Mark Fiore is an American
political cartoonist specializing in
Flash-animated editorial cartoons, whom ''
The Wall Street Journal'' called "the undisputed guru of the form".
Fiore lives in
San Francisco, California, and his cartoons have appeared in numerous American papers and a number of web sites. He studied
political science at
Colorado College and was a staff cartoonist for the ''
San Jose Mercury News''. He left newspapers for animated online comics in 2001,
[Summers, Nick (December 18, 2006). "Satire: Singing a Different 'Toon. '' Newsweek'', p. 14.] and he currently makes animated editorial cartoons for his web site markfiore.com, from which he also sells DVDs of his cartoons. He is a member of the
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
Fiore's comics were included in
Ted Rall's ''
Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists,'' along with other web-comics such as ''
Dinosaur Comics'', ''
Diesel Sweeties'', ''
Fetus-X'', and ''
The Perry Bible Fellowship''.
[Rall, Ted (2006). '' Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists'', New York: Nantier, Beall, Minoustchine. .] In their review of ''Attitude 3'', the
American Library Association's ''
Booklist'' called Fiore's cartoons a standout for their "unique and personal" vision.
[Flagg, Gordon (August 2006). "Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists". '' Booklist'', p. 23.]
He won a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
in 2010, the first ever for his genre of editorial cartoons.
Recurring characters
In some of his Flash cartoons, Fiore makes use of several characters more than once. Some of those characters include:
* Suzie Newsykins
* Dogboy & Mr. Dan—an anthropomorphic dog chats who with his friend Mr. Dan, who is rabidly conservative
* Buster Bunker The Friendly Nuke—a
nuke
Nuke is most commonly used as a slang term for a nuclear weapon, or the act of detonating/setting one off.
Nuke may also refer to:
Computing
* Nuke (software), a node-based compositor
* Nuke (video games), a type of damaging attack that is mos ...
* Knuckles—a slow man in an executioner's mask who loves torturing Guantanamo prisoners
* Flamey McGassy
* Ouchie—a talking
bandaid
* Captain Killmore
* Snuggly the Security Bear—a rather sadistic teddy bear who puts a positive spin on domestic
spying and
wiretaps
* Right-wing Ralphie—a squat lawyer with pixie wings who fights for homosexuals to gain restitution for being "forced" into marriage; after the passage of California's
Proposition 8, Ralphie celebrates the "protection of heterosexual marriage"; he is a caricature of
Ralph Reed, the former Religious Right leader
* Buzzie the Fly—a
Cajun fly who updates the nation on the
New Orleans reconstruction, especially the living conditions of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
refugees
Awards
Fiore was awarded an
Online Journalism Award by the
Online News Association and the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was nominated for the
National Cartoonist Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
New Media Award in 2000 and he won it for 2001 and 2002. He also won the 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the category of cartoons.
Pulitzer Prize
Fiore won the 2010
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for Editorial Cartooning. He is the first cartoonist to win an editorial cartooning Pulitzer for an entry of entirely online animations, and his winning work appears on SFGate.com, the ''
San Francisco Chronicle'' web site. The Pulitzer Prize committee, in a statement, said that "his biting wit, extensive research and ability to distill complex issues
n the web site
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
set a high standard for an emerging form of commentary."
Animated cartoons win Pulitzer for Mark Fiore
. ''forum.bcdb.com'', April 13, 2010.
References
External links
Personal YouTube of Mark FiorePersonal home page of Mark FioreNCS AwardsRFK Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiore, Mark
American editorial cartoonists
Colorado College alumni
Living people
Artists from San Francisco
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners
1970 births