Steve Brodner: Marching at the No Kings Events March 14, 2025

 

Steve Brodner writes:

Tomorrow let’s march for all friends and neighbors who are being targeted and persecuted now. Please find a rally and just show up. We need to peacefully clog the streets and overwhelm the gestapo. And FORCE the press to give us attention on Trump’s grotesque anti-American shitshow.

Here’s one more for the ABC’s of yesterday. [Above.]

And then an update form our friend Laura Conwesser.

Hello everyone,

This is a difficult time to be writing one of these emails, but they are more necessary than ever. Thank you in advance for reading.

As you all know by now, this Saturday June 14 is No Kings Day. At the time of this writing, there are more than 1600 events planned: in every Congressional district in the country, as well as many cities worldwide. The one in NYC is starting at 2pm at Bryant Park and marching down Fifth Avenue to Madison Square Park at 23rd St. If you are not in the NYC area, you can find an event near you here. Although there have been scattered incidents of violence at a few demonstrations, they are very rare and caused by a handful of people. Don't let the media coverage and MAGA rhetoric fool you. The No Kings Day events will be peaceful. Please come and bring your friends and family. Experience the joy of being in a community of people with the shared purpose of stopping Trump. It is estimated that 3-5 million people attended Hands Off events on April 5. Let's make this one much bigger. ... Our good friend and genius political cartoonist Steve Brodner has generously shared some of his images for you to print at home and use for protest signs. here and here

What is happening in L.A. is completely unacceptable. Trump's authoritarianism will not stop there. Please use this tool from the ACLU to contact your members of Congress and tell them to speak up now, loudly and clearly. You can call their offices, too. House and Senate As I am writing this, word has come out that Sen. Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed while trying to ask a question at Kristi Noem's press conference in L.A. He was not arrested and was released shortly afterwards. Tell your representatives to speak out about that, too.

Continuing with this topic, we need to stop the continued abuses by ICE in carrying out Trump's agenda. Although you might be justifiably skeptical about petitions, this one calling for an end to ICE and mass deportations feels important . Please sign here. Tell your Senators to eliminate the increases in the budget bill to fund these horrific ICE raids. Amnesty has a tool for that here.

In my last email, I talked about Dylan, a NYC high school student who was detained at his immigration hearing and is still being detained. We are being asked to write a letter on his behalf to Governor Hochul. I am sharing a template here.

For those of you in NY State, the legislative session is about to end. We need to get NY4All passed today. Please call State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins 518-455-2585 and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie 518-455-3791 right now. Tell them you want to see the bill passed ASAP.

Last month, Congress Member LaMonica McIver was arrested for trying to do her constitutionally mandated job of inspecting the Delaney Detention Center in Newark, NJ. She has now been indicted. Please sign this open letter calling for the charges to be dropped. here

On a related topic, Trump's travel ban will harm hundreds of millions of people. NILC (National Immigration Law Center) has a tool for asking your members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass the No Ban Act.

Although there are many more issues, like the budget bill that is currently being worked on in the Senate, I am going to limit this email to immigration related topics. You know that I will be back with more. It's just a little hard to think about anything other than the fascist moment that we are in right now.

Thank you all,

Laura

 

 

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Assorted Vintage Gag Cartoons 1945 - 1965

In the mid 20th century, all major national magazines had single panel cartoons.  They were commonplace and easy to find. They are all gone today -- most of those big national mags and all the gag cartoons they published -- except for a few places now (The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal's "Pepper ... and Salt" feature, The Saturday Evening Post, Bauer Publishing's Women's World magazine, The Funny Times newspaper -- and some UK markets). Dick Buchanan remedies this and takes us back to the Golden Age of Gag Cartoons once more. Thanks, and take it away, Dick:


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ASSORTED VINTAGE GAG CARTOONS
(1945 – 1965)

Here is another assortment of vintage gag cartoons clipped from the great mid 20th century magazines. Some may remember a couple of these cartoons but most have been long forgotten. Here is a chance for young and old alike to take a look at the work of some cartoonists who were important contributors to the world of gag cartoons. Take a look . . .


