I cannot wait to hear what I have to say! If you cannot listen live, you will be able to listen on the web during or after the show here.

This week marked my return to The Baltimore Sun after a 6 year hiatus. I am delighted to be back. (see this week’s cartoon below)

This new chapter in my career started in early December when I received a surprising email from Andy Green, Editorial page editor of The Sun. He had been asked by the publisher of the paper to see if there was any way they could lure me back. This was an intriguing thought.

I have been very lucky during the intervening six years since my departure from The Sun. I had a close and long term (30+ year) affiliation with The Economist which continued to blossom. I joined UMBC as an Artist-in-Residence where I have engaged in a series of great projects involving students and faculty. I have also been exploring animation in a big way, working with local animation houses DigitalSteamworks and Bully Entertainment on some great and exciting films. Check out the video below created by The Sun that talks about my recent work.

So, when The Sun first contacted me, I thought that I might be too busy to accept their offer. But then, I reconsidered. I thought I could manage one cartoon a week as long as certain conditions were met.

First, I wanted assurances of editorial freedom in my work. Next, I wanted the cartoon to be displayed at a large enough size to adequately showcase the artwork. Third, and most importantly, I wanted to maintain the same rights that I have enjoyed with The Economist over the past 3 decades: I would own the physical artwork of the cartoons and own all rights to the use and reproduction of these cartoons.

I submitted these requests along with a daily rate for producing a black and white cartoon. The Sun agreed to my proposal.

We determined the starting date to be the 19th of February because I would be settled back in Baltimore after some international travel.

During my return flight from the UK on Thursday, I scanned through the in-flight movie listings and made the mistake of choosing to watch “Immortals”, the over-the-top B-level sequel to “Clash of The Titans”. All was not lost, however. The farce of a movie acted as a perfect inspiration for my first cartoon for The Baltimore Sun. (see below).

Back in January 2006, I was one of the many victims of the mad and desperate cost cutting that was crippling US newspapers. It is my hope the return of a cartoonist to The Baltimore Sun is a modest beginning to the reversal of that trend.

I just came across on the web this delightful blast from the past.

This was a televison commercial I worked on in 1987 with Richard Williams, one of the all time great legends of animation.

It was great experience. I had been hired to be the cartoonist at a brand new UK newspaper called TODAY.The goal of the commercial was to use my cartoons to promote the newspaper.

I worked closely with Richard on the early part of the project. I created character drawings of the major players along with the opening sequence plus a few key drawings. Richard and his animators then took the project and ran with it.

There are some funny little tidbits in the film. In the opening art (it is very difficult to see in this low quality video)… in the audience at Parliament, there are sheep and Mickey mouse sitting in the balcony. Also, among the backbenchers are caricatures of me and a couple of the creatives from the Ad agency that managed the project.

A part that Richard particularly enjoyed was the transition of Neil Kinnock (the then leader of the Labour Party on the right) from a devil to an angel. Look carefully, you will notice he disappears up his own rear end.

As I recall, It took us three months to complete the project with hundreds of drawings used to create the animation. By the time the commercial was ready, the Today newspaper was low on cash and could not afford to give it a nationwide release in the UK. Instead it was aired on local stations (not in London). Still when I visited Richard on a later occasion, he told me it had won two animation awards ( I don’t know which… any info here would be welcome)….

The only catch was… they needed to translate my text from the original English version to French. This is not a major problem except there were some English idioms in the Economist version that I am not sure translated well to French (Thatcher’s Iron Fist, for example). For any of you French speakers out there, I would be interested in hearing how well you think the artwork translated!

Art Soiree holds monthly events which revolve around cocktails, socializing and art. On Thursday January 26 Art Soiree’s event is an exhibition of editorial cartoons of which I am one of the featured guests. For more information check out the link below. I hope to see you there!

You can learn more here.

Below you can see one of my favorite spreads from the new 2012 Calendar: December.

It’s not too late to put in your order for this year’s edition ( you can do it here). Order today and I will get them sent off to you ASAP!

I am pleased to announce that I am currently featured in this month’s edition of Malibu Magazine.

The magazine has a regular column called “10 x 10″ where they ask a guest 10 eclectic questions about his-or-herself ( my favorite: What tunes would be on the five-song playlist to your life?).

As part of my interview, I was asked to supply a photo. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to embellish it a little  so I created the art below.

You can check out the magazine article here

Jerry and I in 1991

A few days ago, the great cartoonist, writer, colleague and friend Jerry Robinson passed away.

There have been glowing obituaries in the New York Times and elsewhere celebrating his virtues.

He had many.

He is best known by cartoon enthusiasts as an early contributor (as a teenager) to the Batman comics, most notably for his role in creating”The Joker”.

Others know Jerry for his tireless campaigning on behalf of the early creators of the Superman comics, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who had sold their rights to the character in 1930 for $130. Largely thanks to Jerry

A long legal fight resulted in a settlement with Warner Communications, DC Comics’ corporate parent, providing the pair with annual payments for the rest of their lives and provisions for their heirs.

I knew Jerry in a different way.

I knew him as an energetic and outgoing friend bristling with compassion, curiosity and  generosity. He was a great mentor to me in my early career and I will be forever grateful for the time and advice he shared.

I feel incredibly lucky that Jerry’s and my paths crossed…and that we were able to amble alongside each other for so many years.

Above you can catch a glimpse of the July spread which features the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

I am looking forward to 2012 with a host of new projects roaring to go. I have tentative trips to Romania, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK  as well as San Francisco  and Fargo, North Dakota planned. I also have some great animations in the works that will be available for viewing early in the year.

I am also hoping to publish a new collection of my cartoons form The Economist sometime in 2012 ( my first collection of cartoons exclusively from The Economist was back in 1988!)

I am also hoping to be working on the 2013 Economist Wall Kalendar!

I will be announcing new events and other  news right here on the blog… so keep on stopping by!