This is the problem with being an editor or publisher or writer or cartoonist or even blogger and having some small lingering trace of a sense of irony-sometimes you accidentally assume that the Vast and Mysterious "Audience" shares that subversive French sense. Thankfully, after what will presumably be a full week of Outrage and Demands for Apologies, David Remnick and his New Yorker will never make that mistake again. As you might've seen, the cover of that influential publication this week shows Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, and he is Terrorist Fist-Bumping his aggrieved wife as a flag burns in the Oval Office. This obvious and heavy-handed satire has enraged Democrats and liberal media critics because now they are pretty sure this nation of child-like imbeciles will believe it to be an un-retouched photograph from the FUTURE. New Yorker editor David Remnick defended the cover to the Huffington Post. Did you know that sometimes that magazine makes "jokes"?

Good news and bad news. The bad news: The New Yorker has made yet another cartoonist uncomfortable by running a cartoon eerily similar to his work. The good news: This time the culprit is not Harry Bliss! Bliss, you'll recall, is the New Yorker cartoonist who came under fire twice in May, once for an uncredited "homage" to comic book illustrator Jack Kirby, duplicated for the magazine's caption contest, and once for a near-perfect facsimile of a cartoon by John Rau. The cartoon above and to the right is also for the New Yorker's caption contest, drawn by Paul Noth. The Wall Street Journal's health blog noticed it looks just like a Cleveland Plain Dealer cartoon from more than two years ago, above and to the left. Here's what the cartoonist had to say:

A cartoon starring an East Village DJ in shutter shades, on a space ship. About time. [Current]

Dimitri the Lover may be an incredibly inept (if scary!) pickup artist, but it cannot be denied that he has an awesome website. One of the secrets of his awesome website is his expert use of Shockwave animation, mostly featuring big-breasted cartoon ladies. But because his site is on hiatus or something, you couldn't see all his great work. Until now!!! Because he left his "animation" directory open. Above, a still from one of his more mature works, "Dykes." (Link NSFW, probably?) [Dimitri the Lover]

Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, still remembers when his show got pulled from Fox. Then it came back, and now it's one of the network's biggest hits. But even though the FCC lets him make edgy jokes now, it will never allow him to make edgy enough jokes. So MacFarlane is teaming up with Google to distribute a new, top secret internet show that will change everything and make him the most fabulously wealthy poop joke maven the world has ever seen.

When the godless Reds in the Soviet Union wanted to entertain their young, they got their cartoons like they got everything else-they stole it! The following is a clip from a Soviet Era cartoon called, "Vinnie the Puh." And it's pure Red Menace indoctrination from start to finish. You want to rise high and claim some precious honey for yourself, little Comrade? Nyet! Stay in your place!

Is it a mark of progress that our national ads can now feature characters that are far more foul-mouthed and offensive to white bread America than in times past? I'm inclined to say yes. The Times considers the rise of Family Guy characters as beloved ad icons, even for wholesome brands like Coke and Subway. But hey, sometimes they say things on that show that are funny! Times are changing, you see, and these cartoon characters are just acceptable enough to squeeze into the mainstream under the rubric of "edgy." Since this is a hugely popular TV show on the Fox Network that is just the next in a long line of "edgy" cultural moments, you could correctly call this an antiquated discussion (even for the olds). The real question is: will Americans stand for a fat, ignorant cartoon father telling them how to eat their meat?

I just came across this and thought it was awesome. That is all. UPDATE: I can't seem to make the pic any bigger so just click the link to view full-size. Also? I'm pretty sure they forgot to include Lucy Liu's head. [DesignYouTrust]

What's your favorite Adult Swim cartoon? Lately, I'm favoring Shin Chan over the rest, but they're still all pretty great. After the jump, 35 classic "Shinisms." If you're actually still at your computer on this glorious summer Sunday, go ahead and post some Adult Swim goodness of your own.

Dov Charney, homeless American Apparel models, a talking t-shirt, and a bunch of tards—all in cartoon form. It's about time. Cartoon Dov explains, "The world is getting pervier. And America has to compete!" [Current]

"Will Elder, whose frantic, gag-filled illustrations helped to define the comic identity of Mad magazine and who was a creator of the Playboy cartoon serial "Little Annie Fanny," died Wednesday in Rockleigh, N.J. He was 86.The cause was Parkinson's disease, said Gary VandenBergh, his son-in-law. A dead-on caricaturist with an anarchic sense of humor, Mr. Elder stuffed the backgrounds of his Madison Avenue parodies and comic-strip spoofs with inane puns, silly signs and weird characters doing strange things."

