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Q: What happened to cartoonist Ward Sutton and his Sutton Impact comic strip?

A: He’s retiring the strip and “branching out in new directions artistically.” Rats.

I hope there aren’t any electrodes attached to those artistic branches.

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow compares then and now.

Well, we didn’t say it was a perfect analogy.

Maybe I’m just being nostalgic, but I’d sure love to see a “Bush Resigns” headline.

Cartoonist Ruben Bolling brings us the adventures of Li’l George.

Via animation fan site Cartoon Brew, here’s a hilarious and, yes, deeply offensive parody of an animation fan site. (Warning: I’m not kidding about “offensive.”)

When I was a little kid, I loved all animated cartoons. It didn’t much matter whether they were any good. When advertisers started pushing Popeye macaroni — green spinach-flavored macaroni in the shape of Popeye characters — I pestered my mom until we got some.

Oh, it was terrible!

Maybe that’s why I stopped loving Popeye cartoons. Or maybe it was the crude rubber-limbed early animation, Olive Oyl’s grating whine, Popeye and Bluto’s inarticulate mutters and grunts, or the dim-witted, predictable stories. As I grew older, I still loved cartoons, but Popeye fell by the wayside.

Then, many years later, I saw three long color cartoons: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves, and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. They were good — good enough that I’m having trouble now deciding whether to buy this forthcoming DVD of the first sixty Popeye cartoons.

Could it be that Popeye just went over my head? Were Popeye cartoons making serious points about the human condition, and I was just too immature to get them? Roy Zimmerman found something:

Nixon looks rational, Reagan looks fiscally responsible. Dan Quayle looks like a genius.

If it turns out Woody Woodpecker is deep, I’m in serious trouble.

Cartoonist Don Asmussen may have explained why John McCain’s still running for president.

Tom Tomorrow shows who secretly runs America.

Ward Sutton considers past behavior to predict several right-wing reactions to Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer. (Warning: offensive language — but that’s the point.)

Mark Fiore on greenhouse gases: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything!“

As always, Bob Geiger has collected another good batch of political cartoons. The second cartoon, comparing Newt Gingrich and John Edwards on family values, is particularly illuminating.

Interesting comic on belief vs. reality.

A million people can call the mountains a fiction, yet it need not trouble you as you stand atop them.

But there are exceptions.

Via Bob Geiger’s weekly round-up of political cartoons, here’s Nick Anderson’s look back at four years in Iraq. This group covers 2002-2005.

Cartoonist Mark Fiore has an animated performance review for Attorney General Gonzo.

I haven’t politicized Justice. We simply had to let Justice go for performance-related reasons.

Like truth and the American way, justice has been a thorn in the side of the Bushies right from the start.

Cartoonist D.C. Simpson thinks about Bush’s current low poll numbers:

The numbers are clear. George Bush is now less popular than getting kicked in the groin.

… and flashes back to recall the political climate at the start of the Iraq War:

George Bush is so brave and heroic! He held office when something bad happened!

What we believed, of course, was that George W. Bush would do as other presidents had done in times of crisis, and would rise to meet history’s challenge. But George W. Bush was not like other presidents. He had reached the White House not by the process defined in the Constitution, but in an anti-Constitutional judicial coup d’etat. He has spent his presidency disabusing us of our optimism.

Via Pharyngula, Hypnocrites has a look at the future:

While we’re on the subject of flow charts, here’s one, via Boing Boing, from WellingtonGrey.net: W.W.G.W.B.D.?

Now we can understand how the Decider decides.

From Dr. Charles, The Cure for Loneliness.

Political cartoonist Ward Sutton illustrates the new way forward in Iraq and a handy White House guide to Troop Morale. Among the things that hurt morale:

American lawmakers debating the Iraq War. Or talking about it. Or even thinking about it…

The Dixie Chicks opting not to shut up and still winning five Grammy Awards.

Among the things that strengthen troop morale:

Not babying them with things like body armor….

The record profits of oil companies.

Totally cool new styles of prosthetic limbs.

And finally, Sutton on Bush, Iraq, and something about a corner.