Billy DeBeck! Born this day in 1890.
Thanks to Rob Stolzer for these! Go read his blog about DeBeck's Continental Hotel sketches!
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Happy Birthday, Billy DeBeck
Monday, April 14, 2025
We Are All Equal Before the Law
One of the first news stories I read this morning was about Nicole Micheroni, a Boston lawyer, a citizen, who was told by the Department of Homeland Security to leave the country.
If she doesn't, "We will find you," the email threatened. Ms. Micheroni, an immigration lawyer, was born in the United States and is a citizen. The DHS has said it was a mistake.
And then I read Heather Cox Richardson's Letter From an American today. It's about the administration snatching people off the street and sending them to a for-profit prison without due process. The Supreme Court ruled that they cannot do that
Here's Heather Cox Richardson. I will be calling my reps today, like I did last week. On my day off, I will protest.
---
This evening, lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court that the administration does not believe it has a legal obligation to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States, despite a court order to do so.
The 29-year-old Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. about 2011 when he was 16 to escape threats from a gang that was terrorizing his family. He settled in Maryland with his older brother, a U.S. citizen, and lived there until in 2019 he was picked up by police as he waited at a Home Depot to be picked up for work as a day laborer. Police transferred him to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After a hearing, an immigration judge rejected his claim for asylum but said he could not be sent back to El Salvador, finding it credible that the Barrio 18 gang had been “targeting him and threatening him with death because of his family’s pupusa business.”
Ever since, Abrego Garcia has checked in annually with ICE as directed. He lives with his wife and their three children, and has never been charged with any crime. The Department of Homeland Security issued him a work permit, and he joined a union, working full time as a sheet metal apprentice.
On March 12, ICE agents pulled his car over, told his wife to come pick up their disabled son, and incarcerated Abrego Garcia, pressing him to say he was a member of MS-13. On March 15 the government rendered Abrego Garcia to the infamous CECOT prison for terrorists in El Salvador, alleged to be the site of human rights abuses, torture, extrajudicial killings. The U.S. government is paying El Salvador $6 million a year to incarcerate the individuals it sends there.
On March 24, Abrego Garcia’s family sued the administration over his removal.
On March 31 the government admitted that its arrest and rendition of Abrego Garcia happened because of “administrative error” but said he couldn’t be brought back because, in El Salvador, he is outside the jurisdiction of the United States. It also accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang and said that bringing him back to the U.S. would threaten the public.
On April 4, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. no later than 11:59 pm on April 7.
In her opinion, filed April 6, Judge Xinis wrote that “[a]lthough the legal basis for the mass removal of hundreds of individuals to El Salvador remains disturbingly unclear, Abrego Garcia’s case is categorically different—there were no legal grounds whatsoever for his arrest, detention, or removal.…. [H]is detention appears wholly lawless.” It is “a clear constitutional violation.” And yet administration officials “cling to the stunning proposition that they can forcibly remove any person—migrant and U.S. citizen alike—to prisons outside the United States, and then baldly assert they have no way to effectuate return because they are no longer the 'custodian,' and the Court thus lacks jurisdiction.”
The administration had already appealed her April 4 order to the Supreme Court, which handed down a 9–0 decision on Thursday, April 10, requiring the Trump administration “to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador,” but asking the district court to clarify what it meant by “effectuate,” that release, noting that it must give “due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”
The Supreme Court also ordered that “the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” Judge Xinis ordered the government to file an update by 9:30 a.m. on April 11 explaining where Abrego Garcia is, what the government is doing to get him back, and what more it will do. She planned an in-person hearing at 1:00 p.m.
But the administration evidently does not intend to comply. On April 11, the lawyer representing the government, Drew Ensign, said he did not have information about where Abrego Garcia is and ignored her order to provide information about what the government was doing to bring him back. Saturday, it said Abrego Garcia is “alive and secure” in CECOT. Today, it said it had no new information about him, but said that Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for the immigration judge’s order not to send him to El Salvador “because of his membership in MS-13 which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
There is still no evidence that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13.
Today, administration lawyers used the Supreme Court’s warning that the court must give “due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs” to lay out a chilling argument. They ignored the Supreme Court’s agreement that the government must get Abrego Garcia out of El Salvador, as well as the court’s requirement that the administration explain what it’s doing to make that happen.
