Not a bad way to go out!

A few weeks ago I announced my painful (but freeing) decision to retire from regular freelance weekly political cartooning.

Anyway, one of my few clients remaining at the end was Detroit's alternative weekly, the Metro Times. Well, I heard this morning that I came in second place for editorial cartooning in the Detroit Society of Professional Journalists' annual awards!

Last year I came in third and the judges said I was a "welcome breath of fresh air with great promise for the future." Sigh...

As you may remember, while drawing for the Metro Times, I did a lot of cartoons about the economy, unemployment, and the auto industry, and I got some nice emails from laid-off auto workers about cartoons like this one. Here are two of the more popular ones:

Not a bad way to go out, right?

By the way, thanks to all of you who left me such nice comments and letters about my decision. Please know that I AM still a cartoonist, and a very politically-minded one--I'll have new projects to share with you soon!

Of course, my biggest project right now is Cartoonist Baby--she's due June 18!