Cartoonists Pay Homage to 9/11

 Tomorrow, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, more than 90 Americans cartoonists will see cartoons they created dealing with their current thoughts and feelings concerning the impacts of that day published in newspapers around the country.

Today, at the Newseum, Jim Toomey, the creator of the cartoon "Sherman's Lagoon,"  spoke about how the first-of-its-kind project came to be.

Actually, Toomey's talk was divided into 3 parts.  First, he briefly described the history of cartooning,  which can actually be traced to story panels crafted onto ancient cave walls. From there, Toomey took the audience on a time trip from The Bayeux Tapestry to Guttenberg's invention of the printing press to Ben Franklin's chopped snake Join or Die image (often called the 1st American cartoon) to The Yellow Kid (the 1st newspaper comic strip) to Peanuts and Doonesbury.

Next, Toomey explained that his own cartoon career sprung from a combination of his early love of drawing and his abiding interest in the natural environment of the seas. "When I was about 11, I discovered sharks and they fascinated me," he said.  "And then Jaws came out and that was it.  I was probably the only person in the theater rooting for the shark"

In fact, the main character in Toomey's nationally-syndicated cartoon is a shark named Sherman.  And to the delight of the youngsters (and the young at heart) Toomey used an Apple laptop to draw several sea creatures that were displayed on the monitors in the Knight Studio.

Toomey said the 9/11 project originated when officials at the King Syndicate discovered that the 10th anniversary of  9/11 would fall on a Sunday this year and suggested that cartoonists use that strip to commemorate that historic day. Toomey created a simple, yet powerful one-panel portrayal of the night-time New York City skyline with two towering beacons of lights. Toomey has his main character proclaim "Seems like yesterday," while his more philosopical turtle friend answers "I'll always seem like yesterday."

"At first, humor might not seem like the most appropriate response to 9/11," Toomey said. "But cartoons can be much more than just humor.  They can convey the whole range of human emotions - anger, sadness, gratitude, hope."

Travelers' Tip:
If you visit The Newseum, make sure to stop in the facility's bathrooms.  There, displayed on the walls, you will find humorous newspaper corrections collected by The Columbia Journalism Review.