Comic Riffs is a blog devoted to the comics fan. Come in, sit down and put your feet up as we celebrate, contemplate, eviscerate and pontificate on cartoons. 
RSS FeedArchive: The Riffs
Why do so very few comic strips bother to mark Veterans' Day?
In a time of war (or wars) and so soon after the Fort Hood tragedy, it seems especially a pity that so few comic strips bother to even take note of Veterans' Day. No, noting the holiday shouldn't feel...
By Michael Cavna | November 11, 2009; 09:05 AM ET | Comments (9)
Henry Allen speaks: When the reader reaches a tipping point
When the Comics Reach the Readers' Tipping Point NOTE TO READERS: In the wake of recent newsroom events, more than a few readers have urged and encouraged Comic Riffs to re-post this rant, which was first published two weeks...
By Michael Cavna | November 5, 2009; 01:10 PM ET | Comments (19)
'Riffs Picks: From iPhone art to the 'Addams Family' obit, today's eye-catching images
THE RIFF: Taking care of cartooning's breakout hits... In comics, the '80s are remembered by many with a halycyon glow, thanks especially to a trio of beacons: the brilliant creative lights who launched the masterworks "Calvin and Hobbes," "Bloom County"...
By Michael Cavna | October 20, 2009; 09:35 AM ET | Comments (13)
Is It Time to Bottle 'Blondie'? Now's Your Chance to Defend That 'Toon
Time, once again, to Defend...That...'Toon... 'BLONDIE' (KFS)Enlarge Image Blondie walks among us so gracefully, always quipping and catering, that it's easy to forget one fact: She's a zombie. All the undead should be so well preserved. "Zombie strips" -- those...
By Michael Cavna | September 16, 2009; 08:05 AM ET | Comments (25)
The Possible Dream: Desperately Seeking a New LOL Strip
I have a dream, and it's quite a modest dream, really. Nothing grand, not now. These are humbling times, and so I scale my wishes accordingly. I have a bright shining hope for the comics page, and it is...
By Michael Cavna | September 15, 2009; 01:20 PM ET | Comments (19)
The Riffys: Betty, Veronica and the Colbert Sandwich
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cThe Word - Arch Enemieswww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth Care Protests Sometimes great minds and your humble blogger -- overcoming the longest of odds -- think alike. And in this rare case,...
By Michael Cavna | August 22, 2009; 01:45 PM ET | Comments (1)
Will Hollywood Players Get Addicted to the 'Year of the Toy'?
This is more than a tin-soldiered skirmish. Hollywood has committed a bold and clear act of regression. "Transformers." "G.I. Joe." And now, this week, perhaps, the wee and humble LEGO. The producers who bankroll many of our blockbusters have...
By Michael Cavna | August 13, 2009; 12:05 PM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: Why 'G.I. Joe' Could Be a 'Game'-Changer
: Paramount refused to screen "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" for most mainstream movie critics and now I have a pretty good idea why. "G.I. Joe" is not a movie. Oh, "G.I. Joe" has all the recognizable traditional...
By Michael Cavna | August 10, 2009; 02:35 PM ET | Comments (2)
Strip of the Week: Supersize Your Comics Complaint
In a fairly inspired week of comic strippage, one strip stood out from the rest... 'DOONESBURY' (UPS)Enlarge Image This week's Riffy Award for Strip O' the Week goes to "DOONESBURY," which tackled the sticky matter of the Incredible Ever-Shrinking...
By Michael Cavna | July 18, 2009; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (13)
The Riff: When Refried Gags Cause Deja-Vu All Over Again
'FRANK AND ERNEST' (NEA)Enlarge Image This Riffster doesn't necessarily mind that "Frank & Ernest" traffics in old jokes. No, what really galls is when these jokes are old even within the lifespan of "Frank & Ernest." Or, put in...
By Michael Cavna | July 10, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
Heart of the Matter: A Memo to DreamWorks Animation
It's all too clear to see: For its next project, DreamWorks Animation should consider rendering the wizard of Oz. That's because L. Frank Baum's character could gift the studio's next 3D cartoon with the one thing it might just...
By Michael Cavna | June 3, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Swine Flu? Forearmed Is Forewarned
"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Time for Friday's Reading List, when we catch up with fave items of the week... 1. Swine flu hygiene has inspired Scott Adams to muse about safer forms of salutation on...
By Michael Cavna | May 8, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
When Obama Drives the Funnies
In real life, President Obama may be making man-of-the-people burger runs to Arlington. But in "Candorville"-Land, Obama is Harry Truman (the meta-year is 1948) crossed with an upper-crust FDR (right down to his ivory cig-holder). Regardless of setting, though, Darrin...
