The Garden As of Early June

 

The garden as of June 1st. Nothing planted yet. The raised beds are half-emptied and waiting for new compost. Tomatoes are waiting. I put boards on sawhorses to make a shelter from all the rain we had yesterday. Irises are blooming, poppies will soon. I have the stakes and hog-wire for the fencing. If we actually get some sun, the new fenced vegetable garden will be up soon. Extra: the cats “helping.” 

The components for the new garden fence were delivered on Saturday. The brand new compost/loam will be delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. That gets shoveled into the boxes and then the fence goes up around it.

Thursday In Paris Illustrations by Jon Nielsen

 

Here are some wonderful illustrations by Jon Nielsen (1912 - 1986) for Thursday In Paris. This small booklet is part of the Grow-Ahead series of books "published for young readers to enjoy, because reading for enjoyment is the key to intellectual growth and individual accomplishment." It was written by Mary Scott Welch and is copyright 1967 by For Children, Inc., Columbus, OH.

 

I like the sketchy ease of the illustrations. 

 

The conceit is that you, a 1960s American kid, are now transported to midcentury Paris. For this opening scene, Mr. Nielsen channels Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles.

The drawings are very much alive, and all have keen composition.

 

"Jon Nielsen was an artist, illustrator and portraitist whose career spanned over 35 years. Born in 1912 to Danish parents, Nielsen graduated from Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and went on to become a children's illustrator in New York, eventually illustrating over 200 children's books and textbooks and teaching college art for a time. An avid traveler, Nielsen also accepted commissions to sketch portraits in Vietnam during the war for the US State Department, and to go on safari in Zambia to make woodcuts of the native animals for the Zambian government. His work has been featured in galleries in New York and Florida. He created the children's book 'The Wishing Pearl and Other Tales of Vietnam' with his wife, Kay." -- Findagrave

 

If I had his Vietnam book I would post a few pics. Here are some more from Thursday In Paris.

CBS Sunday Morning: The Trailblazing Cartoon Art of Barbara Shermund

 

"Tell Me One Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund" by Caitlin McGurk was profiled on CBS Sunday Morning. 

"Artist Barbara Shermund (1899- 1978) was one of the first women cartoonists for The New Yorker and other major magazines, from the 1920s into the '60s. But she died with barely a trace – and her reputation lay dormant, until a distant relative and a cartoon historian teamed up to connect the dots of Shermund's life and work. Correspondent Faith Salie talks with investigator Amanda Gormley and curator Caitlin McGurk (author of 'Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund') about resurrecting a trailblazing humorist and her scintillating takes on sex, marriage and society."

 

Peter David 1956 - 2025

 

 Peter David, the prolific comics, games and science fiction writer whose Eisner-award winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk redefined the character, passed away on May 24, 2025. He was 68 years old. No cause of death given, but Mr. David had a series of health issues recently.

 

 ComicBook:

 

"Peter David, the influential and Eisner Award-winning writer of The Incredible Hulk who redefined the character over a 12-year run referred to as David’s “magnum opus,” has died at 68. David’s wife, Kathleen O’Shea David, confirmed the news on social media on Sunday. No cause of death was provided, but the legendary comic creator had suffered from “compounded health problems” in recent years, including kidney failure, a series of strokes, and a mild heart attack per David’s GoFundMe page that was launched in 2022 and reopened in 2025."

Wikipedia:

"His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.

"His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force^[3] and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.

"David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff",^[3][4] and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor^[5][6] and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction^[2] and self-reference.^[7][8]

"David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award, and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award."

 

His "But I Digress" column in the Comics Buyer's Guide was, for me, a highlight of the magazine in the 1990s.  He wrote a lot of Star Trek novels and while I only read one of them it really captured the characters and tone of the series. 

His career was expansive, and his impact on popular culture could not be overstated.

Heather Cox Richardson: America and Memorial Day 2025

I'm sharing Heather Cox Richardson's "Letter From an American" Substack for today. Things that are going on now are not normal and even though this is a blog about cartooning, I wanted to pause and put this out there. These are some wise words, and a reminder that people are being kidnapped off the street without due process. This is not America. This is not who we are.

