Publisher Jonathan Cape is celebrating five years of its Graphic Short Story Prize by releasing an e-book compilation of the winners and some of the best also-rans. Forbidden Planet has a sneak peak, and plenty of related links, here.
After the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were firebombed over the publication of a front-cover cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammad, journalist and academic Victor S Navasky asks why cartoons have the ability to make people so angry. See The New York Times for his conclusions.
The New Jersey Hall of Fame has included 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast on its list of nominees for possible induction in 2012. Voting is ongoing, but the anti-Irish and anti-Catholic imagery in some of Nast’s drawings has led to a call for his exclusion.
Elsewhere in the US, The Washington Post’s Michael Cavna considers the difficulties faced by cartoonists when responding to tragic events. Read his thoughts here.