David Simpson Apes Another MacNelly; Loses OK HOF Standing

Alan Gardner at Daily Cartoonist is all over the story of cartoonist David Simpson's recent, bizarre appropriation -- seemingly to the point of outright tracing -- previous cartoons by the late Jeff MacNelly in the pages of the Urban Tulsa weekly. Simpson has been employed at the paper I believe since being fired several years ago for an act of plagiarism while at the Tulsa World, although I'm not certain of the exact continuity and timing of his employment. Noting that he had received no statement from newspaper or cartoonist since writing about the incident uncovered last week, Gardner wondered out loud in a joking matter whether or not this week's cartoon was Simpson's own. Amazingly, it turned it that it's likely not his.

Gardner also unearthed what seems to be the only response the newspaper gave to anyone, although this was before this new act of plagiarizing was made public.

The latest news is that the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall Of Fame has formally retracted the honor of membership it bestowed on Simpson in 2005.

I think it's heartbreaking that someone with the skill to make their own work would so blatantly and even clumsily take from someone else. There almost has to be a pathological impulse involved, as wholesale tracing and the awkward overlay of ideas is just not something you can do and expect to succeed in the Internet age. This is doubly true with so few cartoonists employed, the fact that cartoons travel so widely and quickly now, and that so many devoted fans exist out there with access to cartoon libraries. That said, it has to be dealt with in a harsh way, and any notion that this kind of tracing and appropriation exists on the same plane as cartoonists that repeat hoary cliches or even borrow specific elements of imagery just doesn't hold a lot of water.
 
posted 7:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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