1. CLYDE LAMB. Boys’ Life November, 1950.

 

2. CHON DAY. American Magazine January, 1945.

 

3. GEORGE WOLFE. This Week Magazine June 8, 1948.

 

4. ROWLAND WILSON. The Saturday Evening Post October 24, 1953

 

5. MARTHA BLANCHARD. For Laughing Out Loud. October – December, 1961.

 

6. A. JOHN KAUNUS. American Magazine April, 1945.

 

7. VIRGIL PARTCH. True Magazine October, 1948.

 

8. KATE OSANN. Collier’s June 10, 1950.

 

9. GARDNER REA. American Magazine May, 1945.

 

10. PERRY BARLOW. The Saturday Evening Post March 16, 1946.

 

11. WALT WETTERBERG. The Saturday Evening Post March 13, 1954.

 12. ED FISHER. The Saturday Review October 10, 1953.

 

13. DON TOBIN. American Magazine July, 1951.

 

14. HERB GREEN. Argosy Magazine September, 1955.

 

15. AL KAUFMAN. The Saturday Evening Post. June 1, 1957.

 

16. BRIAN SAVAGE. True Magazine February, 1964.

 

17. CHARLES RODRIGUES. 1000 Jokes Magazine Fall, 1953.

 

18. JOHN DEMSPEY. The Saturday Evening Post April 12, 1952.

 

19. DICK CAVALLI. The Saturday Evening Post September 26, 1953.

 

20. BRANDT PARKER. This Week Magazine February 2, 1958.

 -- This is a rerun of a blog entry from May 5, 2022.

CBS Sunday Morning: Star Trek In the Park

From the CBS Sunday Morning channel:

 

"In 2012, the beloved original sci-fi series, which explored strange new worlds, arrived at a particularly strange one: Portland, Oregon, where summer theater in the park audiences welcomed a live performance of a classic 'Star Trek' episode. Correspondent Lee Cowan went behind the scenes of a production going boldly where no theater project had gone before, in a “Sunday Morning” story that originally aired Aug. 12, 2012."

 

Brooklyn Public Library: "Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open" Exhibit from June 28th to September 30th

 

'THE MOOMINS TAKE NEW YORK WITH DEBUT EXHIBITION', JUNE 28 TO SEPTEMBER 30

"In time for her beloved characters' 80th anniversary, the work of Finnish artist Tove Jansson will go on display at The Brooklyn Brewery' from June 28th to September 30th, admission free: ' 'Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open' celebrates the enduring magic of Moominvalley and its visionary creator. This free exhibition illuminates Jansson’s universe through immersive installations, archival materials and multilingual editions of her books. Begin your visit in Central's Grand Lobby to discover the first Moomins story, then trace the characters' extraordinary global reach through original publications from the 1940s onward, seen alongside rare artifacts from early theatrical productions, television adaptations and musical interpretations that continue to bring Moominvalley to life. The exhibition also highlights Jansson's early career in political satire, her unmissable novels for adults, her seaside summers in the Finnish archipelago, and her identity as a queer woman in postwar Europe. Personal letters between Jansson and her friend Eva Konikoff, a New York-based photographer, as well as the American edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll featuring Jansson’s illustrations, also connect the artist’s story to the U.S. and underscore her legacy as a truly international figure."

Shown above is the cover of the first US edition of 'Finn Family Moomintroll' from 1952. All the details: 

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/.../tove-jansson-and-the... 

More coverage here from Wallpaper: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/moomins-new-york-exhibition 

and here on artnet: https://news.artnet.com/.../the-moomins-brooklyn-library...

 

Hat tip to Paul Gravett! 

Stop-Motion Rarities: “A Sound of Thunder” (1970) by William Stromberg and Phil Tippett.

 

From Matthew B. Lamont's YouTube channel, here's a rare peek at a 1970 amateur short film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's famous short story "A Sound of Thunder."  From what I have heard, this was shown at a couple of science fiction conventions. Mr. Bradbury himself watched it and congratulated the filmmakers. But he also asked them NOT to show it since they did not have the rights to the story. Phil Tippett,who would go on to do Star Wars later in the decade, created the stop-motion effects.

