The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops. They enjoyed each other's company and decided to meet on a regular basis.
Gary Larson is an American cartoonist who created The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended with Larson's retirement on January 1, 1995, though since 2020 Larson has published additional comics online. His twenty-three books of collected cartoons have combined sales of more than forty-five million copies.
The Far Side is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, references to proverbs, or the search for meaning in life. Larson's frequent use of animals and nature in the comic is popularly attributed to his background in biology. The Far Side was ultimately carried by more than 1,900 daily newspapers, translated into 17 languages, and collected into calendars, greeting cards, and 23 compilation books, and reruns are still carried in many newspapers. After a 25-year hiatus, in July 2020 Larson began drawing new Far Side strips offered through the comic's official website.
An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current affairs in a national or international context. Political cartoonists generally adopt a caricaturist style of drawing, to capture the likeness of a politician or subject. They may also employ humor or satire to ridicule an individual or group, emphasize their point of view or comment on a particular event.
John Lewis Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strips B.C. and The Wizard of Id. Brant Parker co-produced and illustrated The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society. In his later years, he was known for incorporating Christian themes and messages into his strips. Hart was referred to by Chuck Colson in a Breakpoint column as "the most widely read Christian of our time," over C. S. Lewis, Frank E. Peretti, and Billy Graham.
Elzie Crisler Segar, known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip Thimble Theatre.
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises, like The Cuphead Show!, which it produced with Netflix, and licenses its classic characters and properties.
Daniel Charles Piraro, is a painter, illustrator, and cartoonist best known for his syndicated cartoon panel Bizarro. Piraro's cartoons have been reprinted in 16 book collections. He has also written three books of prose.
Rhymes with Orange is an American comic strip written and drawn by Hilary B. Price and distributed by King Features Syndicate. The title comes from the commonly held belief that no word in the English language rhymes with "orange". It was first syndicated in June 1995.
Henry Boltinoff was an American cartoonist who worked for both comic strips and comic books. He was a prolific cartoonist and drew many of the humor and filler strips that appeared in National Periodical comics from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Jerry Van Amerongen is a cartoonist based in the United States. His work includes the comic panel Ballard Street, which has run since 1991. Before 1991 he drew a comic panel entitled The Neighborhood for ten years. He has been recognized with the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Award for 2004 and 2006 for his work on Ballard Street. Van Amerongen's work is currently distributed by Creators Syndicate.
Richard Church Thompson was an American illustrator and cartoonist best known for his syndicated comic strip Cul de Sac and the illustrated poem "Make the Pie Higher". He was given the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2010.
Funny Times (FT) is an American humor newspaper founded in 1985, and still published as of 2023, by the wife and husband team of Susan Wolpert and Raymond Lesser. Wolpert and Lesser were inspired by The Comic News of Santa Cruz, California, "a monthly journal of progressive editorial cartoons" founded in 1984 by Thom Zajac. FT's political content is often subversive and has a progressive/liberal perspective.
Jay Malcolm Kennedy was an American editor and writer. The author of The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide, he was a long-time editor at King Features Syndicate, eventually rising to the position of editor-in-chief.
Humor Times is an American monthly magazine that "reviews the news" using political satire.
Irving Walter Phillips was a noted American cartoonist, playwright, television scriptwriter, author, illustrator and educator. He is best remembered for his daily newspaper comic panel The Strange World of Mr. Mum.
The Strange World of Mr. Mum was a surreal humor comic panel by Irving Phillips which was published from May 5, 1958, to 1974. At its peak, it appeared daily in 180 newspapers in 22 countries. Initially distributed by the Hall Syndicate, it was later handled by the Field Newspaper Syndicate. A Sunday edition began October 4, 1959.
The Silver Reuben Award is an award for cartoonists organized by the National Cartoonists Society. Until 2015, the awards was known as the National Cartoonists Society Division Awards.
Chronicle Features was the syndication arm of the San Francisco Chronicle. Syndicating comic strips, newspaper columns, and editorial features, it operated from 1962 to c. 1998. The syndicate was known for the offbeat comic strips it championed, such as Gary Larson's The Far Side, Dan Piraro's Bizarro, and the editorial cartoons of Ted Rall. The service was acquired by Universal Press Syndicate in 1997 and went defunct soon after.
Carpe Diem is a gag panel comic strip by Swedish cartoonist Niklas Eriksson, syndicated by King Features. "Inspired by Gary Larson's The Far Side and Dan Piraro's Bizarro, Carpe Diem takes timeless situations that happen in daily life and spin them on their head, casting them anywhere from the dawn of the universe to modern-day couch potatoes, and every day in-between."
