The Nib is running out of ink

June 28, 2019 9:35 PM

Iconic political cartoon site The Nib seems to be facing its biggest challenge yet: defunded and laid off by their parent company and struggling to find wherewithal to continue. The Nib is famous for its important and heavy hitting work featuring cartoonists Matt Bors, KC Green (who was mentioned here very recently), Tom Tomorrow, Pia Guerra, and many others.
posted by splitpeasoup (16 comments total)

Oh great, another online archive of my work i’ll Have to worry will vanish.


Online publishing is beyond over. Start keeping clippings and copies for your portofilos everyone, which you will send via mail.
posted by The Whelk at 9:40 PM on June 28, 2019 [8 favorites]

1. Not entirely online; The Nib is available in print too.
2. It's not too late to save them! If you like you can support them with almost any amount of your choice.
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:48 PM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

That sucks. I guess despite these cartoonists' enormous cultural influence, it didn't translate into enough profit for the parent company? I am excited by the news that they're doing a quarterly print mag though, I work for an independent magazine distributor and this kind of thing is exactly what we like to champion.
posted by drinkyclown at 10:02 PM on June 28, 2019

This is not fine.
posted by chavenet at 1:39 AM on June 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm definitely signing up to support this. Hope they get the support they need.
posted by jzb at 4:22 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Just subscribed.
posted by acb at 4:56 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

I subscribed.
posted by cybrcamper at 5:41 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

I don't like Matt Bors's cartoons much The Nib has been such a great locus of new and interesting cartooning activity. He's obviously a dynamo in the community with a sense of the zeitgeist, and someday collected anthologies are going to be getting sold for a hundred bucks, fronted with essays and oral histories about its founding. This is a great excuse to finally subscribe.

Parker Molloy did a nice thread of favorite strips if you want to stroll down memory lane.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:58 AM on June 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

(I will say that I fuckin' hate their Risa and Shine, The World Is Doomed tagline so much that it has actively kept me from wanting to give them my email. N of one, but I'm blaming that for all of this.)
posted by Going To Maine at 10:09 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Another two Nib cartoon I've often thought about: "The NFL's White Supremacy Problem" and "That's Not Who We Are", both by Mike Dawson.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2019 [4 favorites]

Perhaps the Internet Archive can host the run.
posted by doctornemo at 11:24 AM on June 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

I will subscribe as soon as I get back to a real computer. The nib is too important. See also Funny Times if this sort of content is your bag.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 3:46 PM on June 30, 2019

Conversely, I love their tagline; it matches my outlook. Some of their stuff is a little too Twitter Left for me, but I do like them and hope they're able to get other funding.
posted by pelvicsorcery at 6:44 AM on July 1, 2019

Official Statement from Matt Bors
posted by 1970s Antihero at 9:14 AM on July 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ah, man. Subscribed. They're doing good work, and it's been nice to have a sliver of social connection to some of the folks via the XOXO community.
posted by cortex at 9:15 AM on July 1, 2019

Subbed. Actually reading the Nib is often too much for me to process but bygod I want them to continue fighting!
posted by endotoxin at 12:09 PM on July 1, 2019