By Michael Cavna | May 6, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
When Obama Apparently Doesn't Lean Left...
If it's Friday, it's time for Comic Riffs's latest reading list. Enlarge Comic First off, we're compelled to soak up NATE BEELER's striking Washington Examiner cartoon of Obama as reliever for the Nats. Namely, we are struck by the...
By Michael Cavna | April 24, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
Hollywood Gets It Right: "State of Play's" Absent Cartoonist
Indulge me for a moment if you will, o fellow Riffians -- time now for a meta-post: Enlarge Comic So I've just seen "State of Play," Hollywood's new politico-journo thriller starring an engaging Russell Crowe, and I've got one cheeky...
By Michael Cavna | April 20, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Marmaduke the Movie? We've Got a Few Stray Ideas
Word comes this week from Animation Magazine and the Hollywood Reporter that "Marmaduke" -- yes, the single-panel high-jinks of a 55-year-old gallumphing Great Dane (that's 385 in dog years) -- is headed to the big screen. To which we've heard...
By Michael Cavna | March 12, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
How to Save Cartooning's Pulitzer From Extinction
As the ranks of staff political cartoonists continue to shrink -- most recently last week with the twin job losses of Ed Stein (his Rocky Mountain News was shuttered) and John Branch of the San Antonio Express-News (layoff) -- the...
By Michael Cavna | March 2, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
'Stimulus Chimp': Political Cartooning's Larger Powderkeg
For political cartoonists, it was the powderkeg that was bound to blow. Sooner or later, an editorial cartoon published during the Obama administration was going to be viewed by many as incontrovertibly racist. As both cartoonist and critic, I'm half-surprised...
By Michael Cavna | February 19, 2009; 02:15 PM ET | Comments (29)
Are Too Many Newspaper Comic Polls a Sham?
It's the ugly little secret that, within the newspaper comics industry and among avid comics followers, is nobody's secret at all: Namely, that the frequently used Newspaper Comics Reader Poll might be long-standing, but it is hardly upstanding. It has...
By Michael Cavna | February 6, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (28)
Miffys for 'Tank McNamara' and 'Curtis'
Morning, Cartoon Nation... One summer, while teaching a course in cartooning to teens, I found myself repeatedly emphasizing two recommendations: 1. Keep the writing tight. 2. Keep your characters' reactions authentic and true. If you can't do that, you'll never...
By Michael Cavna | January 30, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
What Is the Single Funniest Comic Today? (*No Retirees)
"You write about comics?" asked the 30ish guy, somewhat intrigued. "I used to read the comics all the time, but I don't find 'em so funny anymore." "What was the last comic that you did find funny, " I asked....
By Michael Cavna | January 22, 2009; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (35)
The Riffys: Old-Media Picks for a New-Media Site
For this week, we award one big fat collective Riffy to four strips that satirized the current state of affairs in print journalism and the comics industry. Most every comic stripper we talk with these days is feeling the pinch;...
By Michael Cavna | January 9, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Riff: 'Best of' Lists Can Bring Out the Worst of Instincts
"Top Ten Editorial Cartoons." "Best Editorial Cartoons of '08." "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year." This time of year, the swarm of alleged "best" lists gets so thick as to leave one feeling utterly, well, listless. How many such cartoon...
By Michael Cavna | January 7, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Riff: Younger Spidey--and the Amazing Mark Trail?
In this excrutiating era of downsizing in the newspaper cartooning world, it seems the time has come for one obvious change. MARK TRAIL (NAS)Enlarge Comic My modest proposal: A single artist could now draw the characters of both Mark Trail...
By Michael Cavna | January 1, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Riff: When the Funnies Go Verbose
In the middle of an interview some years back with Pulitzer-winning political-cartooning legend Paul Conrad, I asked about his extreme pithiness. The messages of his cartoons were often conveyed with striking visuals and short captions, and he loathed word balloons....
By Michael Cavna | December 19, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (5)
The Riff: In Tough Times, Let Them Eat Cake--Or Candy
Give "Sally Forth" its just due, if not its just desserts. Today's strip offers an observation that not only elicits a smile, but also sends me scurrying to the company vending machines. The corporate structure: You are what you eat....
By Michael Cavna | December 10, 2008; 12:40 PM ET | Comments (1)
The Riff: All Politics Is Loco--and Amusingly So
Cartoonists are still grappling with how to comment on, get into, stir up and get laughs OUT of the incoming Obama administration. So it's an encouraging sign that today's "Candorville" and "Rhymes With Orange" have engaging takes of Operation Transition....
