Cartoonists’ good deeds are not confined to the funnies
page. Recently, Stars & Stripes
reported, some of America's
best-known cartoonists took off on a USO tour of bases in Germany and the Middle East.
According to a USO press release, the group included Jeff Bacon (Broadside and
Greenside), editoonist Chip Bok (Ohio’s Akron Beacon Journal), Bruce
Higdon (Army Times, Army Magazine,
Soldiers Magazine), Jeff Keane (The Family Circus), Rick Kirkman (Baby Blues), Stephan Pastis
(Pearls Before Swine), Mike Peters (Mother Goose and Grimm), editoonist Michael Ramirez (Investors
Business Daily), caricaturist Tom
Richmond (Mad), and Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury). The tour evokes a National Cartoonists Society
tradition that dates to World War II before the Society even existed; in fact,
it was formed by cartoonists who, while performing before soldiers convalescing
in military hospitals, discovered they enjoyed each other’s company and decided
to prolong the camaraderie by establishing a club. "I'm so proud of our
men and women in uniform," said Keane, NCS President. "They, much
like my dad who served in the Army back in the mid-1940s, have worked so hard
and sacrificed so much. I am honored to be part of this USO tour and I can't
thank our troops enough."
Several of
the cartoonists with blogs — Richmond
and Pastis in particular — reported their adventures during the tour. Because of
security concerns (remember: rampaging Islamic hoodlums have an unsatiated
appetite for killing cartoonists), the bloggers could’t say where they were. But
they could say what they were doing. Pastis, for instance, wrote: “Spent all day
lying in the sun at the edge of the Persian Gulf.
Was going to solve all of the Middle East’s
problems, but decided to get a tan instead. Tomorrow I go to a new country. I’d
like to name it, but I’m not allowed to identify it until I get back home. I’m
like James Bond, but without the nice car. Or fancy clothes. Or hot women.
Instead, I’m with a bunch of pudgy, middle-age cartoonists.” What a joker that
Pastis.
For the
Whole Story of how the cartooner club came into being, visit Harv’s
Hindsight at the Usual Place and look for “Rube Goldberg and the NCS.”
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