May 24th, 2017

Ask A Cartoonist: Happy Graduation!

by Tea

It’s that very special time of year when all that hard work pays off– congratulations graduates on getting your degrees!  Whether you’re finishing high school, college, or a postgrad program, you deserve to be proud of yourself!  This week, I asked our cartoonists to celebrate graduation– and to impart a little advice or well-wishes, if they had them! 

Bill Griffith, Zippy the Pinhead:

I know from experience that I’m not alone in having that anxiety dream where you’re at your high school graduation ceremony in your underwear.

Zippy stands in for me in the attached strip. Of course, in my case, this is probably just a dreamy version of my real high school graduation ceremony.
I wore a “peace button” on my gown that day which angered the Principal so much he refused to hand me my diploma unless I took it off. I refused. ….I could almost feel my father’s burning stare from the audience. Such a rebel.

 

Gary Brookins, Shoe:

Years ago, when my sons were graduating from high school, the Henrico County School Superintendent always spoke at graduation. And while he may not have been the best superintendent in county history, he did have the best speech I ever heard (and he used the same one every year):

“Graduates of the Class of 1998 … Goodbye … Good Luck … and God Bless!”

That was it … and the crowd loved it!

Jeff Parker, Dustin:

I have one word for graduates today.

“Plastics.”

 

John Rose, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith:

When it comes to college graduation, this was an especially exciting year for us! Our youngest daughter, Sarah, just graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA on May, 6th. Although it was a rainy morning, the rain did not dampen our spirits. Sarah graduated from the same school that her mom, Karen, and I graduated from, as well as our oldest daughter, Meredith. All four of us are JMU alumni! As are my wife’s sister, her husband and their two daughters! Sarah accepted a position with the Disney College Program and is heading to Orlando, Florida in August to begin working for Disney. This is a special cartoon I created for Sarah celebrating her graduation, reminiscent of those commercials you see after the Super Bowl.

 

Isabella Bannerman, Six Chix:

Here’s one for graduation, dedicated to all those graduates who wear sneakers to the ceremony

Alex Hallatt, Arctic Circle:

As AI and the robots are going to take over, it is worth going into a career where we humans are not so easily replaced – like cartooning, perhaps!

 

Ron Ferdinand, Dennis the Menace:

In this Dennis graduation daily, Hank beautifully captured the teacher’s reaction with a few simple pen strokes.

Bill Holbrook, Kevin & Kell, On The Fastrack, and Safe Havens:

Nothing ever goes smoothly in Safe Havens. On the day that Samantha received her Bachelor’s degree, she was transformed into her mother. She tried to go through with the ceremony covering her face with her mortarboard.

 

James Allen, Mark Trail:

Yes, I have a bit of advice for graduates, and for me, it’s a personal one… that advice would be : find what you truly love to do in life and pursue it! Capture it and make it work for you! As Mark Twain was quoted as saying: “The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.”

Don’t ever give up on your dream! As I can attest , this quote from Walt Disney is true – “Everything you want is on the other side of fear”!

Mort Walker, Beetle Bailey: