When an event occurs that is as horrendous and heart-breaking as the recent shootings at Fort Hood, it’s often a newspaper’s editorial cartoonist who is best able to capture the pulse of a community’s feelings in a single, powerful image.

I’ll be posting cartoons about this tragic event as they come in from cartoonists throughout the country.

UPDATED 5:59 p.m.

By Steven Breen - San Diego Union-Tribune

By Kirk Walters, The Toledo Blade

By Gary Varvel - Indianapolis Star

UPDATED 4:45 p.m.

By Mike Keefe - Denver Post (Click to purchase)

By Bruce Plante - Tulsa World

By J.D. Crowe - Press-Register (Alabama)

By John Sherffius - Boulder Camera

By Jimmy Margulies - The Record (New Jersey)

By Dave Granlund - PoliticalCartoons.com (Click to purchase)

By Jim McCloskey - The News Leader (Virginia)

By Randy Bish - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Click to purchase)

A cartoon war could be brewing after a Seattle cartoonist created waves in South Carolina for a cartoon that some claim stereotypes southern workers.

Cartoon by David Horsey of SeattlePi.com. (Click to enlarge)

“How many non-union South Carolinian workers does it take to attach a wing to a Boeing airplane?” SeattlePi.com cartoonist David Horsey asks in a recent cartoon as he shows several rednecks standing on top of one another in an attempt to repair an airplane with duct tape.

“Five … and a dog.”

Horsey’s cartoon is a reaction to Boeing choosing South Carolina for it’s second manufacturing line for the 787 Drealiner, but it’s the cartoonist inclusion of several elements, such rebel flag, a moonshine apparatus and a noose that have seemed to draw the most impact from readers.

“It’s sad that states have resorted to child-like insults because of a certain or any company choosing one state over another,” Kelly Duncan, of Ellenboro, N.C., told Fox Carolina. “I don’t believe Seattle has lost as many jobs as we have, so quit complaining.”

Horsey told Fox he was obviously making a joke and playing on regional rivalries in the cartoon.

“I’m sure that workers in South Carolina will do a fine job,” Horsey said.

A cartoon reaction by South Carolinian Mike Beckom. (Click to enlarge)

Mike Beckon, a cartoonist from Greenwood, South Carolina, sent us in a reactionary cartoon featuring a southern worker on the phone after fixing an airplane.

“Yep, I got her purrin’ like a kitten. Just’ hadda take out them whiney, unionized know-it-all yankees…” the worker says.

“I think escalating games of cross-regional cartoon dozens would be a fine way to bring some heat back to the editorial page, and I think it’s great that Horsey went knives out on this one,” wrote prominent comics blogger Tom Spurgeon.

“The only argument I can see against it is that going with the regional insults might obscure the non-union point rather than buttress it.”

UPDATE: The Palmetto Scoop has posted some news accounts of the “Battle of Boeing Cartoons” between SeattlePi.com cartoonist David Horsey, and the Scoop’s cartoonist Mike Beckon.

Jason Dubrowski artwork in defense of accused murderer Scott Roeder (top) bears a striking resemblance to the work of syndicated cartoonist Gary McCoy.(Click to enlarge)

eBay has made the decision to remove an auction created by supporters of Scott Roeder, who is charged with the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller.

Officials from eBay said they would “not allow listings that promote or glorify violence, hate, racial or religious intolerance, or items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.”

One of the pieces of artwork supplied by Jason Dubrowski, friend and fellow inmate of Roeder, is strikingly similar to a political cartoon by cartoonist Gary McCoy, who is syndicated by Cagle Cartoons.

The piece in question features a scene full of graves labeled ‘aborted baby’ with a newspaper that has blown in with the headline, ‘Late-term abortion doctor killed. Pres. Obama “shocked and outraged.”‘

It is also signed by Roeder.

In a note on one of the eBay listings, Roeder seems to admit that Dubrowski stole the idea for the drawing:

“His name is Jason Dubrowski and is one of the best artists I’ve seen in here… The drawing of the field of babies tombstones with the newspaper headline comments of Obama was done after a Christian newsletter printed this illustration which a lady in Valley Center sent to me.”

Regina Dinwiddie, the organizer of the Roeder auction, was surprised by eBay’s decision to remove it.

“Actually I thought [eBay] was the last bastion of free enterprise in America, where normal people could put things up for sale,” she told Talking Points Memo. “I see they do have a political agenda.”

I guess it’s also American to steal someone’s artwork and make a profit from it.

Talking Points Memo has a collection of the various pieces of art that were being auctioned off.

UPDATE: Lindsey Roeder, the ex-wife of Scott Roeder, sent an email to artist Gary McCoy about the situation:

“My son and I have received 2 copies of the June 2, 2009 political cartoon that you drew. Scott
sent me a copy of the cartoon and then a few weeks later sent my son another copy of it. Perhaps they had your permission to use it and this is all moot. However, if you did not give them permission to use it then they plagiarized your work.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Roeder”

Gary did not give them permission to use his work, and says he would never be an advocate of such violence, saying that “any legitimate pro-lifer condemns the killing of abortion doctors just as we do that of innocent unborn babies.”

