Books and PeriodicalsComic Strips
Cartoonists in the News
Skip to commentsPublished: November 10, 2026Updated: November 10, 20262 minutes0 comments
Featuring Ware, Beiman, Pich and Kunz, Pastis, Li-Vollmer, Gilchrist, and Aislin.
Chris Ware Arts and Crafts
The latest edition of ACME Novelty Library (#21) releases today and its a comic book like no other, as is to be expected from cartoonist Chris Ware.
“Chris Ware’s “Acme Novelty Library #21″ is a paper lover’s delight. The book is housed in an 11-by-15 inch portfolio box, full of treasures and his trademark small-print pessimism: ‘CELEBRATE the death of AMERICA—it’s a BIG PARTY and we’re all INVITED!’ … The back of the folio features a faux advertisement for a one-hundred piece ‘Civil War Playset,’ with small green plastic army figurines priced at $1.75 (‘confederate funds only, or valid blue state abortion voucher’). No space is left un-quipped, rewarding a close reading of the fine print.”
“This reviewer’s favorite parts of the portfolio were the large, map-sized comics that required folding and unfolding to read. For anyone accustomed to reading novels on their phone, the experience of reading these pages was tactile and required a bit of movement and space.”
“[E]xcerpted from the broadsheet-size ‘Untitled,’ Ware chronicles the end of the world and the disruptions brought on by the pandemic.”
NCS Open House with Nancy Beiman
A virtual Zoom event next Monday.
“Member Spotlight and Studio Tour Interview plus live Q/A with NANCY BEIMAN (https://www.gocomics.com/furbabies) hosted by JAMAR NICHOLAS (https://jamarnicholas.weebly.com/)”
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Pich and Kunz Plant a Forest
One tree per patron: War and Peas is planting a climate-resilient forest in Germany this December.
“Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz, the creators of War and Peas, are giving each of their Patreon supporters a tree. Together with the Saarländische Naturlandstiftung, a nature conservation foundation in the German state of Saarland, they are planting the “Funny Forest” on a hill called the Peterberg. About 1,640 patrons already have a tree waiting for them, and anyone who joins by November 30 gets one too.”
“The hill used to be covered in spruce. After several hot, dry summers, bark beetles killed the whole stand, which has happened in many parts of Germany. The foundation is replacing it with oak, sweet chestnut, maple, rowan, aspen and wild cherry, species picked because they cope better with heat and drought. Planting day is December 10, weather permitting. Patrons can come and plant their own tree, and the foundation’s team will plant it for anyone who can’t make the trip.”
The Jubilant Pastis
Stephan Pastis kicks off his latest book tour today in his and Charles Schulz’s hometown.
Dan Taylor for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports (or here):
“Santa Rosa cartoonist Stephan Pastis has never been shy about acknowledging his admiration for Charles ‘Sparky’ Schulz, the late creator of ‘Peanuts,’ whose work inspired him to become a cartoonist.
“So it makes sense that Pastis titled his new 25th anniversary collection ‘Pearls Jubilee,’ a nod to Schulz’s ‘Peanuts Jubilee,’ published in 1975.
“‘This book is the big one,’ Pastis said one recent morning, while taking a break from writing and drawing.
“The 288-page volume features hundreds of comic strips selected from the past 25 years of ‘Pearls Before Swine,’ accompanied by commentary from Pastis.”
For The Suburban Mike Cohen is introduce to Pearls Before Swine and Pearls Jubilee.
“Pearls Jubilee is Pastis’s own retrospective of the strip. He has selected the funniest, most controversial, and most heartwarming installments from 25 years of syndication, and added never-before-seen strips deemed too hot for newspapers, tributes from fellow cartoonists, and a collection of real fan mail and hate mail from readers who loved, and sometimes loathed, what they found on the comics page. Pearls Jubilee arrives in bookstores December 8.”
Meredith Li-Vollmer – Public Service Cartoonist
Rachel Saslow for <a href="https://www.wweek.com/comics/2026/11/09/the-artist-behind-the-toilet-rat-comic-has-gone-viral-before/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Willamette Week profiles local cartoonist Meredith Li-Vollmer and her viral comic strip.
“People are calling it ‘nightmare fuel’: the idea of opening a toilet lid and finding a sewer rat swimming around in the bowl. Last week, the Multnomah County Health Department released a comic strip on social media called ‘What to Do if There’s a Rat in the Toilet’ that has sent many Portlanders spiraling. Cue multiple articles and news segments in the local media, and hilarious comment threads on Instagram, Reddit and elsewhere.
“Artist Meredith Li-Vollmer is not surprised.
“Li-Vollmer has been creating comics for Seattle & King County Public Health since 2008, and none has gone quite as viral as toilet rat. She calls it her most ‘notorious’ comic.”
“Li-Vollmer is a senior communications strategist for Seattle & King County Public Health and an established voice in how to use comic formats in public health messaging. In fact, she wrote the book on it, 2022’s Graphic Public Health: A Comics Anthology and Roadmap.”
Gilchrist Archives Up for Auction
“When Jim Henson decided that it was time for “The Muppets” to have their own newspaper comic strip, he needed to find an artist who could capture the charming and fun spirit of the characters in hand-drawn artwork. Henson found his answer in Guy Gilchrist.”
Julien Auctions is offering part of Guy Gilchrist‘s comic collection up for auction.
“For this auction, Gilchrist exclusively opened up his extensive artwork archive with Julien’s in order to share his decades of artistic output with those who will treasure it. This unique sale includes selections of original comic artwork by Gilchrist for “Jim Henson’s Muppets,” “Nancy,” “The Rock Channel,” “Your Angels Speak,” and more; as well as original airbrushed artwork for the book illustrations for the “Tiny Dinos” series, original artwork from Gilchrist’s children’s books “Just Imagine” and “Night Lights & Pillow Fights,” and his archive of artwork that he created for Dolly Parton’s “I Believe in You” animated music video series. Plus, a cornucopia of unpublished and never-before-seen artwork that Gilchrist is bringing to the public for the very first time. Additionally, Gilchrist has also included a selection of other pieces that he’s collected over the years, including original animation artwork of “Woody Woodpecker” by Gilchrist’s hero, Walter Lantz, a signed book from Gilchrist’s mentor, “Beetle Bailey” creator Mort Walker, signed record albums and photos by The Beach Boys, Priscilla Presley, Ann-Margret, and more.”
Leonard Cohen and Aislin
The Montreal Gazette recalls the Leonard Cohen-Aislin connection.
“In 1980, Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher, a.k.a. Aislin, was holding an exhibition of his work at a popular Bishop St. bar when none other than Leonard Cohen walked through the door.
“A mutual friend, photographer Hazel Field, took this photo of the pair as they struck up a conversation about sketchbooks and pens, Cohen having expressed an interest in drawing.”
“Being the Montreal icon he was, Cohen appeared in Mosher’s work on multiple occasions over the decades. To mark 10 years since Cohen’s death on Nov. 7, 2016, here’s a compilation of some of those drawings.”
