Tom Tomorrow
Encyclopedia
Tom Tomorrow is the pen name
of editorial cartoonist
Dan Perkins. His weekly comic strip
This Modern World
, which comments on current events, appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the U.S.
and Canada
as of 2006, as well as on CREDO Action
and Daily Kos
, where he is its comics curator. His work has appeared in The New York Times
, The New Yorker
, Spin
, Mother Jones
, Esquire
, The Economist
and The American Prospect
.
to contribute a bi-weekly cartoon to U.S. News and World Report, but was fired less than six months later, reportedly at the direction of owner Mort Zuckerman.
In 1999, Perkins had an animation deal with Saturday Night Live
and produced three animated spots that were never aired. In 2000 and 2001 his online animated series was the top-billed attraction in Mondo Media's lineup of mini-shows, in which the voice of Sparky the Penguin was provided by author and Jeopardy champion Bob Harris
. Perkins has also collaborated with Michael Moore
, according to a 2005 interview with Santa Cruz Metro, in which he stated, "(T)his never got to actual animation, but I did work on a script with Michael Moore for a year. It was right after Bowling for Columbine, and there was this French guy who wanted to give him the money to do another documentary. But Michael wanted to do this animated piece that we were working on. It was kind of set in the moment, right after 9/11 and as we were gearing up for the war in Iraq. If you read my cartoons about the small cute dog in the parallel universe who accidentally becomes president—it was basically a movie about the small cute dog, except that he gets lost and ends up in this war zone. And a character who bore an uncanny temperamental resemblance to Bill O'Reilly
was sort of the central character. And lots of zany things happened."
In December, 2007, Keith Olbermann
devoted the closing segment of an episode of his show to a reading of "Bill O'Reilly's Very Useful Advice for Young People," a two-page cartoon/cover story by Perkins for the Village Voice.
In 2009, Village Voice Media, publishers of 16 alternative weeklies, suspended all syndicated cartoons across their entire chain. Perkins lost twelve client papers in cities including Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York and Seattle, prompting his friend Eddie Vedder
to post an open letter on the Pearl Jam
website in support of the cartoonist. The band enlisted him to make art for their 2009 album Backspacer
.
. While it often ridicules those in power, the strip also focuses on the average American's support for contemporary leaders and their policies, as well as the popular media's role in shaping public perception.
In addition to any politicians and celebrities depicted, the strip has several recurring characters:
, and Brooklyn
, New York
, currently lives in New Haven
.
The anthologies were published by St. Martin's Press
until Hell in a Handbasket, when Perkins switched to Tarcher. The Future's So Bright I Can't Bear to Look was published by Nation Books.
The Very Silly Mayor, a picture book for children aged 4–8, was published in September 2009 by Ig Publishing.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of editorial cartoonist
Editorial cartoonist
An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary....
Dan Perkins. His weekly comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
This Modern World
This Modern World
This Modern World is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow that covers current events from a liberal point of view. Tomorrow also runs a weblog that informs readers about stories of interest, often presented as a follow up to his cartoons...
, which comments on current events, appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as of 2006, as well as on CREDO Action
Working Assets
CREDO is an American for-profit company that offers mobile and long distance phone service. Based in San Francisco, California, Working Assets has raised over $65 million for nonprofit organizations such as GreenPeace, Planned Parenthood, Democracy Now etc.-History:Working Assets was founded in...
and Daily Kos
Daily Kos
Daily Kos is an American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a progressive point of view. It functions as a discussion forum and group blog for a variety of netroots activists, whose efforts are primarily directed toward influencing and strengthening the Democratic Party...
, where he is its comics curator. His work has appeared in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
, Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
and The American Prospect
The American Prospect
The American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
.
Career
In 1998 Perkins was asked by editor James FallowsJames Fallows
James Fallows is an American print and radio journalist. He has been a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly for many years. His work has also appeared in Slate, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker and The American Prospect, among others. He is a...
to contribute a bi-weekly cartoon to U.S. News and World Report, but was fired less than six months later, reportedly at the direction of owner Mort Zuckerman.
In 1999, Perkins had an animation deal with Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and produced three animated spots that were never aired. In 2000 and 2001 his online animated series was the top-billed attraction in Mondo Media's lineup of mini-shows, in which the voice of Sparky the Penguin was provided by author and Jeopardy champion Bob Harris
Bob Harris (writer)
Bob Harris is an American radio commentator, writer, stand-up comedian, and thirteen-time Jeopardy! contestant.From 1998–2002, his daily political commentaries aired on an average of 75 radio stations across the U.S., winning awards from the and the Associated Press...
. Perkins has also collaborated with Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, according to a 2005 interview with Santa Cruz Metro, in which he stated, "(T)his never got to actual animation, but I did work on a script with Michael Moore for a year. It was right after Bowling for Columbine, and there was this French guy who wanted to give him the money to do another documentary. But Michael wanted to do this animated piece that we were working on. It was kind of set in the moment, right after 9/11 and as we were gearing up for the war in Iraq. If you read my cartoons about the small cute dog in the parallel universe who accidentally becomes president—it was basically a movie about the small cute dog, except that he gets lost and ends up in this war zone. And a character who bore an uncanny temperamental resemblance to Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
was sort of the central character. And lots of zany things happened."