Drew Litton will be re-united in Chicago with former Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, who was the butt of the joke in many of the artist's cartoons.

The Chicago Tribune suddenly has a taste for cartoons.

After stealing former Birmingham News cartoonist Scott Stantis for their op-ed page, Drew Litton, the former sports cartoonist at the non-defunct Rocky Mountain News, has been picked up to provide local sports cartoons as part of their retooled sports section named ‘Chicago Sports.’

“I’m so honored to be given a chance to appear in one of the nations greatest newspapers,” Litton said. “I signed my name tonight with Chicago Tribune next to it. I still can’t believe it. Please. I beg you, do not wake me up.”

Litton’s first Chicago cartoon, which will be called “The Main Event,” appears on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Here’s the full Q&A:

Q. How did you end up doing comics for The Tribune?

A. I sent out some e-mails back in August to a few select Sports Editors around the country and pitched them the idea of doing a locally themed sports cartoon for their section,  like the ones I had done for the Rocky Mountain News for over 25 years. The Tribune showed interest.

Q. What will the focus of the cartoon be?

A. Local sports like the Cubs, White Sox and the Bulls and Blackhawks. I think maybe Bears stuff too but I’m not sure. I’ll also do college stuff like Illinois, Northwestern and Notre Dame. I really think local sports cartoons connect with readers in an amazing way.  I’ve done cartoons in Denver that people will talk to me about years later. One as far back as 1984. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast.

Q. Is there a set format your cartoons will appear in?

A. Yeah. It’s going to be in a square frame with great flexibility to do a lot within the space. It’s on page two of a new Saturday section. The cartoon will also be on their website every Saturday. I’ll put it up on mine probably on Sundays.

Q. What will the frequency of the cartoon be? Any indication that it could lead to more work or possibly a staff job?

A. Once a week for now. But a guy can dream can’t he? The Tribune would be the dream job for a sports cartoonist. Chicago is a fantastic sports town.

Q. Will The Tribune be using your work for the newspaper exclusively, or will you be doing any work for their Web site (blogging, animation, etc) as well?

A. For now just the one a week on Saturdays in print and on their Web site. But I’ll be ready to do anything they want me to do. Like would you like a bagel with your coffee? I’d love to do some animation for their site. That would be cool.

Q. What interests you most about the opportunity to draw Chicago sports?

A. Oh it’s it rabid sports town with great teams with, like really good mascots. Mascots are very important to a sports cartoonists. You know Da Bears, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks. Those are like the greatest mascots of all time. Good manly type mascots.

Q. Since you’re based in Denver, how do you feel about being reunited with former Bronco’s quarterback Jay Cutler?

A. Reunited and it feels so good.  I took a few parting shots as he left Denver. I dunno. It’s kind of like what an editorial cartoonist would feel like to have Nixon back in the White House.

Q. With The Tribune simultaneously making a deal with you and hiring Scott Stantis, what do you think this says about the industry?

Well I want to be clear about this. Scott Stantis is The Tribune’s staff Editorial Cartoonist who is going to win billions of Pulitzers. Right now I’m a freelance cartoonist doing one cartoon a week and hopefully more down the road. But I think hiring Scott Stantis was terrific and sends a message to other publishers that cartoonists sell papers. I’m hoping I can sell a few for them.

View more of Drew’s cartoons here.

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich - Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Click for more)

A reader of the Casper Star-Tribune didn’t approve of above cartoon, penned by Atlanta Journal-Constitution great Mike Luckovich, which depicts Pope Benedict XVI trying to lure Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

The cartoon plays off the news of The Vatican announcing it has worked out a way for groups of Anglicans who are dissatisfied with their faith to join the Catholic Church.

Ryan Harkins, of Laramie, Wyoming, feels it’s wrong to target the Catholic Church for trying to deal with Anglican converts.

“The Catholic Church is not fishing for converts (at least, not any more so than usual, given that the church has a mandate to make disciples of all peoples), but determining how to deal with entire blocks of converts seeking to be transplanted into the Catholic Church.”

Read the entire letter here.

Kurt Westergaard's 2005 caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

Two Chicago men have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kill a Danish newspaper’s cartoonist and cultural editor for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad back in 2005.

FBI agents arrested David Headley en route to Pakistan earlier this month, and the Chicago Sun-Times reports that he held an additional airline reservation - to Copenhagen.

Headley’s friend, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who shared an extreme hatred for cartoons that depicted the prophet Mohammed, arranged for the flight, authorities said.

More from the New York Times:

The FBI said they regarded the case as significant because Mr. Headley traveled to Pakistan and consulted closely with three Pakistani men identified in an F.B.I. affidavit as members of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, a terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, with whom he referred to the plot as the “Mickey Mouse Project.”

12 cartoons were published back in 2005 in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten as a way to fight against self-censorship in Europe due to violent threats from groups from the Muslim minority.