---

President Donald J. Trump’s erratic behavior was on display this weekend in two public speeches: one to this year’s graduates at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the other at Arlington National Cemetery. While both speeches are traditionally nonpartisan, Trump indicated he would make them partisan when he wore a red MAGA hat at West Point.

The president began both speeches by sticking to a script but then veered off course. At West Point on Saturday, his speech went on for over an hour. He attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and said: “The job of the U.S. Armed Forces is not to host drag shows to transform foreign cultures, or to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun,” he said. “The military's job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime, and any place.” (In fact, the mission of the Department of Defense is “to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security.”)

Trump veered off into immigration and a chat about golf, then repeated a story about William Levitt, a real estate developer whose post–World War II housing developments became synonymous with suburbia, that he had told at a 2017 Boy Scout jamboree. On Saturday, Trump talked about Levitt becoming “very rich, a very rich man, and then he decided to sell. And he sold his company, and he had nothing to do. He ended up getting a divorce, found a new wife. Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn’t work out too well, but it doesn’t—that doesn’t work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives. It doesn’t work out. But it made him happy for a little while, at least, but he found a new wife. He sold his little boat, and he got a big yacht, he had one of the biggest yachts anywhere in the world. He moved for a time to Monte Carlo, and he led the good life, and time went by, and he got bored and 15 years later, the company that he sold to called him, and they said, ‘The housing business is not for us.’ You have to understand when Bill Levitt was hot. When he had momentum, he’d go to the job sites every night, he’d pick up every loose nail, he’d pick up every scrap of wood, if there was a bolt or a screw laying on the ground, he’d pick it up, and he’d use it the next day and putting together a house.”

After his speech, Trump skipped the traditional shaking of each graduate’s hand, left the ceremony, and flew to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

At Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, the president veered off into a dig at his predecessor, President Joe Biden, then noted that he, Trump, will be president for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And, he added, “Most important of all, in addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine [if] I missed that four years? And now look what I have. I have everything—amazing the way things work out. God did that, I believe that too.”

Trump’s social media account was similarly inappropriate. His message on Memorial Day—a solemn day to honor those American military personnel who died in service to the country—began: “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS….”

But that message quickly took a turn toward his recurring attacks on judges. Trump claimed that “CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE” are entering the United States “THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER AND RAPE AGAIN—ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL.”

In February 2024, almost a year before Trump took office the second time, the country’s 23 Democratic state attorneys general began preparing for a second Trump term. They listened to what he was saying on the campaign trail and read the plans in Project 2025, then wrote potential lawsuits against what he might try to put in place. Once he took office, they hit the ground running, banding together when they could to file lawsuits to bring the president’s unconstitutional and illegal actions before courts.

And they are not the only ones. On Friday, Alex Lemonides, Seamus Hughes, Mattathias Schwartz, Lazaro Gamio, and Camille Baker of the New York Times listed the many lawsuits against the Trump administration and noted that as of May 23, at least 177 rulings “have at least temporarily paused some of the administration’s initiatives.”

Those include cases involving the administration's attempt to fire large numbers of federal employees unlawfully, freeze federal funding required by Congress, refuse to recognize birthright citizenship, hand power to the “Department of Government Efficiency,” dismantle government agencies, take away civil rights from transgender Americans, revoke environmental policies, and use the federal government to punish individuals or organizations.

But it is the judicial orders and decisions concerning immigration that Trump and his administration are most vocally attacking. Their primary focus is on Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was rendered to the notorious CECOT terrorist prison in El Salvador on March 15 in what the administration at first called an “administrative error.” Nick Miroff of The Atlantic recorded that when Abrego Garcia’s family filed a lawsuit to get him returned, lawyers at the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security quietly tried to secure his safety and bring him back to the United States.

But White House officials saw the case as a way to challenge the ability of the judicial branch to restrain presidential power. As Miroff writes, “Abrego Garcia’s deportation…developed into a measure of whether Donald Trump’s administration can send people—citizens or not—to foreign prisons without due process.”

