When Penguins Attack! by Tom Tomorrow

by Tom Tomorrow

"Tom Tomorrow is more than a cartoonist. He's a multi-media columnist, saying infinitely more with a combination of words and images than with words alone. And unlike even the best traditional political cartoonists, he does more than come up with clever images or wordplay to make a humorous political point. His strip informs." (New Haven Advocate) "Tomorrow takes wide, powerful swipes at our conspicuous consumerism, at the way mainstream media distort events, and how we all, whether we admit it or not, let the media interpret reality for us. Pretty heady stuff for cartoons. And awfully entertaining to boot." (Creative Loafing)

"Sparky the Penguin is among the best of the new generation." (San Francisco Examiner)

Genres: Comics, Humor, Politics, Cartoon

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Tom Tomorrow is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins, creator of the weekly political cartoon, This Modern World, which appears in approximately 80 newspapers across the U.S., and on websites such as Daily Kos, Truthout and Credo. His work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Spin, Mother Jones, Esquire, The Economist, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, and The American Prospect, and has been featured on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

From 1999-2001, he worked on a series of animated web cartoons which can be viewed here.

In 2009, he created the cover art for the Pearl Jam album Backspacer.

In 2011 he ended a 16 year run at Salon to create and edit a new comics section at Daily Kos.

He has published nine anthologies of his work:

–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 Eggers)
–The Great Big Book of Tomorrow (2003)
–Hell in a Handbasket (2006)
–The Future’s So Bright I Can’t Bear to Look (2008)
Too Much Crazy (2010)

He is also the author of a book for children, The Very Silly Mayor (2009).

He received the first place Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1998 and in 2003. Other honors include:

1993: Media Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award
1995: Society of Professional Journalists James Madison Freedom of Information Award
2000: Association for Education in Journalism and Education, Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award
2001: James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism
2004: Altweekly Award, 2nd Place
2006: Altweekly Award, 3rd Place

Tom Tomorrow is available for speaking engagements. For further information, contact tomtomorrow (at) gmail (dot) com. He is also currently in the market for a new publisher, if anyone’s interested.

Reviews

[S. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection of Tom Tomorrow's social-political comic strip This Modern World, this volume collects strips from 1999 and 2000, covering the final years of the Clinton White House and the 2000 Election campaign. Always great stuff, chock full of edgy, topical, and fact-based humor poking fun at both the left and the right. A comic-strip time-capsule of the political climate of the end of the century, it's a collection worth revisiting.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

While brilliant, Tom Tomorrow's cartoons are so ensconced in the zeitgeist that they do not age well. They give an accurate depiction of a particular political mood at the time, but reading them again now makes them feel distant. Perhaps it's this post-Bush era...

[Van Tilburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The later years of Bill Clinton's second term.