Instead, the lawyers argued that because Abrego Garcia is now outside the country, any attempt to get him back would intrude on the president’s power to conduct foreign affairs. Similarly, they argue that the president cannot be ordered to do anything but remove domestic obstacles from Abrego Garcia’s return. Because Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, is currently in the U.S. for a visit with Trump, they suggest they will not share any more updates about Abrego Garcia and the court should not ask for them because it would intrude on “sensitive” foreign policy issues.
Let’s be very clear about exactly what’s happening here: President Donald J. Trump is claiming the power to ignore the due process of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, declare someone is a criminal, kidnap them, send them to prison in a third country, and then claim that there is no way to get that person back.
All people in the United States are entitled to due process, but Trump and his officers have tried to convince Americans that noncitizens are not. They have also pushed the idea that those they are offshoring are criminals, but a Bloomberg investigation showed that of the 238 men sent to CECOT in the first group, only five of them had been charged with or convicted of felony assault or gun violations. Three had been charged with misdemeanors like petty theft. Two were charged with human smuggling. In any case, in the U.S., criminals are entitled to due process.
Make no mistake: as Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson recently warned, if the administration can take noncitizens off the streets, render them to prison in another country, and then claim it is helpless to correct the error either because the person is out of reach of U.S. jurisdiction, it could do the same thing to citizens.
Trump has said he would “love” to do exactly that, and would even be “honored” to, and Bukele has been offering to hold U.S. citizens. Dasha Burns and Myah Ward of Politico reported Friday that former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is pitching a plan to expand renditions to El Salvador to at least 100,000 criminal offenders from U.S. prisons and to avoid legal challenges by making part of CECOT American territory, then leasing it back to El Salvador to run.
When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says, “The president's idea for American citizens to potentially be deported, these would be heinous violent criminals who have broken our nation's laws repeatedly," remember that just days ago, Trump suggested that a former government employee was guilty of treason for writing a book about his time in the first Trump administration that Trump claimed was “designed to sow chaos and distrust” in the government.
Here’s the thing: Once you give up the idea that we are all equal before the law and have the right to due process, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that some people have more rights than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality before the law with the idea that some people have no rights, you have granted your approval to the idea of an authoritarian government. At that point, all you can do is to hope that the dictator and his henchmen overlook you.
At least some people understand this. The president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, Sean McGarvey, received a standing ovation when he said to a room full of his fellow union workers: “We need to make our voices heard. We’re not red, we’re not blue. We’re the building trades, the backbone of America. You want to build a $5 billion data center? Want more six-figure careers with health care, retirement, and no college debt? You don’t call Elon Musk, you call us!... And yeah, that means all of us. All of us. Including our brother [International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers] apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who we demand to be returned to us and his family now! Bring him home!”
—
Notes:
https://storage.courtlistener.
https://storage.courtlistener.
https://apnews.com/article/
Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance Late
this afternoon, the Supreme Court issued a 9-0 response to the
government’s application to vacate federal District Judge Paula Xinis’
order that the Trump administration return Kilmar Abrego Garcia from
prison in El Salvador to the United States. Xinis had ordered him
returned by the end of the day on Monday. The Supreme Court let him sit
for an ad…
3 days ago · 3264 likes · 348 comments · Joyce Vance
https://storage.courtlistener.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/
Youtube:
Bluesky:
Friday, April 11, 2025
Brad Holland 1943 - 2025
Illustrator and artist Bradford Wayne (Brad) Holland passed away on March 27th after heart surgery. He was 81 years old.
Holland's work appeared regularly in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Playboy, Rolling Stone and many other publications. Hos original paintings are in museum all over the world, and he had one-man gallery shows at the Museum of American Illustration and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Born in Fremont, Ohio, he mailed off drawings to Walt Disney and The Saturday Evening Post when he was fifteen years old. He would received a box of drawings back two years later with a rejection letter on Walt Disney stationery. He subsequently bought a bus ticket to Chicago, before being hired at the age of twenty by Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. Three years later, he moved to New York City to try his hand at being a freelance illustrator.
By the late 1960s, his work appeared regularly in Playboy and The New York Times.
