I get called for these “Death Of Editorial Cartoon” articles often enough now that it seriously depresses me. I’m thinking of retiring from being quoted in them. But this one turned out pretty good. Using Daryl Cagle’s fundraiser for Bill Day as a launching point, Chris Davis writes about the fabulous future of the field, consulting some folks you probably know about if you’ve been reading this blog regularly.
“This Modern World” creator Dan Perkins, who draws under the pen name Tom Tomorrow (see p. 55), is only slightly less pessimistic in his reading of the cartoon tea leaves. “This is an aging profession,” he quips, imagining a post-apocalyptic future when young Matt Bors is old Matt Bors, the last editorial cartoonist left on planet Earth.
“Symbolia” creator Erin Polgreen, a Chicago-based media consultant who sees much potential in the future of illustrated news, can’t envision a happy ending for traditional editorial cartoonists, either. “I don’t want to sound brutal,” Polgreen says, before rendering a brutally honest assessment: “At some point, it could have all evolved. But that never really happened.”
Here’s an exchange I had with Lalo Alcaraz this morning.
@mattbors I know you’re like 15 years younger than I am but I will give you a good run at being the last editorial cartoonist on earth
Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz) December 13, 2012
@mattbors Crap, now I gotta go to the gym and eat right. Fuck!
Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz) December 13, 2012
As long as I don’t have to draw you topless RT @mattbors: We can be like the end of Titanic & you be Jack and let me have the floating door!
Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz) December 13, 2012