In December, 2007, Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
devoted the closing segment of an episode of his show to a reading of "Bill O'Reilly's Very Useful Advice for Young People," a two-page cartoon/cover story by Perkins for the Village Voice.
In 2009, Village Voice Media, publishers of 16 alternative weeklies, suspended all syndicated cartoons across their entire chain. Perkins lost twelve client papers in cities including Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York and Seattle, prompting his friend Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder
Eddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
to post an open letter on the Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
website in support of the cartoonist. The band enlisted him to make art for their 2009 album Backspacer
Backspacer
Backspacer is the ninth studio album by the American alternative rock band Pearl Jam, released on September 20, 2009. Pearl Jam began work for the follow-up to its previous album—2006's Pearl Jam—in early 2008. In 2009, the band began to build on instrumental and demo tracks written...
.
This Modern World
This Modern World debuted in 1990 in SF WeeklySF Weekly
SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
. While it often ridicules those in power, the strip also focuses on the average American's support for contemporary leaders and their policies, as well as the popular media's role in shaping public perception.
In addition to any politicians and celebrities depicted, the strip has several recurring characters:
- A sunglasses-wearing penguin named "Sparky" and his Boston Terrier friend "Blinky";
- "Biff," a generic conservative often used by Sparky as a foil;
- "Conservative Jones," a boy detectiveEncyclopedia BrownLeroy "Encyclopedia" Brown is the main character in a long series of children's novels written by Donald J. Sobol since 1963.-Style:...
whose deductive reasoning satirizes the logic of conservative news analysts and politicians; - The tentacle-waving Aliens of Planet Glox;
- The "Small Cute Dog," who was accidentally elected president on "Parallel Earth," and whose subsequent actions mirrored those of President George W. Bush.
Personal life
Perkins, a long time resident of both San Francisco, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, currently lives in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
.
Books
There have been eight cartoon anthologies of This Modern World published:- Greetings From This Modern World (1992)
- Tune in Tomorrow (1994)
- The Wrath of Sparky (1996)
- Penguin Soup for the Soul (1998)
- When Penguins Attack (2000) (Introduction by Dave EggersDave EggersDave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
) - The Great Big Book of Tomorrow (2003)
- Hell in a Handbasket: Dispatches from the Country Formerly Known as America (March 2006)
- The Future's So Bright I Can't Bear to Look (September 2008)
- Too Much Crazy (Late 2010/1 Jan 2011)
The anthologies were published by St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
until Hell in a Handbasket, when Perkins switched to Tarcher. The Future's So Bright I Can't Bear to Look was published by Nation Books.
The Very Silly Mayor, a picture book for children aged 4–8, was published in September 2009 by Ig Publishing.
Awards
Perkins received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1998 and 2003. He began his blog, also called This Modern World, in September 2001.- 1993: Media Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award (MAMA)
- 1995: Society of Professional Journalists James Madison Freedom of Information Award
- 1998: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism AwardRobert F. Kennedy Journalism AwardThe Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism is journalisms award named after Robert F. Kennedy and awarded by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The annual awards are issued in several categories and were established in December 1968 by a group of reporters who...
, Cartoon, for This Modern World - 2000: Association for Education in Journalism and Education, Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award
- 2001: James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism
- 2003: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Cartoon, for This Modern World
- 2004: AltWeekly AwardAssociation of Alternative NewsweekliesThe Association of Alternative Newsmedia is a diverse group of covering every major metropolitan area and other less-populated regions of North America. AAN members have a combined weekly circulation of over 6.5 million as well as a print readership of nearly 17 million active, educated and...
, Cartoon (More than five papers), 2nd Place, for This Modern World - 2006: AltWeekly Award, Cartoon (Four or more papers), 3rd Place, for This Modern World
See also
Thematically sympathetic cartoonists to Perkins include:- Ted RallTed RallTed Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
- Ruben BollingRuben BollingRuben Bolling is a pseudonym for Ken Fisher, a cartoonist, the author of Tom the Dancing Bug.- Biography :Bolling, who has no formal art training, read many comics when he was a child, and sometimes features their styles in his work...
- Jen SorensenJen SorensenJen Sorensen is an American cartoonist who authors Slowpoke, a weekly comic strip that often focuses on current events from a liberal perspective. The comic generally makes use of three recurring characters: Mr...
- Matt Bors
External links
- This Modern World, Tom Tomorrow's weblog
- Current This Modern World comics on CREDO Action
- Article on the development and early years of the strip
- Buzzflash Interview: Tom Tomorrow, Author of "This Modern World"
- Beyond Chron Profile: Tom Tomorrow
- Tom Tomorrow's Hell in a Handbasket by Glenn GreenwaldGlenn GreenwaldGlenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...
- Debunking Thomas Friedman's "I lost my job to India and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" story.
- "This Modern World Needs Your Help" open letter from Eddie VedderEddie VedderEddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...