Comments on: Stars of Political Cartooning - Herb "Herblock" Block

By: ZEITGEIST / Quick hits

ZEITGEIST / Quick hits — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:01:01 +0000

[...] The Expanding Influence of Comics Exhibits/Events Go See Tom Batiuk Mid-Ohio Con Report History On Herblock On Howard Chaykin Industry Quit Yelling At Me I Hate Your Cartoon Did Liberals Love Opus? Learn [...]

By: News Briefs for October 8, 2008 » The Daily Cartoonist

News Briefs for October 8, 2008 » The Daily Cartoonist — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:00:18 +0000

[...] was used on CNN during a segment about people’s fear of losing their 401(k) values. » Comic Book Resources highlights the career of Herblock. » Henry Payne and David Horsey were interviewed yesterday by Seattle’s Weekday program [...]

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:40:06 +0000

That's some damn good stuff - particularly the Mcarthy and Nixon one's.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:38:32 +0000

I dunno, I think it is a fair point that Herblock's work from the 80s and 90s is of lesser quality than his earlier work.

It makes some sense, really, as the dude was in his 70s and 80s then - it would not be surprising to note that he had less of an edge then as when he was a younger man.

I think the work was still good, but just not AS good as his earlier work.

By: bird

bird — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:30:46 +0000

this is one of my favorite themed threads you've had brian. thank you.

By: Larry Bush

Larry Bush — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:15:50 +0000

Great stuff from Herblock! You didn't have room to mention his vast bibliography. I know of ten volumes, and there could be more. In his books there is more than just page after page of cartoons. Herblock puts narrative among the cartoons, explaining the political situation of the time. Check out his autobiography, "A Cartoonist's Life" by Herbert Block. It should be available used on Abebooks.com.

By: suedenim

suedenim — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:04:38 +0000

It's not just that, though - he looks objectively like a better, sharper, more inventive, cartoonist in the Nixon cartoons than in anything I remember from the Reagan-Bush days. Which isn't terribly surprising, really, for any cartoonist with such an astonishingly long working life. Herblock's latter days weren't his best - but you can say the same of many if not most cartoonists. Basically, the revelation to me from this post is "Wow, so Herblock [i]didn't[/i] always suck!" Much in the way, say, someone who had only seen Jack Kirby's '80s work might be blown away by seeing the New Gods or the Lee/Kirby FF for the first time.

By: Jono11

Jono11 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:53:36 +0000

Well, of course, Suedenim. You would hate him when he disagrees with you, but as soon as you see him attack an easy target that a four-year-old can agree to poke fun at, then you're all aboard!

By: suedenim

suedenim — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:29:06 +0000

I actually thought Herblock's work was horrendous for the entirety of the time I read him in the post (mid-'80s to the end.) The tritest left-wing takes, usually a step *behind* the news instead of in front, coupled with indifferent cartooning.

And I still do, but looking at this retrospective, it's clear that he was a *lot* better in his heyday. I particularly like that Mussolini cartoon.

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Oct. 7, 2008: Hacked/Slashed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:31:30 +0000

[...] Brian Cronin looks at the work of Herb [...]

By: Anthony Strand

Anthony Strand — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:17:48 +0000

From FDR to George W. Bush. That's an impressive career.

By: Graeme Burk

Graeme Burk — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:02:42 +0000

When you said "He chose the Washington Post in 1943, and it would be the next century before he stopped working there." I was sure there was a typo...but astoundingly it wasn't. What an amazing body of work. His 1930s and 1940s work is really smart and brilliantly constructed, but his stuff in the '90s equally so. His style evolved and changed but he really had a remarkably sharp wit.

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:45:52 +0000

I grew up reading his stuff in the Washington post (I think...it is hard to forget "Herblock" sig, even though he died when I was a mere 21 years old and not a fanatic newspaper reader at that age).

By: Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:47:59 +0000

I was never sure if his name was Herb Lock or Her Block or somethign completely unrelated to Herblock. Now I know. Wow, what an ass-kicker.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:42:56 +0000

That works for me!!

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:44:38 +0000

Brian, sorry to be a proof-reader...
Did you mean to say "but that does NOT mean that he was an FDR apologist "?