By Michael Cavna | December 9, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Riffys: The Envelope, Please ...
As Sarah Palin gags began to subside from the funnypages, a new wave of topicality rushes in to fill the void -- namely, takes on life with Obama, life without a job and, as always, shtick about dropping one's drawers....
By Michael Cavna | December 5, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Riff: How to Avoid the Day-Old Gag
Comedy is all in the timing, the saying goes. The aphorism is usually understood to refer to tempo and pacing. Comedy, though, can also be in the timing of the cultural cycle. A word or phrase that plays for maximum...
By Michael Cavna | December 2, 2008; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: Which Strip Should Be Hollywood-Bound?
As the holiday season's movie trailers assault my senses, they still, somehow, manage to pique my curiosity. What's coming up between now and Pixar's next biggie, "Up," I mull, in the world of animation. Scanning the pre-"Watchmen" filmscape, one category...
By Michael Cavna | December 1, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
The Riffys: Dysfunctional Fun at the Forth Estate
As the tryptophan slowly wears off, I rouse to fulfill my honorbound duty to the hardworking cartoonists who made us laugh -- or wince with familial familiarity -- during Thanksgiving week. So without further adieu, this week's Riffy Awards: Putting...
By Michael Cavna | November 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Riff: Comic Riffs Gives Thanks
With Thanksgiving just hours away, Comic Riffs pauses to give heartfelt thanks to a handful of things. To wit: (UFS) Enlarge Comic 1. I AM THANKFUL THAT "Get Fuzzy's" Rob Wilco is on the front lines of the war on...
By Michael Cavna | November 26, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Riff: Cartoonists Need Post-Palin Rehab
To the nation's topical cartoonists, this was the most soothing of balms. Whenever the all-too-painful symptoms of elusive news-cycles, too-complex issues or plain ol' gag-writers' block flared up, this was the cure-all -- a one-stop fix for all that ails...
By Michael Cavna | November 25, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
The Riff: Where the Wilder Comics Grow...
The language of television ever changes. Radio chatter has grown more liberal in recent decades. But the dialogue standards in a family newspaper's funnies remain, for the most part, stuck in 1952. Which stymies some comic-strippers who want to sound...
By Michael Cavna | November 21, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
Requiem for the Staff Political Cartoonist (2009)
The dire headlines come so fast and infuriating these days, it's rather like watching those sepia-toned, World War II-era newsreels -- the ones with the bold, fly-by headlines and clipped voiceover narration. We can imagine: "Newspaper Cartoonists on the March...
By Michael Cavna | November 13, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
The Riff: Obama Satire...Too Soon?
It finally happened. Six days after the election, Comic Riffs encountered our first official Obama Joke. Now, by "official" Obama Joke, let us be clear: We mean a professional humorist who makes a joke ABOUT President-elect Obama, in the wake...
By Michael Cavna | November 12, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Drawing Obama: To Political Cartoonists, a Call to Arms
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NATION'S POLITICAL CARTOONISTS It's been a long, sometimes daunting road to Obama's presidential victory. Artistic mistakes were made along the way, and occasionally, some cartoonists did not display the necessary vision. But those mistakes are...
By Michael Cavna | November 6, 2008; 06:05 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Riff: Stuck for a Halloween Costume? Try This Character at Home
Stumped for Halloween? For many grownups, the "what to go as?" question is particularly vexing this year. Sarah Palin and Barack Obama both seem way played-out as costume ideas, as does dressing as "the Economy." So as a reader service,...
By Michael Cavna | October 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: How Cartoonists Can Cushion Our Pocketbook Pain
When cartoonists are the windows to our soul -- and wallet. (TMS) Enlarge Comic In these difficult and trying financial times, we thusly issue this heartfelt editorial -- nay, our open plea -- to our cartooning colleagues: When in the...
By Michael Cavna | October 13, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
The Riff: Time to Vote, My Friends: Who Should Be Character-in-Chief?
Now, nation, as we as all know, presidential politics have provided some of America's greatest slogans: "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" "I Like Ike!" "You could do worse ... and always have!" That last one -- still our personal fave --...
By Michael Cavna | October 9, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (23)
The Riff: The Funny Bone's Connected to the...Mind's-Eye
For our deeper laughs today, the funnypages are all about the visuals. Does Sherman cross the line? (KFS) Enlarge Comic "Sherman's Lagoon," for one, wades into comic-strip cross-pollination by invoking that famous -- and to some, infamous -- dotted line...
