winner of our State of the Stack bout, it’s Jumpstart.

And the challenger is last week’s winner, Private Detective.

Thank you much for subscribing. And special thanks to my paid subscribers, without whom Noth Things would be nothing. See you next week!