They began to insist—without evidence—that Abrego Garcia was a gang member, a drug dealer, a terrorist, and a human trafficker. Despite orders from courts right up to the Supreme Court to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, they have publicly insisted that Abrego Garcia will never return to the United States. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a white-nationalist nativist, has said that the administration is thinking about suspending the writ of habeas corpus, which would permit the government to throw people in jail without charge or trial. The Constitution specifies that Congress alone can suspend that writ.

Their attacks seemed designed to convince Americans that judges insisting on the rule of law are backing violent criminals. That, in turn, seems designed to encourage MAGA loyalists to threaten judges. And they are. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that a security committee at the judicial conference, the body that makes policy for federal judges, has floated the idea of creating an armed security force apart from the current U.S. Marshals Service that operates under the Department of Justice. Judges have expressed concern that Trump and loyalist Attorney General Pam Bondi might withdraw protections from judges who have ruled against the administration.

Conservative judge J. Michael Luttig noted: “It is an extraordinary and unprecedented development in American history that the Nation’s Federal Judiciary would have to consider having its own security force because federal judges cannot trust the U.S. Marshal’s Service under this President and his Attorney General. They cannot trust this president and this Attorney General to ensure their protection.”

He continued: “I had to admit that, given the continuing unprecedented and vicious personal attacks and threats on the federal courts and federal judges by the President, Vice President Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Donald Trump’s Cabinet and senior White House advisors, I would never rely upon the U.S. Marshal’s Service for my protection, were I still a sitting federal judge. How could anyone?”

—

Notes:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-lapolitics/trump-west-point-address-dei-immigration-b2757275.html

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/26/politics/trump-memorial-day-political-opponents

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/27/democrats-taking-trump-musk-winning-00206310

https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/24/trump-west-point-graduation

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-administration-lawsuits.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/04/kilmar-abrego-garcia-plan-reversal/682594/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/25/federal-judges-armed-security-doj-trump-attacks

https://www.defense.gov/About/

Donald J. Trump, Truth Social post, May 26, 2025, 7:22 a.m.

X:

RapidResponse47/status/1926319575303328141

Bluesky:

atrupar.com/post/3lpwgbul3qq2i

jwharris.bsky.social/post/3lq33h3vqk22s

judgeluttig.bsky.social/post/3lpznfwxmd226

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Punch Cartoons 1950 - 1954

Dick Buchanan has not only presented us with a good sampling of Punch Magazine cartoons, he has given us some great biographical details on these British cartoonists. Some really interesting items here, most of which are new to me. Wow! Thanks, my friend. Here's Dick:

---



PUNCH CARTOONS
(1950-1954)


Punch, the British weekly magazine of humor and satire, ran from 1841 to 1992. It was briefly revived in 1996 and folded for good in 2002. From the world’s first cartoon by John Leech, which ran July 15, 1843, to the end it was the home of some of the greatest cartoonists in history. This is a sampling of cartoons from the early 1950’s, featuring the best cartoonists of the post WWII era . . .


1. NORMAN THELWELL. A Punch cartoonist for 25 years contributing more than 1500 cartoons, 60 of which were covers. He is best remembered for his humorous illustrations of ponies and horses. Punch July 6, 1953.

 "Then of course as the tide goes out, they get trapped."

 2. GEORGE SPROD. Sprod, Australian born cartoonist, was a Japanese P.O.W. in the same camp as Ronald Searle. Both contributed to the fortnightly camp magazine, The Exile. Punch September 23, 1953.

3. LESLIE STARKE. Starke was one of the most popular Punch cartoonists of his time. His work also appeared in several American magazines including Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker. Punch November 18, 1953.

4. WILLIAM (BILL) HEWISON). Hewison was art editor of Punch for 24 years and produced many color Punch covers. Punch October 3, 1951.

5. DEREK FULLARTON. Fullerton, cartoonist, illustrator and children’s literature writer, is best known for illustrating books written by Roald Dahl. Punch October 14, 1953.

6. BERNARD HOLLOWOOD. Hollowood, a writer, cartoonist and economist, was Punch’s editor from 1958 to 1968. Punch February 8, 1950.

