April 4, 2022
The hardreading staff was cruising the Boston Sunday Globe comics yesterday when we stumbled upon this Doonesbury joint.


Here at the Global Worldwide Headquarters, we’ve long sung the praises of Boston’s editorial cartoonists. Representative sample from the good old days.
Boston Editorial Cartoonists Enter WeinerWorld
Boston is blessed not only with two daily newspapers, but with two very talented editorial cartoonists: Dan Wasserman at the Boston Globe, and Jerry Holbert at the Boston Herald.
(You can count on two hands the number of daily newspapers nationally that employ editorial cartoonists. And yes, technically Wasserman may be a syndicated cartoonist rather than a Globe staffer, but his drawings still have a Globe identity.)
In Thursday’s editions, the two coincidentally visited Six Flags Over Anthony Weiner.
Holbert:

Wasserman:

Smart, as usual.
Wasserman and Holbert are, sadly, long gone from the local dailies. So are most staff editorial cartoonists nationwide, as Politico’s Jack Shafer noted several years ago.
Essays marking the decline of editorial cartooning have been perennial since 1954, when the Saturday Review’s Henry Ladd Smith declared the form trite and exhausted. But we are now really entering the end times of the editorial cartoon. At the beginning of the last century, about 2,000 editorial cartoonists worked for American newspapers. By 1957 the number of full-time newspaper cartoonists had fallen to 275. As recently as 2007, they numbered 84, but the decline has continued to the point that the number of salaried cartoonists has reached about 30.
It’s likely even fewer now.
(To be fair graf goes here)
To be fair, the Globe op-ed page does feature the estimable Christopher Weyant once a week.
And the Herald often features the work of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Steve Kelley.
But, sorry Mike Doonesbury. Nobody’s gonna pick up the slack.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Sunday Globe, Christopher Weyant, Dan Wasserman, Doonesbury, editorial cartoonists, Global Worldwide Headquarters, Henry Ladd Smith, Jack Shafer, Jerry Holbert, Mike Doonesbury, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Politico, Saturday Review, Steve Kelley |
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March 4, 2015
As the hardreading staff has often noted, it’s good to live in a Two-Cartoonist Town and etc.
Today’s editions of the local dailies are no exception, providing these nifty bookends.
From the Boston Globe’s Dan Wasserman:

From the Boston Herald’s Jerry Holbert:

Different world views is exactly right.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, Iran, Jerry Holbert, Two-Cartoonist Town |
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November 27, 2014
As the hardreading staff has relentlessly noted, it’s good to live in a Two-Cartoonist Town. Wednesday’s local dailies are just the latest example.
The Boston Globe’s Dan Wasserman:

The Boston Herald’s Jerry Holbert:

That about sums it up, yeah?
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, Ferguson, Jerry Holbert, Two-Cartoonist Town |
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July 26, 2013
Boston is blessed not only with two daily newspapers, but with two very talented editorial cartoonists: Dan Wasserman at the Boston Globe, and Jerry Holbert at the Boston Herald.
(You can count on two hands the number of daily newspapers nationally that employ editorial cartoonists. And yes, technically Wasserman may be a syndicated cartoonist rather than a Globe staffer, but his drawings still have a Globe identity.)
In Thursday’s editions, the two coincidentally visited Six Flags Over Anthony Weiner.
Holbert:

Wasserman:

Smart, as usual.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Anthony Weiner, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, editorial cartoonists, Jerry Holbert, Six Flags Over Anthony Weiner, WeinerWorld |
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October 6, 2012
Editorial cartoonists Dan Wasserman of the Boston Globe and Jerry Holbert of the Boston Herald had the same line on the first 2012 presidential debate: Barack Obama got totally pwned by Mitt Romney.
Holbert’s version:

Wasserman’s version:

The hardreading staff just hopes this rare two-daily concurrence doesn’t rip a hole in the space/time continuum.
As they say in the news biz: Space/time will tell.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Waserman, Jerry Holbert, Obama Romney debate |
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September 14, 2012
The other night Boston University’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Center hosted a lecture by legendary illustrator Edward Sorel, whose editorial cartoons rank among the 20th century’s most searing commentary on American politics.
Helpful documentary by Sorel’s son Leo here.
Which got the hardreading staff to thinking:
How lucky are we that Boston has not one, but two editorial cartoonists in our local dailies.
First up, the Boston Herald’s reliable Jerry Holbert:

