Comic Strips

The 2012 'Reuben' awards were given out by the NCS (National Cartoonists Society) on Saturday night, although only one is actually called the Reuben. The full list of winners is here, but Tom Richmond, best known for his work on MAD Magazine won the top spot, otherwise known as THE REUBEN AWARD for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. Richmond is a fairly prolific blogger, and has already recorded his initial thoughts:

We mentioned this in our official MoCCA report for Publishers Weekly, but if there is one must-read this week, it's The Cartoon Crier from The Center for Cartoon Studies. Distributed as a lovely free paper at MoCCA, you can now read it in Issu form at the link. But we must warn you. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT SAD. Because it will make you sad.

POLITICO's Matt Wuerker has wonthis year's Pulitzer Prize for cartooning, an award presented for "his consistently fresh, funny cartoons, especially memorable for lampooning the partisan conflict that engulfed Washington."

. Here are a selection of books due out this month. All of the information presented below are from publisher or distributor websites. ALL information is subject to change, and something which might ship this...

Yes, we know that there is only one Reuben Award, the big one, but for the sake of a headline, here are the NCS divisional nominees. This is the first time the NCS Awards have recognized webcomics, a welcome and inevitable move towards modernization. The choices — The Oatmeal, Penny Arcade and Scenes from a Multiverse (above)—aren't too groundbreaking but they are all good strips. The winners will be announced Memorial Day weekend at the annual NCS meeting, to be held this year in Las Vegas.

An anonymous critics has started a Shit My New Yorker Cartoons Tumblr, which parses the ineffable humor of New Yorker cartoons:

Fantagraphics has released the cover for Popeye Vol. 6, the final volume of their handsome reprint series of E.C. Segar's immortal Thimble Theater strips. We're eager to get this if only to finish selling out POPEYE on the back of the books. Great design, great strip—one of those "must haves" for every well-stocked comics library for sure.

Probably the most universally admired comic strip running right now is going on hiatus for a few weeks: via his blog, Richard Thompson announced a hiatus while he receives treatment for his Parkinson's Disease.

National Cartoonists Society president Tom Richmond announces a major, inevitable evolution of the comic strip with a new webcomics division for the Reuben Awards. The Reubens have traditionally honored the best in comic strips and illustration -- two artforms now mostly associated with Mad Men-era martinis and horn rim glasses on the "up to date" scale. Richmond's post has all the salient background info but here are the guidelines and the screening committee:

Tony Millionaire reposts this full page wonder from the LA Weekly when alt.comix strips were an important feature and people actually read alternative newspapers.

A new comic strip debuts nationwide (yes, newspapers are still being sold) and it's quite good!

New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff asks cartoonist Michael Maslin, and the results are two by James Thurber, a man who created many perfect cartoons. Although one of the picks is one of Thurber's best known, we'd like to spotlight the above, along with Maslin's analysis -- of course, analyzing any humor -- especially New Yorker cartoons -- is like programming your Garage Band to the sound of one hand clapping....but sometimes you have to try: