What is WittyWorld?
| For the Fan | For the Cartoonist | For the Businessman | For the Scholar |
WittyWorld International Cartoon Magazine, the forerunner of a variety of publications and activities that later touched the hearts, minds, and imagination of tens of thousands of people worldwide, reported from 110 countries. Featuring the creative wit and art of many of the world's best cartoonists, along with interesting articles, interviews, and profiles, WittyWorld dedicated itself to the fine representation of comic art. It's eye-pleasing, thought-provoking, entertaining, yet always informative content quickly built a multi-faceted intercultural bridge around the world, with a readership in 103 countries.
Out of a magazine, through books, syndication, the internet, and a major international festival that attracted visitors from nearly three dozen countries, grew a well-respected entity and a leading provider of the most comprehensive cartoon-related coverage.
For the casual reader, the abundance of viewpoints and food for thought, the intriguing behind-the-scene stories, and the quality of entertainment and presentation have long been the reason for falling in love and staying with WittyWorld. Some prominent American figures that WittyWorld has showcased, have been "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson, legendary New York caricaturist David Levine, the masterful Mort Drucker of Mad Magazine, Jim Unger, who dreamed up "Herman," Pat Oliphant, perhaps the most respected American contemporary political cartoonist, Jim Davis, the creator of "Garfield," and the late Charles Schulz of the most widely syndicated comic strip "Peanuts" and Friz Freling, the last of the great animators. Others of fame featured from around the world have included star political cartoonists Mikhail Zlatkovsky of Russia and the late South African Jock Leyden, celebrated Malaysian and Spanish comic book artists Lat and Carlos Gimenez, gag cartoonists Miroslav Barták of the Czech Republic, Ares of Cuba, Roland Fiddy of Great Britain, assassinated Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali, China's Liao and animation legend Tong Zhan, and, just before his untimely death, France's flamboyant, controversial, but almost always widely admired, Roland Topor.
We endeavor to provide a high level of coverage and diversity in introducing the world's infinite pool of talents and their sometimes light-hearted, sometimes heart-stopping, work of art.
For the Fan | For the Cartoonist | For the Businessman | For the Scholar
WittyWorld publishes not only an array of works by some of the world's best cartoonists, but also unique information normally difficult or impossible to find elsewhere. There are announcements of international exhibitions, festivals, and competitions; general cartoon news covering the world by staffers in 54 countries, and an extensive review department dealing with animation, comics, cartoon books, periodicals, and videos, all of which have made WittyWorld an invaluable resource for cartoonists and publishers.
Beyond the publishing duties,WittyWorld initiated and organized a number of projects to the benefit of the profession. Among them have been a major worldwide survey; various exhibitions, an internationally syndicated panel, competitions, books, assistance provided at a variety of cartoon festivals; international conferences on three continents, and pioneering research on the dangers cartoonists face in their jobs. Some of WittyWorld's efforts have brought recognition by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The European, Time Magazine, international radio and television programs, and the White House.
We are pleased to see that WittyWorld's wide range of activities has made a noticeable impact on the cartoon industry in general. Cartoons are better respected today, and for the first time, WittyWorld convinced a European national fine art gallery, housed in a former royal palace, to mount a major exhibition of cartoon art. Effects of the magazine's ideas, quality orientation, and even layout can be clearly detected in various American and international newsletters and magazines, as well as cartoon organizations and museums. WittyWorld did much pioneering research, caught and fought against plagiarism, built a worldwide database of over 6,000 cartoonists, introduced the works of many international talents, advocated freedom of expression, and stood by the rights of creators around the world.
For the Fan | For the Cartoonist | For the Businessman | For the Scholar
WittyWorld embodies a wealth of talent and a source for ideas and enlightening information. It is an invaluable tool in reaching a specialized market hard to find by other means. No other cartoon magazine, print or electronic, has been so widely read by the profession, media people, academia, and fans throughout the United States and globally, from China to Italy, and from Israel to Brazil.
Advertisers have always been appreciative of the fact that, because of its comprehensive coverage and elegance of design, issues of WittyWorld have become and remain collector's items, thus having a virtually limitless shelf life. Many have been bound and copies appear widely at auctions. The web site's effectiveness, with its instant reach and wealth of information, will be a sharply enhanced improvement over what the magazine was ever able to do. If the printed version was subscribed to by people and various institutions and organizations in 103 countries, one can only imagine its impact on the internet.
When a publication is this comprehensively read, it carries a great potential to help make things happen. Advertisers are not the only business people who realize this. Ad agencies can find new talents for art with specific styles. They also may get inspiration from some cartoons they could use in campaigns. Syndicates that normally sign up domestic talents can take a closer look at a new, expanded horizon. WittyWorld gives book publishers and merchandisers too, an opportunity to browse for new ideas, discover fresh talents for illustration, and develop new concepts for production. Creative ideas can be used in almost every area of life from film making to engineering, teaching, and political campaigns. The potential for benefiting from what WittyWorld can offer, is, indeed, limited only by imagination.
For the Fan | For the Cartoonist | For the Businessman | For the Scholar
WittyWorld, as entertaining as it is educational, treats cartooning from both research and artistic perspectives. Many articles give in-depth treatments of the comics profession on all six continents. They touch on issues such as censorship, "cheapening of the comics," graffiti, literacy, and the use of comic art for social change. Included are interviews and profiles, historical and contemporary analysis, and critiques.
In our print and electronic publications, one of the most popular sections is "Focus," which juxtaposes the works of cartoonists from various countries on internationally relevant themes such as terrorism, environment, the Third World, AIDS, peace, overpopulation, and the Middle East.
WittyWorld can pride itself in an impressive list of institutional subscribers including Harvard, Cornell, Temple, Columbia Universities, the New York's School of Visual Arts, the Annenberg School of Communications, the San Francisco Art Institute, the National Archive of Canada, the Popular Media Association of Tanzania, the Korean Kongju, the German Bremen, the British Kent, and the Chinese Normal universities--proof that WittyWorld is considered a valuable resource widely used and respected around the world.
Among its many activities, WittyWorld has conducted a survey of international cartoonists that addresses professional, social, political, gender, and financial issues. The survey results appeared in a series of articles and later in a book form. One of WittyWorld's first major undertakings was the organization of the first international cartoonists conference and festival, held in Budapest, Hungary, in August 1990. A strong advocate of literacy, First Lady Barbara Bush commended the festival organizers for their role in helping to educate people through satiric art. The exhibition included over 900 pieces of original art from 72 countries.
WittyWorld and its editors, many of them highly accomplished in their own right, have also been responsible for organizing conferences, academic presentations, panel discussions, exhibitions, and visual demonstrations pertaining to cartoon/comic art in Argentina, Canada, China, Cuba, France, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Slovakia, South Africa, Turkey, the former Soviet Union, and the United States.
For the Fan | For the Cartoonist | For the Businessman | For the Scholar