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Bill Mauldin's World War Three Cartoons

I'm handing things over to Dick Buchanan who reminds us about this fascinating "What If" story about a possible World War Three. The feature originally appeared in a 1951 issue of Collier's Magazine. The USA was in the beginning of the cold war, and there was always the threat that the cold war would go HOT. This is that imagined scenario, just six years after the end of World War 2. Thank you and take it away, Dick:

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BILL MAULDIN’S WORLD WAR THREE CARTOONS
  
        (Collier’s  October 27, 1951)


By October, 1951 World War Two was in the rearview mirror, the Korean Conflict was underway and the idea that World War Three was on the horizon was a commonly held fear.  With that in mind, the editors of Collier’s put together a special issue "Preview of the War We Do Not Want – an Imaginary Account of Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960."  The project, code-named "Operation Eggnog," was put together by Associate Editor Cornelius Ryan under considerable secrecy over a period of nine months. The 131-page issue appeared October 27, 1951.

Here’s the story in a nutshell. In May, 1952, after the Russian invasion of Yugoslavia, the principal United Nations countries and the United States declare war.  The United States uses atomic bombs against Russian industrial complexes.  Soviet forces invade West Germany, the Middle East and Alaska.  US forces, in disarray, have retreated on all fronts.  Korea and Japan are evacuated. London is hit by nuclear weapons, followed by Detroit, New York and Hanford. It should be noted their assessment of the harm caused by nuclear weapons was seriously deficient. Yes, things were grim, but never fear, all is not lost.

The following year more American cities are struck by nuclear weapons, but now better prepared, there are fewer casualties. Slowly but surely, UN forces manage to contain invading Soviet forces in several theaters. On May 22nd, B-36s drop nuclear weapons on Moscow, retaliating on Russia’s nuclear attack on Washington, DC.  UN forces are victorious in conflicts highlighted by a suicide task force of 10,000 US paratroopers dropped into the Ural Mountains to destroy the last remaining hidden Soviet nuclear stockpiles. The War ends in 1955 with the occupation of UN forces in Soviet Union.  In true storybook fashion Good prevails.  A Christian Science Monitor editor reports the rebirth of religion, unions, a free press and democracy in Russia.

These imaginary events of the Third World War were the covered by 20 leading writers of the day. Author Robert E. Sherwood provided the chilling narrative, Edward R. Murrow, as an embedded journalist, described the nuclear bombing of Moscow and Philip Wylie helped wind things up with a love story about a US Major who falls in love with a Russian girl who has been rendered infertile by radiation.  Other distinguished contributors included Senator Margaret Chase Smith, labor leader Walter Reuther, sports columnist Red Smith and world traveler and author Lowell Thomas. Leaving no stone unturned, Collier’s commissioned famed cartoonist Bill Mauldin to provide all of the cartoons in the issue.

Bill Mauldin was the preeminent cartoonist of World War Two. As an 18-year-old training with the 45th Infantry he cartooned part-time for the camp newspaper, The 45th Division News, in 1940.  These cartoons depicted the viewpoint of the war from the infantryman’s perspective, as experienced by bedraggled soldiers, Willie and Joe, the unshaven, listless, dull-eyed, cynical dogfaces who spent the war fighting the Germans, trying to keep dry and warm and flirting with insubordination. In 1943 his cartoons began appearing in Stars and Stripes and were syndicated by United Features in 1944.

Although Mauldin’s cartoons were wildly popular with enlisted men and with American audiences as well, they were not well received by some officers, notably General George Patton.  Patton summoned Mauldin to a meeting in 1945 and complained about the scruffiness of the characters and blamed Mauldin for disrespecting the army and "trying to incite a mutiny." Subsequently, General Eisenhower put an quick end to the campaign to ban Mauldin’s work by when he wrote an official letter to Deputy Theater Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Lear that said, in part, “A great deal of pressure has been brought on me in the past to abolish such things as Mauldin’s cartoons. . . . You will make sure that the responsible officer knows he is not to interfere in matters of this kind. If he believes that any specific violation of good sense or good judgment has occurred, he may bring it to my personal attention.”
 
  Here are all the cartoons Bill Mauldin created for Collier’s incredible project.



1.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 48.

2.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 59.

3.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 69.

4.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 74.

5.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 96.

 

6.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 106.

7.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 112.

8.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 125.

9.  BILL MAULDIN.  Collier’s  October 27, 1951.  Page 128.

- Edited from a December 5, 2019 blog entry.

Sparklemaia: "I Graduated From Comic Book School This Month"

 

 

Maia (she/they), graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies last month and at their Instagram, "Sparklemaia," they created this wonderful comic about this event and about their attitude toward the future. I met Maia at the Luna Moth Fest in 2024. I bought and enjoyed reading their comics. This is especially well done and I enjoyed it.