Cartoons

An editor who chose to publish caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in the University of Illinois student-run newspaper last month has been fired, the paper's publisher announced Tuesday. Acton H. Gorton was suspended with pay from the Daily Illini several days after the Feb. 9 publication of the cartoons, which sparked Muslim protests around the world after they first appeared in a Danish paper.

Cartoons mocking Latino and Asian bus riders have appeared in recent editions of an RTD-produced, in-house newsletter, prompting complaints from at least one Latino driver and embarrassing management officials as they try to attract more minority riders. One of the comics, which appeared in a newsletter for employees at a downtown division, shows a skeleton-like, serape-and-sombrero-garbed rider wasting away at a stop as he waits for a bus to arrive on an East Los Angeles route.

The hottest ticket for family entertainment this holiday season is "The Far Side of Science," an exhibit of 600 original cartoons from Gary Larson's hilarious newspaper comic strip, at the County Museum of Natural History. Since its debut in 1979, "The Far Side" has become one of the most popular comic strips in America: It appears in 550 newspapers, and the eight collections of Larson's cartoons have made the best-seller lists.

Although born and raised in Moscow, I had not been there for more than two years when I returned this summer. I wondered: What has it turned into? What does it look like? What are the changes brought by capitalism after an absence of more then 70 years? During my college days, I used to sell cartoons on the streets of Moscow. When I left two years ago, Mikhail S.

Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches here Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet linked to the drawings. Mobs swarmed through the city center with machetes and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze. Chima Ezeoke, a Christian resident, said protesters attacked and looted shops owned by Christians.

A television cartoon based on a popular video game triggered convulsions in hundreds of children across Japan on Tuesday when a "bright red explosion" flashed for five seconds on screens. An official said at least 618 children suffered convulsions, vomiting, irritated eyes and other symptoms. Many were rushed to the hospital by frantic parents, and 19 were admitted. The cartoon "Pokemon," or "Little Monsters," has an audience of millions of children.

Let us now praise famous moose. Also famous squirrel. That would be Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel, each "J" standing for Jay Ward who, with his partner Bill Scott, invented television animation in 1949 with the primitive cartoon series "Crusader Rabbit." What has this to do with moose and squirrel?

"Helping Win the War: Animation Art During World War II," a free exhibit of material from the Glad Family Trust at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, highlights a forgotten chapter of film history: The contribution American screen cartoonists--and their characters--made to the war effort. While live movie stars toured with the USO, sold bonds and worked in canteens, Hollywood's animated characters served the cause with equal fervor.

Disney's new "Mighty Ducks" TV cartoon series will start Friday, Sept. 6, at 4 p.m. with a special hourlong show on KCAL, being repeated the following morning at 9 on ABC. And get this: In the second half-hour of the show ("The Face-Off, Part Two"), the Ducks--who really are ducks, from a planet called Puckworld, where ducks love to play hockey--find themselves in a "weird alien metropolis." Anaheim! There, they hire a manager, establish a hockey franchise and build secret headquarters . . .

Protests erupted in the Muslim world and militants issued threats against Europeans on Thursday in response to the publication in Western media of controversial caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. Debate over the drawings, which were first published in September by a Danish newspaper, is being seen as a collision between freedom of expression and religious sensitivities in European nations, where Muslim populations have struggled to fit in.