There’s a nice piece in today’s Chicago Tribune Magazine about Bill Mauldin.
There are so many great cartoonists past and present I have yet to delve into, and, sadly, Mauldin is still on my to-do list.
The good news is I there’s an exhibit of his work right here in Chi-town until the end of the year! It’s so rare that something like this is close to me that I’m positively giddy about it!
At the end of the Tribune piece, there’s a little thing that disturbs me, however:
The Chicago Tribune currently has no full-time editorial cartoonist on staff, not since the great Jeff MacNelly died at 52 in 2000. I showed some of Mauldin’s work to editorial page editor Bruce Dold. He smiled and said, “They don’t make ’em like MacNelly and Mauldin anymore.”
Would he hire Mauldin if he walked in the door today?
“In a second,” said Dold. “In a second.”
A note to the Trib:
While another Mauldin or MacNelly might never be, it shouldn’t take you six years to find another vital cartoon voice.
MacNelly left some big shoes to fill, but maybe we can find someone who can stuff some newspaper in the toes for a while?
Trib, baby, you know I love ya, but come on. You owe it to the cartoonists that helped make you great to get off your duff and hire someone already.
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