"In Holland's ink drawings, which were most prominently featured on the op-ed page of The New York Times, the artist has credited German satirist Heinrich Kley and Austrian expressionist Alfred Kubin as having significantly informed his own black-and-white work. The artist also sites Mexican muralism of the 1920s as being of significant inspiration and in particular 'Los Tres Grandes' (the three great ones): Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros.[15] The artist also credits the short story writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne as having influenced his sensibilities.[2]"
"It was the accepted standard of the time (1968) that art directors dictated or implied what they wanted an illustrator to create as a finished assignment. When Holland entered the illustration field, his philosophy was entirely different from what his predecessors had accepted as common practice. He vowed to never render anyone else's idea but rather always find a better, more personal solution to any illustration assignment he might accept." -- Steven Heller, Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
An advocate for creative rights, Brad founded The Illustrators' Partnership of America (IPA) in 1999. Its goals were to help artists with rights issues. In the early 2000s, there were a series of meetings with Brad, board member Cynthia Turner, and representatives from the Graphic Artists Guild and the National Cartoonists Society. I was the NCS National Rep at the time, so I was there. Brad was passionate about artists not being screwed over by usage rights and stock illustration houses.
There are many tributes online.
Steven Heller writes:
"He was my first professional friend, critic and inspiration when at 17 I stumbled into the worlds of satiric art, illustration, magazines and graphic design.
"We had a natural bond and tumultuous relationship that I think is endemic to all closely tied, emotionally driven, unforgettable and irreplaceable relationships. We had great adventures, illuminating experiences, deep respect for and loyalty to one another.
"Brad had heart issues dating back to when we first met in 1967. ('I share aortic valve insufficiency with Abraham Lincoln,' he’d proudly tell me.) He was frank about his problems but he was also invincible, so it seemed. When the day after New Year 2025 we talked by phone, he mentioned that he was having a heart procedure in mid-March. He was more concerned with finishing the paintings for a major exhibition at Nuages Gallery in Milan scheduled for late January. From the sound of his voice, I figured the 'procedure' would turn out well."
Via The Daily Cartoonist:
The Steven Heller remembrance ends with a number of links to further reading and biography.
Also: Playboy’s Ribald Classics illustrations by Brad Holland (recommended for adults only)
more recent fine art images by Brad Holland at Margarethe Hubauer
an appreciation of Brad Holland’s talent at NY Art World
a gallery of Brad Holland drawings and art from the Society of Illustrators
Brad Holland’s birth date found at Prabook.
Thursday, April 10, 2025
PBS American Masters Documentary "Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse" Premieres April 15th, 2025
American Masters – Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse, premieres nationwide Tuesday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS App.
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Comic Book Historians: Mark Ditko and Mort Todd Talk About their DitkoVerse Publishing Venture
Alex Grand of Comic Book Historians tells us up front that he has some great guests today, and that's true.
"Alex Grand speaks with Steve Ditko’s nephew, Mark Ditko, and longtime Ditko collaborator Mort Todd about their DitkoVerse publishing venture, a project dedicated to “remastering” and re-presenting classic Steve Ditko stories in high-quality editions . They describe their upcoming Indiegogo campaign, which kicks off a broader plan to keep Ditko’s independent work in continuous print leading up to what would have been his 100th birthday in 2027. The initial releases include Mister A—relettered and published in color for the first time—along with Fantastic Giants (featuring Charlton monster stories), Static (a superhero title), and a revised edition of Avenging World, Ditko’s philosophical opus. Mort Todd, who worked with Ditko as far back as the mid-1980s, explains the painstaking restoration process—cleaning up original black-and-white artwork, recoloring, and updating lettering in a way that stays faithful to Ditko’s intent. Mark emphasizes that the family’s focus is on honoring Steve Ditko’s desire to keep his work available and of high quality. The interview also touches on personal anecdotes—such as Ditko’s private yet supportive nature—and highlights their shared commitment: all funds raised will go directly into producing and distributing further reprints and unreleased material so future generations can appreciate Ditko’s unique blend of storytelling, philosophy, and artistry."
