David Wallis

A new book is out in the store shelf devoted to editorial cartoons killed by editors:

Amazon.com summarizes the book as an intriguing selection of one hundred cartoons, many never-before-published, that were censored or suppressed for being too controversial, featuring the work of Gary Trudeau, Doug Marlette, Paul Conrad, Mike Luckovich, Matt Davies, Ted Rall, Norman Rockwell, Anita Kunz, Edward Sorel, and other notable artists…

…like me.

…and here’s the cartoon he’s talking about:

At the time I wrote on my website: “This one won’t be printed in The Spectator. Editors felt the image was too lite to comment on the passing of the Pope. I didn’t put up a fight. Cartoonists know all too well that even the very act of caricaturing the Pontiff is verging on blasphemy in the eyes of some devout Roman Catholics. It has been sent out to other newspapers through my syndicate and it’ll be curious to see if anyone picks it up. I guess the other problem was that at the time of completion the old man hadn’t yet kicked the bucket. It’s bound to be an interesting few weeks to come leading up to the selection of a new Pope.“

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Here’s (sound file) an interview of the author David Wallis from April 20, 2007, where he talks on New Hampshire public radio about the book. He talks about my cartoon around the 6:15 mark. Transcript.

Here’s the story on the NPR website.

Pope Cartoons are one of those issues which always provoke letters. You can read other blog entries here and here.