The Graeme Gallery goes SubStack
My Inaugural Post
Over the years, I’ve frequently deviated from simply illustrating news with ink doodles to crafting actual sentences that capture the events of the day for anyone interested.
I’ve embraced the inner news nerd in me that I’ve always possessed, to make my livelihood being a full on boastful consumer with full on regurgitation of political news commentary.
The launch of my very first News Substack, March 13, 1984. I was 15 at the time. I had important things to say.
This practice has been ongoing with me for decades, with journals dating back to Orwell’s year, 1984, as proof in my erratic teenaged cursive.
Only a few of the treasures during my teen- aged years. My wife threatened to take them to the dump in order to clear room for her own junk in the basement. All sold to buyers on eBay.
At 15 years old, as kids my age were listening to DEVO or Def Leppard, doing dope or doing each other, I was spending my Friday nights writing letters to politicians requesting campaign buttons. Sending letters to Parliament didn’t (and I guess still doesn’t) cost a penny, it was free, but as my mother scolded me for using up all her stationary, I’d remind her that my odd behaviour was an investment in my future.
End of the Reagan era – January 4, 1989. A burgeoning interest in editorial cartooning was developing. Clips outs of works by Edd Uluschak and Kevin Kallaugher.
I’m not entirely sure what has driven me to write news stuff in the past for an audience of one—perhaps it’s the need to organize my thoughts or the hope that one day, someone will want to know just how crazy things were through my personal lens of history. (Sure, how crazy it must’ve been back then compared to the period of sanity we’re all witnessing today, eh kid?) This desire seems to echo the trend of folks sharing their stories on platforms like SubStack; clearly, I’m not alone in this endeavour.
You wanna talk sub-par scrawling in the form or stacks? Look no further than what I’ve personally amassed - dog eared notebooks from my youth. I’m no wordsmith, I’m an editorial cartoonist, first and foremost.
The end of Thatcherism, November 22, 1990. Whenever I sense big news it always calls for a big headline!
In the digital age I’d often continue chronicling this big deal days in human history:
Jan 19, 2009: The day Barack Obama became the first black President of the United States
Jan 20, 2017: Donald Trump was inaugurated President in 2017
Nov 1, 2020: Thoughts of the eve of the 2020 U.S. Election
As of today November 4, 2024, I’m diving into this new platform, where I’ll share insights, commentary, and reflections on the news and the world of editorial cartooning. SubStack offers a new means to go deeper into the thoughts behind my daily drawings, and offering a space for engagement and chitchat that goes beyond the confines of a newspaper page.
Several of my editorial cartoonist buddies have leapt on board and have encouraged me to do the same. Some of them have expressed a desire to move away from drawing and go completely to writing… which I think is nuts.
The reality is that the newspaper industry has faced significant challenges over the years, with many of my peers experiencing the consequences of a sector that has seen its fair share of bankruptcies and layoffs and now are fashioning themselves as elder men of letters. While I remain hopeful that the Hamilton Spectator will continue to provide me with a platform for years to come, I am also realistic about the trends affecting print media. This is why I’ve decided to launch this SubStack: to create a safety net for myself, where I can share my thoughts and engage with you directly, but above all, live out my remaining years as an editorial cartoonist, and encouraging younger people to take up editorial cartooning as an essential necessity for any democracy.
I envision SubStack as a means to deliver a weekly newsletter for free for as long as I have my current gig with a mainstream daily newspaper. I don’t want this to be a bother with my missives, just to remind my allies of satires that I’m still around in case things go awry - and yes expect spelling and grammar mistakes. Those wishing for deeper dives can always rely on my trusty website where my cartoons and context have been meticulously archived for decades and for free. Perhaps there’ll be much more to come with my recent foray into animated editorial cartoons that subscribers can follow along with and offer advice and critique. Is “The Graeme Gallery” and apt name for this SubStack? I don’t know. Anyway, please subscribe to keep me in your loop should we suddenly wake up and find another tragic loss of a legacy news outlet.
The days of dilly dallying are done. As Beck sings in ‘Loser’, things are going to change, I can feel it.
So, gather ’round, kids! If you think the past 40 years of my writing have been anything short of crazy, you’re in for a treat. What is shaping up in this day and age maybe the craziest period we’ve ever experienced.
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