By Michael Cavna | October 8, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
The Riff: Is "Beetle Bailey" Like "Mad Men" Without the Wink?
One is a fresh, Emmy-winning show with serious buzz. The other is a hall-of-fame cartoon that is often derided as stale and past its prime. So what could AMC's slick "Mad Men" and Mort Walker's old-school "Beetle Bailey" possibly have...
By Michael Cavna | October 7, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
The Riff: Appreciating a Great Post Journalist
Gather 'round, friends. There's plenty of room in the back, near the water cooler and the wall o' Pulitzers. It is time now to take a moment to pay our respects to one of The Washington Post's most famous and...
By Michael Cavna | October 6, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
The Riff: "Garfield's" Jon Arbuckle: Unlucky Chap or Self-Loathing Sicko?
Comic strip or particularly sordid episode of VH1's "Behind the Music"? Judging by the rogues' gallery of single women who make up Jon Arbuckle's creepy dating history, it's a close call. Now showing: the gruesome dating history of Jon Arbuckle....
By Michael Cavna | September 30, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
The Riff: Who's the Online Comics "Editor"? YOU Are.
To many readers, the news apparently comes as both bombshell and revelation: The Washington Post does not edit its daily choice of online comics and editorial cartoons. Yep, you read it right. Although every comic in the print edition is...
By Michael Cavna | September 26, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (27)
The Morning Line: "Doonesbury" Sings the Newspaper Blues
Even "Doonesbury" isn't immune from the print newspaper blues. When Garry Trudeau's "Washington Post" begins a round of buyouts this week, it can't help but hit close to home. (UPS) Enlarge Comic In the pages of The Washington Post this...
By Michael Cavna | September 16, 2008; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
The Riff: Secrets That Cartoonists Don't Want You to Know...
Yesterday, in the spirit of encouraging potentially talented artists -- and more so, to discourage the talentless so they would not toil for decades in vain -- we offered a Comic Riffs Quiz for Aspiring Cartoonists. Some of you, it...
By Michael Cavna | September 11, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: Take This Quiz and Become a Famous Cartoonist!
Every now and again, an aspiring artist accosts us with a portfolio the size of a small watercraft and asks: "Do I have what it takes to make it as a professional cartoonist?" To which we reply: "Absolutely not."...
By Michael Cavna | September 10, 2008; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: Vote Now to Adopt-a-Dog...
Now that we're reading "Little Dog Lost" religiously in The Post, we've come to a quick conclusion: This is about the saddest, most melancholy pooch we've ever encountered on mainstream comic pages. Is the moon half-full or half-empty? (WPWG)Enlarge Comic...
By Michael Cavna | September 8, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
The Riff: When a Hurricane Hits the Comics
Many days ago, a hurricane began to hurtle toward "Pooch Cafe." (UPS) Enlarge Comic Forget the hurricane zone. We've just entered "The Twilight Zone." Weeks and weeks ago, before Hurricane Gustav was upon us, the cartoonist Paul Gilligan wrote the...
By Michael Cavna | September 2, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
The Riff: Sarge or Hagar, Who Is More 'Macho'?
Once upon a VHS era, "Saturday Night Live" had an inspired game-show parody titled "?Quien Es Mas Macho?" -- in which Bill Murray quizzed contestants about who most embodied the manly heights of machismo. When we read "Beetle Bailey" and...
By Michael Cavna | September 1, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Riff: When Comics Literally Show Their Age...
As a cartoonist, when you create a gag-a-day comic panel that has no continuing characters, you occasionally gaze at the strips that do have characters and think: How much easier would THAT be? Even when such a feature is not...
By Michael Cavna | August 28, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (9)
The Riff: Where Cartoonists Go to Die in The Post...
As near as anyone can tell, it is by freak occurrence and in no way by design. Yet somehow, it is quite tidy in its cosmic, comic segregation. Namely: Nearly all the dead guys are buried in the same corner...
By Michael Cavna | August 26, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (17)
The Riff: From Harvey Pekar, the Power of Honest Comics
Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner tell their tale in the film "American Splendor." (John Clifford/Courtesy of HBO/Fine Line) Comics are often tagged as pure escapism, but that limiting a label does some of them a disservice. Emotionally true comics...
By Michael Cavna | August 20, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
The Riff: An Ode to "Calvin and Hobbes"
Bill Watterson's tot and tiger remain irreplaceable. "For all their seeming simplicity, the expressive possibilities of comics rival those of any other art form." -- Bill Watterson (2001) For a time as a teen, we spent countless hours studying...
By Michael Cavna | August 14, 2008; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (29)