Ditkoverse publications are here: http://www.igg.me/at/ditkoverse1
Tuesday, April 08, 2025
David Kunzle Early Comic Strip History Books Available for Download
If you know comics history, then you know the name David Kunzle. His research into early graphic narrative stories was groundbreaking. His scholarly books on "comic strips before comic strips" of the 19th
century helped cement the prehistory of sequential art. I go to his books again and again and always
find something new and fascinating -- and funny.
Above are a couple of his earliest books, and they tend to go out of print. But now you can download these two at the Topferriania site.
Hat tip to Antoine Sausverd. who first reported this:
"On
the bibliographic page dedicated to David Kunzle, it is now possible to
download his two huge essential volumes: 'The Early Comic Strip: Narrative Strips and Picture Stories in the European Broadsheet from c. 1450-1825' (1973) and 'The History of the Comic Strip: The Nineteenth Century' (1990).
Related:
The Comics Journal Profiles David KunzleVideo: David Kunzle on The Rebirth of the English Comic Strip: A Kaleidoscope, 1847-1870
Monday, April 07, 2025
Stephen SIlver: "Generative A.I is here to stay. You won't be able to stop it."
My talented colleague Stephen Silver (talks about utilizing generative AI techniques in animation. In particular, Stephen says it's here to stay. Like any tool it can be used and/or abused. In this video, he talks frankly about its impact and then shows an AI short from Staircase Studios. Staircase is embracing AI and hiring artists, writers and directors at industry rates to produce animated entertainment. You can decide for yourself about how real it looks and how it holds up as a piece of entertainment.
"Pouya Shahbazian, a producer on the Divergent franchise, has launched Staircase Studios AI, an artificial intelligence-driven film, TV and gaming studio.
"Staircase touts its own proprietary AI workflow, ForwardMotion, which claims to be able to produce near-studio-quality movie releases for under $500,000 each. The studio, which said it aims to produce around 30 low budget projects in the next three to four years, unveiled a teaser with the first five minutes from its debut feature, The Woman With Red Hair, directed by Brett Stuart and from Michael Schatz’s 2016 Black List script" -- Hollywood Reporter
Here's Stephen, and he shows the film as well. (It begins at 5:49.):
Friday, April 04, 2025
Syd Mead Gallery Show March 27–May 21
Artist Donato Giancola visited a NYC gallery show of Syd Mead's work. "Future Pastime” which is on view at 534 West 26th Street, March 27–May 21.
Donato adds that there are "two dozen paintings by the futurist Syd Mead are now on exhibit in a Chelsea gallery in Manhattan. Technically and conceptually brilliant. The work offers a broad range of gouache paintings, spanning five decades of his artistic legacy. Well worth the trip if you are a fan of the genre or his art."
Syd Mead - Future Pastime
534 W 26th St
NY, NY
Tues-Sun 10-6pm
Hanging until May 21
Artnet has a feature article on the exhibit.
Here are a few of the pictures that Donato took.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoons of the 1930s
Dick Buchanan has delved into his personal collection of magazine
cartoons to come up with an exclusive look at the great cartoonists of
the 1930s. There are many familiar names here: Dr. Seuss,
Charles
Addams, Marge, Jack Cole, Chon Day and others. What's of interest is
that there are certain cartoonists who were best known for other
work, and here they are drawing gag cartoons. Cartoonists like Jack Cole who may be best known for his Plastic
Man comic book or the Playboy cartoons he would create 20 years later.
Or Dr. Seuss, who is best known for his children's books. It comes as a surprise to
see them, selling single panel cartoons to the old Life magazine or
Judge.
Thanks, Dick, for putting this together. Some amazing stuff here! Take it away:
---
GAG CARTOONS OF THE 1930’s
1930 - 1939
The 1930’s were tumultuous times, beginning with Prohibition, Repeal,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl and the beginning of World War II.
But it was also an important time in the development of the gag cartoon
as we know it today.
From the 1800’s until the late 1920’s most cartoons contained a title
above the cartoon and captions noting the identity of the speakers.
Captions were divided into two lines -- one for the setup, with the
second line delivering the humor. Most cartoons in those days were
masterfully executed illustrated jokes.
Although there were a few single caption cartoons in the early days, it
was their appearance The New Yorker in 1925 changed everything. They
took the lead in creating the format of the “modern” cartoon. By the end
of the 1930’s the single panel cartoon had evolved into gag cartoon as
we know it today.
