The Herblock Foundation has a brand spanking new whitepaper out on the state of political cartooning called “The Golden Age for Editorial Cartoonists at the Nation’s Newspapers is Over.” Too true.

The whitepaper (which you can download as a PDF here) contains a glum survey and a depressing collection of essays by a wide range of cartoonists, including Clay Bennett, Ted Rall, Jen Sorensen–and yours truly.

Here’s a quote from my essay, which is untitled in the collection, but which I like to call “The Way the Future of Political Cartooning Wasn’t.”

The future of political cartooning I imagined in 2001 was already a far cry from the future of political cartooning in 1981. My fellow 20-something alternative cartoonist friends and I didn’t even vaguely aspire to comfortable drafting-desk staff positions at daily newspapers with reasonable salaries and health benefits. The Pulitzer Prize application just seemed like a waste of money.

Our model was self-syndication in the alternative weeklies. We looked to Ted Rall, Keith Knight, Alison Bechdel. We’d pay our inky dues, toiling in the Bristol Board — or Wacom tablet — trenches. We’d work day jobs. By night we’d comb through news sources and write and draw and write. Sleep was for suckers.

We’d market ourselves with clever self-promotional packets mailed regularly to hundreds of alternative and niche publications. We’d blog and send e-mail newsletters, and we’d draw attention to our cartooning book collections at comic conventions with big vinyl banners and brightly colored tablecloths. We’d sell T-shirts and stickers to our legions of super-dedicated online fans.

Our aspirations were modest. Maybe one day we’d quit our day jobs and squeeze by on a low five-figure income. Or if we were already squeezing by fulltime, maybe one day we’d be able to afford — gasp! — basic health insurance.

That’s one of the least sad bits. Download the whitepaper PDF to read the whole thing.

Yeah, um… Happy New Year. And stuff.

P.S. If you want a more thorough sum-up of my 2011, it’s over here at my sewing blog Polka Dot Overload, but I do warn you that it is mostly about babies and sewing and not political cartoons or politics (except for a mention of me getting laid off from the cartoon syndicate United Media when they outsourced all our jobs to Universal Press Syndicate).

As I said previously, I can’t make it to SPX in Bethesda, but I will be hanging out at Masheka and Keith Knight’s table at the FREE Brooklyn Book Festival next Sunday Sept. 18:

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

10 AM – 6 PM

BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL
209 JORALEMON STREET
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201

MORE THAN 260 AUTHORS AT THE BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

Larry McMurtry, Terry McMillan, Jennifer Egan, Eoin Colfer, John Sayles,

Joyce Carol Oates, Craig Thompson, Walter Mosley, Adrian Tomine,

Amitav Ghosh, Jean Valentine, Jules Feiffer, Senator Joseph Lieberman,

Rachel Hawkins, Sam McBratney, Jacqueline Woodson,

Jhumpa Lahiri, Mo Willems, Pete Hamill and many more

The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart, diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages.

But Masheka and some of my Cartoonists With Attitude friends will be there. And Masheka has a sneak preview of his latest comic. Here’s the scoop:

First, have a sneak peek at the first panel of my adaptation of ‘De Cunjah Man’ in African-American Classics: Graphic Classics Vol. 22 on sale December 2011.

Aaaaaaaand this weekend, September 10 & 11 in Bethesda, MD, I’ll be at the 2011 Small Press Expo peddling books with Jen Sorensen and hanging out with Keith Knight and other cartoonist pals.

Unfortunately my better half, Mikhaela Reid, can’t make it this year, so this will be my first convention without a buffer between my many neuroses and the public at large. Me nervous! Hope ya like sweaty handshakes and mumblecore!

Masheka and I recently (well, two months ago) made it out to our first post-baby cartooning convention, the East Coast Black Age of Comics Con in Philadelphia. I wasn’t exhibiting my own cartoons, so I decided to sew up some little softies with Masheka’s drawings on them since I had already designed the fabric for Z’s Blue Doodle Hoodie.

They’re really simple–just upholstery fabric, stuffing, etc. In progress:

They sold quite well, though some folks thought they were cat toys–maybe next time (for the Small Press Expo) we’ll put catnip in them. Family shots:

P.S. Yeah, I know. No cartoons in a while. But I work full time, so I give all my attention to the baby girl (well, toddler now!) when I get home in the evenings. I’ll get back to it when she gets a little bigger, never fear.

Masheka and I will be tabling with our Cartoonists With Attitude pals Keith Knight (creator of “The K Chronicles” and “The Knight Life”) and Jen Sorensen (of “Slowpoke” fame) at the always fabulous 2011 Small Press Expo. More details to come!

What: SPX 2011

Where:

Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center

5701 Marinelli Road

Bethesda, MD 20852

Subway: White Flint Station

When: Open to the public Saturday and Sunday, September 10 and 11, 2011.

Saturday: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm

Sunday: noon – 6:00 pm

Bonus photo: Here we are with CWAer Matt Bors at SPX in 2006:

He was also recently(ish) featured in the gorgeous art book anthology Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture. That’s his art in the bottom left corner:

See the Black Comix blog for more info.

And he has another project coming up, which I’ll post about when I have more details.

Since I’m not drawing weekly cartoons anymore, I thought I’d occasionally post some Boiling Point Classics. Kicking it off with a 2003 cartoon above on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that is, happily, no longer relevant. The men’s names have no significance, but Willow was my beloved (now deceased) toothless cat. (For more current cartoons on the topic, see the work of my pal Matt Bors).

As for new material, I’ll have links to the Spanish-language cartoons on LGBT issues and immigrant rights I did for Lambda Legal’s “Fair Courts Matter!” campaign as soon as they’re available. (You can download the original English-language guide here, but the Spanish version has additional all-new cartoons).

And I still haven’t been able to fix my old blog feed. Some day I’ll have time to do that…

P.S. Here’s a random bonus photo of Cartoonist Baby, aka Baby Z… in a hoodie I sewed for her adorned with Masheka’s doodles:

Note her natural faux-hawk (or fro-hawk, really)–she’s totally punk rock.