CARTOONS of the WEEK: Michigan's Budget Deadline Looms - Two Different Local Takes

The News-Herald - September 23

The Press & Guide - September 23

With an October 1 deadline looming for the state legislature to balance the Michigan budget, from a regional viewpoint, this topic was a natural for both The News-Herald and for The Press & Guide. However, I also like to keep things locally/community focused with my cartoon commentary and there were two local events that were easily woven into this gag.

Downriver, a wonderful dinner theater production of "The Carol Burnett Show" allowed me to give a comic spin to the budget debate; while an annual "Haunting Experience" upcoming in Dearborn let me give the topic a scary spin.

A regional issue that's important to us all and two local topics meaningful to readers of each paper, all combined into a couple of cartoon commentaries - a local cartoonist can't ask for better material for inspiration!

That's the point!

CARTOONS of the WEEK: Paying for Dearborn Parking, and Ecorse Investigations

The Dearborn Press & Guide, September 16

Metered paid parking has been an issue in Dearborn for more thank four years. These parking meter characters first appeared in one of my cartoons to lampoon the topic in September of 2005. Their quips won me my first SNA Award for "Best Editorial Cartoon" (seen below in "Off the Drawing Board") and I've called on them to make comments each time the issue has come up again.

That's the point!


Off the Drawing Board: When these parking meter characters first appeared in one of my cartoons, in 2005, they sported arms because they were necessary to the gag. Their latest appearance is without arms - for the very same reason!

The News-Herald, September 16
I made my first editorial cartoon comments about Ecorse's financial woes more than 20 years ago, when the city was the first in Michigan to enter receivership. In the subsequent years, the town's offered plenty of additional cartoon material - right up to this week! Who needs Kwame and the Detroit City Council? ... there's plenty of inspiration in our own backyard!

That's the point!

CARTOONS OF THE WEEK: Back to School!

The News-Herald - Wednesday, September 9

The Dearborn Press & Guide - Wednesday, September 9

Back to school is the universal signal for everyone that summer's ended. For the kids actually going back, it means a return to the regimentation of classroom work and homework, and struggling to fit the fun stuff in between. For old guys like me, it means the days are getting shorter and cooler, and that winter's chill is just a couple of months away. No matter your age, this time of year brings a little melancholy and that's what my editors - Karl Ziomek, of The News-Herald; and Tim Powers, of The Dearborn Press & Guide, let me reflect in these two cartoons.

It's not all melancholy, however. There will, after all, be plenty of cider and doughnuts before we have to start shoveling snow!

That's the point!

CARTOONS of the WEEK: A giant hamburger and help for an over-stressed animal shelter

The News-Herald - September 2
The "Man v. Food" TV show taping at Mallie's, featuring a 185.6 lb hamburger, gave me the perfect chance to cast Wimpy, of Popeye (and Thimble Theater) fame, in a local editorial cartoon; and the opportunity to pay tribute to one of my favorite Golden Age cartoonists - Popeye's creator, E.C. Seger.
That's the point!

The Press & Guide - September 2
After the story of the chihauhau dogs found in a Dearborn home just a month ago, more than two dozen cats were found in an abandoned Dearborn home this past week. The result is a seriously over-crowded and stressed Dearborn Animal Shelter. I took the opportunity to support the shelter and solicit help with this week's cartoon - and I took the opportunity to pay tribute to some more of my favorite cartoonists!
That's the point!

CARTOON OF THE WEEK: Michigan State Fair - the End of a 161 Year Run?

The News-Herald - February 8, 2009

This "Cartoon of the Week" first ran in The News-Herald more than six months ago - in February - when Governor Granholm announced that there would no longer be any budget subsidy available for the Michigan State Fair. News-Herald Editor Karl Ziomek and I share the same summer-end memories of the State Fair growing up and we agreed to this cartoon comment on the prospect of the State Fair going away.

Well, here we are at the end of another summer - number 161 for the State Fair - and we are facing the very real prospect that this is, indeed, the last Michigan State Fair. So, as a tribute to that wonderful tradition I'm re-posting this cartoon.

I'll be at the Fair with my kids, eating corndogs, drinking lemonade, riding the Tilt-A-Whirl, and petting farm animals, just like I've done for the past 50 summers. I'll look for you!
That's the point!

Off the Drawing Board: The Michigan State Fair was a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I'd go with my parents and gawk at enormous vegetables, pet animals that I never saw in my Downriver neighborhood, and gobble those gloriously greasy, sugary elephant ears! My dad always gravitated to the new car exhibits and he'd always get himself a new yardstick as he wandered throught the Michigan Mart building. Mom always looked at the baked goods and the knitting and lamented, "I should have entered something this year!"

My favorite "Fair summer" was in 1972 - it was the longest Michigan State Fair ever, 22 days - and I got a job working it! Not a glamorous post, the midway workers got all the attention of the young girls who came to the Fair, I had a somewhat less attractive assignment in the Poultry and Rabbit House. But I was still a Fair worker - with a "State of Michigan" badge and everything! I got to see the Fairgrounds in the misty early morning and I was there late into the night as the animals - and the midway - were bedded down. That's the summer it became MY State Fair. And it always will be.

CARTOONS OF THE WEEK: Joe Biden slips, boosts Brownstown - where were all the Dearborn voters?

The News-Herald - August 12
In a Detroit area appearance last week, Vice President Joe Biden referenced a GM battery pack factory slated to open in Brownstown ... days ahead of a planned media event by GM to make the announcement! News-Herald editor Karl Ziomek was happy to have a national spin to a local issue when I suggested lampooning the VP's slip-up.
That's the point!

Off the drawing board: I don't often get to feature national figures in local editorial cartoons, so it was exciting to have the opportunity to draw the VP. I had to work on my caricature of him in pencil first - you'll see the inked "Joe" is more refined.

The Press & Guide - August 12
The Dearborn voter turnout - just 18 percent of registered voters - was disappointing to many, including me. Press & Guide editor Tim Powers agreed and I took this approach to highlight that point of view.
That's the point!

CARTOON OF THE WEEK: Happiness is ...

Crain's Detroit Business - April 6, 2009
I can't think of another time of the year that offers the promise of a fresh start more than the start of baseball season - and here in metro Detroit, the start of the Tigers' season.

As the editors of Crain's and I discussed cartoon topics for the April 6 edition, we were in the midst of the series of Detroit's mayoral and council scandals and embarrassments, the pending bankruptcies of Chrysler and GM, and another report of increased unemployment in Michigan.

"What this town needs is a fresh start!" was the overall - and overwhelming - concensus. Coincidently, the Tigers' season opener was the week of April 6 and we had the ideal opportunity to celebrate a much-needed fresh start for the whole town. With that settled, I knew there was no better way to present this than with a tribute to the words and art of Charles Schulz - in my opinion, the most inspirational cartoonist who ever put a pen point to paper.

Well, it worked out pretty well ... the Tigers have been in first place since mid-May, Chrysler and GM have emerged from bankruptcy and are in the process of re-establishing themselves, and we've seen the city of Detroit begin its own re-building process with the election of Mayor Bing and the re-making of City Council.

That's the point!

Dan Saad

Off the Drawing Board: For every cartoon that appears in print, three or four alternative versions are explored with pencil roughs for the editors to review. Here's the other option that was considered for the April 6 Crain's Detroit Business cartoon.