Next up, the Boston Globe’s inspired Dan Wasserman:

Unfortunately, editorial cartoonists are fast becoming an endangered species.
From the American Journalism Review:
Ted Rall, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, says there are fewer than 100 staff cartoonists in the country, down from about 150 in 1990 and about 280 in 1980.
Outside of New York, Boston might be the only town in America with two daily editorial cartoonists.
You should savor it while it lasts.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: AJR, American Journalism Review, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston University, Dan Wasserman, Edward Sorel, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Jerry Holbert, Leo Sorel, Ted Rall |
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April 17, 2015
From our Late to the Guilty Party desk
The hardreading staff is always pleased when the editorial cartoonists at the Boston dailies attack the same subject, and the verdict in the Aaron Hernandez trial is no exception.
Yesterday’s Boston Herald featured Jerry Holbert’s take.

And yesterday’s Boston Globe featured Dan Wasserman’s take.

Take that, yeah?
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, Jerry Holbert |
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February 21, 2014
As the hardreading staff has said on several occasions, not only is Boston blessed with two daily newspapers, but both dailies are blessed with talented editorial cartoonists – Dan Wasserman at the Globe and Jerry Holbert at the Herald.
(Yesyes – Wasserman is technically a syndicated columnist, not a Globe staffer, but he still seems like a member of the family.)
As we’ve noted previously:
Unfortunately, editorial cartoonists are fast becoming an endangered species.
From the American Journalism Review: “Ted Rall, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, says there are fewer than 100 staff cartoonists in the country, down from about 150 in 1990 and about 280 in 1980.”
So . . . back to the present. In today’s edition of the feisty local tabloid Holbert has this followup to yesterday’s Globe/Herald/Scott Brown slapfight over his status as a Fox Newshound.

For the record, Brown has re-upped with Fox News. And, as far as we know, has nothing nice to say about the Globe.
But more important: Want a piece of this, Mr. Wasserman?
We certainly hope so.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: American Journalism Review, Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, Fox Newshound, Jerry Holbert, Scott Brown, Ted Rall |
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January 8, 2015
As the hardreading staff has noted on numerous occasions, Boston is lucky to be not just a Two-Daily Town, but a Two-Cartoonist Town as well.
The Boston Herald starts with this front page:

Inside, Jerry Holbert has this to offer:

Crosstown, the Boston Globe’s Dan Wasserman gets a big chunk of the editorial page:

Cartoonist Ted Rall points this out at The Nib:
More full-time staff political cartoonists were killed in Paris yesterday than are employed at newspapers in the states of California, Texas and New York combined.
More full-time staff cartoonists were killed in Paris yesterday than work at all American magazines and websites combined.
Count your blessings, Boston. In more ways than one.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: #Not Afraid, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Charlie Hebdo, Dan Wasserman, Je Suis Charlie, Jerry Holbert, Mohammed, Ted Rall, The Nib, Two-Cartoonist Town |
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August 13, 2013
First off, let’s stipulate – as they say on Law & Order – that Boston is lucky to be not only a Two-Daily Town, but also a Two-Editorial-Cartoonist Town.
And we have a couple of really good ones – Jerry Holbert at the Boston Herald and Dan Wasserman at the Boston Globe.
Both of whom, as the hardreading staff noted recently, have waded into the Anthony Weiner rumpus down in the Big Town.
In Thursday’s editions, the two coincidentally visited Six Flags Over Anthony Weiner.
Holbert:

Wasserman:

Now comes Holbert’s cartoon in yesterday’s Herald:

To be clear: We’re not accusing anyone of anything.
We’re just sayin’.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Anthony Weiner, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Captain Underpants, Carlos Danger, Dan Wasserman, Jerry Holbert, Law & Order, Two-Daily Town, Two-Editorial-Cartoonist Town, WeinerWorld |
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