7. ALEX GRAHAM. Graham was best known as creator of the popular comic strip Fred Basset, about a male basset hound, which was syndicated world-wide for many years. Punch October 14, 1953.

8. MICHAEL ffolkes. Born Brian Davis, ffolkes’ work also appeared in The New Yorker and Playboy. Punch December 19, 1951.

9. ARNOLD F. WILES. Punch October 10, 1951.

10. L.L. (Lawrie) SIGGS. Siggs was one of a group of talented young cartoonists who emerged after WWII. Punch December 5, 1951.

11. GEORGE SPROD. George Sprod Punch February 8, 1950.

12. WILLIAM SILLINCE. Sillince worked in advertising before becoming a Punch cartoonist. His work appeared in the magazine from 1936 to 1975. Punch September 23, 1953.

13. FREDERICK ROWLAND EMETT. A Punch contributor from 1939 until the 1950’s and less frequently in the 1960’s. His drawings often included railway scenes and he gradually developed a unique concept of strange, bumbling trains with excessively tall chimneys and silly names. Punch September 23, 1953.

"Thank goodness I'm only concerned with Things of the Mind . . . "

14. ANTON (Antonia Yeoman). Yoeman’s early cartoons were created with her brother, Harold Underwood Thompson. When her brother found other interests, she continued on her own. Punch August 12, 1953.

15. KENNETH MAHOOD. A versatile cartoonist, his work was published in Punch for more than five decades. Punch February 8, 1950.

16. DAVID LANGDON. Langdon probably had more cartoons published in Punch than any other single contributor. His work often had a political bent. Punch November 18, 1953.

17. J. W. TAYLOR. John Whitfield Taylor, like many then and now, was a part-time cartoonist. He was a full-time schoolmaster and was head of the art department at Portland House School. Punch February 8, 1950.

18. IONICUS. Joshua Charles Armitage was a Punch cartoonist for more than 40 years. He provided cover designs and text illustrations for nearly 400 books. He’s probably best known for his cover illustrations of the Penguin paperback editions of books by P. G. Wodehouse. Punch December 12, 1951.

19. SMILBY. Francis Wilford-Smith was a cartoonist, graphic artist, producer and archivist of blues music. As a cartoonist, he used the pseudonym Smilby, a contraction of his surname and his wife’s maiden name. Punch December 19, 1951.

20. RONALD SEARLE. Searle’s most famous contribution to Punch was his version of Hogarth’s
“A Rake’s Progress” featuring the rise and fall of many modern types. Punch April 28, 1954.

 

-- This has been an edited version of an April 24, 2019 entry.

AI and the Visual Art of Porco Rosso

 

One of the things that A.I. can do well at this point in history is mimic Hayao Miyazaki's character designs that you can see in his Studio Ghibli films.

 

Here's Gizmodo:

"The trend of using Open AI’s ChatGPT to create AI images in the distinctive style of Studio Ghibli probably should have ceased the moment the official White House X account hopped aboard. But there’s a new wrinkle in the story today, as one of the trend’s proponents posted a cease and desist notice they claimed to have received from Studio Ghibli representatives—which fellow social media users immediately called out as being as fake as the 'art' that inspired it.

"Along with the (fake) letter, X user teej used the platform to defend what they’d done, writing in part: 'AI creators deserve protection, not punishment. Expression is sacred. Imagination is not illegal. If I have to be a martyr to prove that, so be it.'

"It’s hard not to chuckle at this response to, let’s see, typing a prompt into a program so that it can create an AI image blatantly ripping off hours of hard work and creativity from actual human artists, including the great Hayao Miyazaki and his Ghibli team."

Some people think creativity is just a magic key and all they have to do is find that key and it'll all be easy. I mean, take a look at Ann Telnaes' response that AI is theft; that creating art is more than keywords and prompts.

I don't believe a nonhuman intelligence could craft stories and visuals like Miyazaki -- or Disney or Eisner or Kurtzman or Steranko or Tardi or Herge or Jansson or Schulz or any of the greats. Here's a lovely collection of visuals from Miyazaki's 1992 film Porco Rosso. All human-generated. Same with the story. Well worth a watch or rewatch.