The internet has unleashed a burst of cartooning creativity
As the newspaper industry continues its decline, the funnies pages have
decoupled from print. Instead of working for huge syndicates, or for censored
newspapers with touchy editors, cartoonists are now free to create whatever they
want. Whether it is cutting satire about Chinese politics, or a simple joke
about being a dog, everything can win an audience on the internet.
This burst of new life comes as cartoons seemed to be in terminal decline. Punch, once a fierce political satire magazine whose cartoons
feature in almost every British history textbook, finally closed its doors in
2002. The edgier Viz magazine, which sold a million copies
an issue in the early 1990s, now sells 65,000. In the United States, of the
sprawling EC Comics stable, only Mad magazine remains, its
circulation down from 2.1m in 1974 to 180,000. Meanwhile, the American newspaper
industry, home of the cartoon strip, now makes less in advertising revenue than
at any time since the 1950s.