The 1930’s also saw the debut of the many great cartoonists who were to
dominate cartoon world for many decades. Several have been included in
this collection. Some had hit their stride style-wise while others were
yet to develop their familiar styles.
This was the age when
cartoonists worked with brush, ink and ink wash over graphite under
writing on thick ¼” illustration board.
Here from the dusty shelves of
the Clip File Library are some examples of cartoons as they were long,
long ago.
This spectacular Life cover by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) was one of his best. In addition, it contains the germ of an idea that well may have inspired my childhood favorite book, Horton Hatches the Egg. Life May 1934.
1. GARDNER REA. Judge October 11, 1930.
"At that, sir, you hadn't oughta trumped her ace."
2. BILL HOLMAN. King of the screwball cartoonists, Holman’s Smokey Stover would debut in 1935. The New Yorker’s George Booth inserts a dog in many of his great cartoons. Holman also used this device with a mischievous cat appearing in many of his cartoons. This cat, later known as Spooky, earned his own comic strip. Life September 11, 1931.
"Good Lord! That d--n cat again!"
3. GLUYAS WILLIAMS. One of the foremost cartoonists and illustrators, Williams' work was a fixture in the early New Yorker. He illustrated many of Robert Benchley’s hilarious books. Life September 11,1931.
4. ERNIE BUSHMILLER. Although his comic strip Fritzi Ritz had been running since 1922 (Larry Whittington was the creator; Bushmiller took it over three years later), occasionally his work appeared in Judge. Nancy first appeared as Fritzi’s niece in 1933. The strip was retitled Nancy in 1938. Judge June 1932.
5. GEORGE LICHTY. Lichty was best known for the long running panel cartoon Grin and Bear It. Life August 1933.
"Thash funny -- I got 'et in reverse an' we're goin' sideways!"
6. WHITNEY DARROW, Jr. Darrow’s familiar style was in it’s formative stage. Judge June 1934.
7. CHON DAY. Judge June 1934.
8. NED HILTON. Another New Yorker favorite for decades, Hilton often had several drawings in each issue. Life March 1935.
"Abercrombie and Fitch are wondering about their little bill."
9. MARGE. Marjorie Henderson Buell creator Little Lulu began as a gag cartoonist. Life March 1935.
10. MARGE. Little Lulu replaced Henry as the featured panel on the last pages of the magazine, the spot would later be occupied by Ted Key’s Hazel. The Saturday Evening Post February 5, 1938.
11. GEORGE SHELLHASE. Life August 1935.
13. CHARLES ADDAMS. Addams rarely strayed from the pages of The New Yorker, but drawings appeared occasionally in True and Collier’s in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Collier’s January 15,1938.
15. JACK COLE. Cole struggled as a freelance cartoonist but struck gold when he created the memorable comic book hero Plastic Man. Judge, July 1938.
17. SYD HOFF. Judge, 1938.
18. OTTO SOGLOW. Collier’s January 8, 1938.
19. WILLIAM STEIG. Steig was a favorite of Cartoon Editor Gurney Williams and often appeared both Collier’s and later Look. Collier’s January 7, 1939.
-- This has been an edited version of a May 3, 2018 blog entry.
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
The Garden As of Early April
I really didn't think I would post much about the garden. The snow just melted off about a week ago, but the dirt is still frozen. Still, next to the garden, some flowers are coming up to remind me that there really will be a spring. So, here are some pics of the raised beds with nothing in them but last year's dirt, which needs to be refreshed.
The big bed in the foreground dates back to 2008. The taller ones are newer. I may or may not get rid of that bigger one this year. I have the cedar to make another small boxy raised bed.
Here are the four newer beds, three big ones and the boxy one. And you can see how there's pretty much no sign of green grass yet. Looks kinda dismal. This is late in the day, so there are some shadows on the garden, but for the most part it gets light 8-10 hours a day.
Another view. This was all under snow cover for months until a week or ten days ago. And it still looks like all of nature is asleep.
We have a "wintry mix" coming in tonight, but spring will roar into existence regardless of the rain, sleet and shower-door ice on everything tomorrow.
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