The most controversial of the 12 cartoons depicted Mohammed wearing a bomb with a lit fuse as a turban. That cartoon was drawn by Kurt Westergaard, 78, who along with cultural editor Flemming Rose, were targeted for assassination, authorities said.

There have been numerous flair-ups since the cartoons original publication, including a February 2008 incident where Danish police arrested three men suspected of planning to assassinate Westergaard, who has remained under police protection.

Back in August, officials at Yale University Press removed reproductions of the 12 cartoons from their book, “The Cartoons that Shook the World,” drawing criticism that Yale was giving in to intimidation.

Here is the full-page, including all 12 Mohammed cartoons, that appeared in Jyllands-Posten back in 2005 (click to enlarge):

This cartoon by French cartoonist Plantu caused Le Monde to be banned in Morocco for two days for making fun of the trial of a Moroccan cartoonist Khalid Gueddar. (Click to enlarge)

Moroccan authorities have confiscated two-days worth of the French newspaper Le Monde over a cartoon protesting the sentence of a Moroccan cartoonist accused of anti-Semitism.

The cartoon by French cartoonist Plantu, which appeared in the Oct. 22 issue of Le Monde, shows a hand reaching out of the Moroccan national flag, drawing a person with his tongue out and a clown’s nose. The caption reads, “Trial in Morocco against the caricaturist Khalid Gueddar who dares to draw the Moroccan royal family.”

In the October 23 issue, Le Monde published the original cartoon by Moroccan cartoonist Khalid Gueddar that the government claims was an attack on the royal family.

Gueddar’s cartoon, which appeared in the daily paper Akhbar al Youm, shows King Mohammed’s cousin, Prince Moulay Ismail, celebrating his wedding to a German woman. It’s “Moulay Ismail on his nuptial truss,” says a line of the cartoon in Arabic.

Moroccan cartoonist Khalid Gueddar’s cartoon shows King Mohammed’s cousin, Prince Moulay Ismail, celebrating his wedding to a German woman. The government claims the cartoon is anti-Semitic for the way it portrays the Moroccan star as a Star of David. (Click to enlarge)

The government claims the cartoon is anti-Semitic for the way it portrays the Moroccan star as a Star of David. Both Gueddar and Taoufik Bouachrine, the publisher of Akhbar al Youm, were indicted for insulting the royal family.

On Sept. 28, the Interior Ministry ordered the paper silenced, shuttered its offices in Casablanca, and posted policemen at its entrance to prevent any of the newspaper’s 70 employees from reaching their desks.

Bouachrine said he was concerned that the authorities shut down the paper’s headquarters without any court decision.

“It is the first time the authorities closed the offices of a newspaper since the 1960s,” he told Reuters. “That worries us all as the government wants to send a strong message that the authorities can do what they want without any respect to the law.”

According to Reuters, the editor and two journalists from Arabic language weekly Al Michaal will be sentenced this week for what the government called false information after they published articles about King Mohammed’s health last month.

The editor and a reporter at daily Al Jarida al Oula are also being tried for a report on the king’s health.

“What is happening with the press is serious, very serious and it calls into question the future of democracy of our country,” wrote Ahmed Benchemsi in an editorial at his weekly French-language Telquel.

American cartoonist and animator Nina Paley discusses why she chose to make her animated feature Sita Sings the Blues available for free online through a Creative Commons license. While she does not benefit economically from sharing content, Paley reports that many people still want to buy copies from her because it creates a “social bond.”

[h/t - Mike Lynch]

Hadi Heidari, a world-renowned Iranian cartoonist who contributes to several reformist newspapers, was arrested in Tehran on October 22.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Heidari was one of several participants in a religious ceremony in honor of political prisoners, held in the home of Shehabeldin Tabataba, one of the prisoners close to the reformist party.

Reports claim that some detainees were released the next day, but about a dozen, including Heidari, were transferred to Evin prison.

Heidari heads the website Persian Cartoons (www.haditoons.com) and was the cultural editor of the banned daily Etemad-e Melli. Editor of the newspaper, Mohammad Ghochani, a member of its editorial staff, Fayaz Zahed, and website editor, Mohammad Davari, are all still in prison.

Toonpool, a worldwide cartoonists’ community joined by artists from 140 nations, sent a letter to the Iranian embacy in German to request verification of the arrest, as well as information about the charges that Heidari is facing.

I’ll post more information as I receive it.
 
 
 

Cartoon by Hadi Heidari

The best editorial cartoons are able to sum up an idea, situation or news story with a single, powerful image.

Jonathan Shapiro, know throughout the world as “Zapiro,” is the brilliant South African cartoonist at the Mail & Guardian, who is best known for his cartoons targeting South African president Jacob Zuma.

In his latest cartoon (featured above), Zapiro targets Jonathan Jansen, the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Free State (UFS). Jansen is accused of standing up for racism for his decision to withdraw disciplinary charges and reinstate four white students (the so-called Reitz four) accused of urinating in food that they gave to five black female cleaners as part of a 2007 video, which they made to protest against racial integration at the Reitz residence.

View more of Zapiro’s cartoons here.