The Future of Tomorrow
As of right now, we don’t have any plans to discontinue Tom Tomorrow’s This Modern World. Tomorrow’s scorching look at politics has always been a favorite of mine and has run in the back pages of the times for years. In January, the Village Voice dropped the strip, which meant it would no longer grace the pages of 12 papers. That’s a tough break for a syndicated columnist/cartoonist.
I came across this letter the other day.
It’s from Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, telling people to call their weeklies and ask them to keep the strip around. Again, no need to call us, but it is interesting reading.
Dear Friends,
We all know the economy is bad and likely to get worse in the days ahead. I’m sure you know people who’ve been affected. I want to tell you about a friend of mine who recently took a huge hit, cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, creator of “This Modern World.”
In January, Village Voice Media, the largest group of weekly newspapers in the country, indefinitely suspended all syndicated cartoons. In a single day, Tom’s strip was cut from 12 papers. Obviously that means a loss of income for him. Perhaps even worse is the lost connection to readers who faithfully turn to Tom and his sardonic penguin Sparky to help them survive the absurdities of the world around us.
Political cartoons have a powerful history in the United States. Many cartoonists were the Jon Stewarts of their day, quickly cutting complex issues to their cores. Decades before the Revolutionary War, Ben Franklin sketched a disjointed snake to rally the colonies to unity, creating a lasting symbol of the time. Herb Block’s incisive visual commentaries played a significant role in the public perception of Watergate. Alt-weeklies have provided a home to some of our finest subversive comic art, from Bill Griffith’s “Zippy the Pinhead” to Simpsons-creator Matt Groening’s “Life in Hell.”
Read the full letter here.