Jason Polan, the wacky kid who wants to sketch everybody in New York, once had a cartoon published in the New Yorker! Here it is (click to enlarge). See, he's not just a lone nut. But he definitely wasted precious extra minutes shading those hamsters. [Cartoon Bank via Emdashes]

Flemming Rose, the Danish newspaper editor responsible for publishing the controversial Muhammad cartoons that caused a global Muslim fundamentalist uproar in 2006—and which still threaten the life of one of the artists, who has been condemned by Osama Bin Laden— has a message for all the American papers that refused to publish pictures of the cartoons even as they were writing news stories about them: thanks a lot, pussies.

Campbell Robertson used to have what seemed to be the most fun job at the New York Times: writing Boldface Names with crazy Joyce Wadler. Then the Times killed that bizarre little corner of the Metro section and Campbell was sent to the Broadway beat. Recently, though, he's ended up on the campaign trail, where he apparently been drawing funny pictures. In the last week, the Times has brought us three installments of Robertson's funny pictures from his trip to North Carolina, where he's been talking to voters and attending campaign events and, uh, cartooning. Doesn't the Times already have professional cartoonists on staff? Is Robertson auditioning to illustrate an issue of American Splendor? We love him, but surely there are plenty of other "occasional cartoonists" on staff they could send to upcoming primary states. Adam Nagourney's might be pretty funny. He probably draws everyone with really big heads and tiny mopeds!

A New York Times reporter who quite obviously was just poking around on YouTube in desperate search of a workable story came up with this: there are racist cartoons on there! Old, racist cartoons. Anyone who grew up in the good old days (the 80s) surely remembers when the racist Bugs Bunny episodes from the early part of the century used to sneak into the Looney Tunes broadcasts and you were too young to know the difference. So in that sense, this cobbled-together story is a good reminder that your favorite cartoon characters and their owners were all a public bunch of horrible, horrible racists not too long ago. Below, the clip of "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs," that should really have Warner Bros. donating millions to the Rainbow Coalition at this very moment:

What do you get when you challenge a cartoonist to draw 200 three-panel comics in twelve hours? Fun times! Artist Nedroid took up the challenge from Cracked and went batshit nutty. After the jump, some of my faves.

"I see this as a summer tentpole movie, definitely." I'm laughing so hard it's coming out as a panting horse noise, because I just listened to this rapid-fire pitch for a Ziggy movie. There's everything: Why Wallace Shawn is the ideal actor for the role, how Ziggy could be the nature side of man vs. nature, why it should be live action instead of CGI, the role of the parrot as god, possible set pieces, the teaser trailer starting at the complaints department, the bonus scene after the credits. If you are still in your chair by the end of this routine, you are soulless.

South America is crazy about "The Simpsons," Fox's funny cartoon for grown-ups. Who knew? And the countries down there are apparently very sensitive to any perceived historical inaccuracies in the satirical show, no matter how obvious the joke. Citizens of Argentina are outraged over an episode in which Lenny and Carl—two fictional cartoon characters—call Argentina's former president Juan Peron a dictator, and joke that he was married to Madonna (who played Eva Peron in a movie) [WP]. Why, it's as if some foreign cartoon insulted Ronald Reagan! Venezuela recently declared "The Simpsons" to be unfit for children to watch, so who knows what official action will come out of this. The offending clip is below.

Christina Ricci is on the cover of this month's BlackBook magazine, talking about her role in the upcoming weirdo futuristic kind-of-cartoony live action Wachowski brothers-directed action zoom zoom anime car movie jam Speed Racer. And look at her! In the car! With the little bob haircut and purple bathing costume! She's come a long way from Casper. Click through for larger image and a Speed Racer trailer. [Image via Splash]

For years, like half of Gawker's posts were just screencaps of CNN headlines. They don't even need jokes, they're so terrible. But what they do need, even if we didn't know it, are ugly hand-drawn illustrations.