This is yet another cartoon that was bought and paid for, but for some reason unknown to me, was never published — and once again the culprit is The Wall Street Journal. The above cartoon was purchased by The Wall Street Journal in 2001. I received my payment, but as far as I know the cartoon never saw the light of day in print.
Over the years, I’ve sold hundreds of cartoons to the Wall Street Journal, and so far in these archives I’ve recorded seven others that were bought and never printed — you can see them all if you select Wall Street Journal under the Publications category in the sidebar column to the right. I have no doubt that there will be more of them in the future, as I continue to go through my files and papers.
I repeat, this is only as far as I know, because The Wall Street Journal never provided me with tearsheets of my printed cartoons, so it was always up to me to check the paper. I’m sure there must have been issues that I’ve missed (because of vacations, illnesses, etc.), but I was pretty thorough.
So . . . here’s my plea. If there’s anybody out there who has been keeping track of silly things like this, or who has inside information on the workings of The Wall Street Journal, would you please let me know the dates of publication of any of these cartoons? It would clear up a mystery that has been bugging me for a long, long time. Thanks.