We’re home a few days from New Orleans only to leave again for Arkansas. Both of us pretty sick. Here’s today’s Glenn Beck cartoon.

To better explain the Super Stu cartoon: Glenn Beck’s head writer, Stu, observed juveniles stealing handfuls of Jolly Rogers candies at a store. Instead of calling Homeland Security, as any Patriot would do, he let the death-dealing criminal masterminds get away, leaving the rest of us to lock our doors at night for fear of our lives. There was much banter of this during Glenn’s Thursday program and here is my depiction of how Super Stu should defend the world. I should also mention that Stu is a – GASP! – A vegetarian!

As usual there were many seminars and meetings at the annual Natioonal Cartoonists Society Reuben Weekend. Here’s a sketch of the back of of cartoonings greatest enthusiasts and such a kind man, Bill Wilson, at one of those meetings.

That night was the annual Reuben Awards.

Here is the big winner: Al Jaffee of Mad Magazine won the ‘Cartoonist of the Year’ award. He has been creating art for the mag for nearly fifty years. His fold-ins are as great as ever.With his was the Master of Ceremonies: Mike Peters of ‘Mother Goose and Grimm’.

The next big winner was cartoonist Sandra Boynton with receiving the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award.

Two other big winners: Cartoonists attorney, Stu Rees, who received the Silver T-Square Award for volunteerism. With Stu is best Advertising Illustration award winner Tom Richmond.

Here is New Yorker gag cartoonist and author, Mort Gerberg with his award for best Gag Cartoon. He was also part of our Habitat for Humanity crew. I can only hope that I will have as much energy next year as Gerberg does now.

Bill Schorr won for best Editorial Cartoonist.

After the awards it became a room full of crazies in tuxedos. Here’s cartoonist and scientific illustrator, John Norton.

Cartoonist and great influence on me with his ‘101 Pickle Jokes’ many years ago, Don Orehek wears his chapeau.

Finally we find cartoonist John Kovalesky declaring himself the Best Dressed Dude of the evening.

We were at the annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Weekend in New Orleans. This was the best meeting since I joined in ‘95. Great food, fun and fellowship!

The group first tackled Habitat for Humanity projects. Two busloads of cartoonists were sent off from Downtown New Orleans and out to the devastated areas of Southern Louisiana. Here are photos:

We were given instructions by a Habitat for Humanaity employee (The fellow in the yellow).

Next we worked! We were split up in separate groups. I felt like a real slacker when working with the group I was with . Here are two of the three hardest workers: Up on the ladder is Leigh Hanlon, with Tribune Media Services, and cartoonist Sandra Boynton.

Of course, there was some cartooning! Here a spare piece of chipboard is drawn upon by Mad Magazine’s Sam Viviano….

… and Sandra Boynton.

Here’s the finished board. Hard to see, I know. My drawing is of a fellow on a ladder to the left of the board.

Here is the house after we worked on it. A good deal of the siding you see was put on by the crew. There was also a bunch of roofing completed also.

We went to many a restaurant. Above is our waiter at a small and very good dinner spot, the Orleans Cafe. There we ate with John Read of ‘Stay Tooned’ magazine. That’s John below. Spooky, ain’t he?

Our trip to New Orleans for the annual event was a great one. This event was the best of all I’ve been to since 1995. We’re only back for a few days and then gone again for Sandra’s travel writers convention in Arkansas. In between we’ve both come down with a virus and I’m working like a mad man to finish a project by Friday in between blowing my nose and taking medicine.

Next week I’ll post art and lots of photos from the NCS event. Here’s a sketch from dinner at Orleans Cafe with artists John Norton and Tom Stemmle and his wife Marie.

Above is the inked version of the earlier pencil. Below is the color.

A pencil drawing of horse racing for a project I’m working on.