“This Modern World’s” Tom Tomorrow Launches Kickstarter For 25th Anniversary Book; Surpasses Goal in 21 Hours

Over the weekend, Tom Tomorrow, the creator of This Modern World, took to crowdfunding giant Kickstarter with a mission to raise $87,000 for the weekly cartoon’s 25th anniversary two-volume compilation.

While chatting about his work over the years, Tomorrow stated:

“I’m the creator of This Modern World, the weekly cartoon of political and social satire that runs on Daily Kos and the Nation, and has been a mainstay of alt-weekly newspapers around the country since 1990. I’ve won the Herblock Prize, the Aronson Award, the RFK Journalism Award (twice), and this year, I was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

 

“I’ve done a lot of work over the last 25 years! I’ve written more than 1,500 cartoons, published ten cartoon anthologies and a children’s book, and had cartoons featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, U.S. News & World Report, Esquire, and Spin, just to name a few. I even worked with Pearl Jam to create the art for their 2009 album, Backspacer. When I realized I was coming up on this major anniversary —25 years!—I decided I wanted to do something big to mark the moment.”

While revealing details about the project, Tom wrote:

“This giant two-volume set will feature every cartoon I’ve ever done: my weekly strip, work I did for magazines, one-offs, rarities, illustrations, you name it. There’s some early, non-TMW work that hasn’t been seen by anyone in decades, if ever—including experiments with collage, single panel gag cartoons, and even an attempt at a syndicated daily comic strip from the 1980s. I’m including some of the interviews I’ve done over the years, and to put things in context I’ve gone through and added extensive annotation to many of the cartoons.

 

“I have several pages on the Pearl Jam collaboration, including photos and art that have never been made public before. And of course, there are the cartoons themselves—a contemporary satirical history of everything we’ve been through over the past 25 years, through the eyes of an acerbic penguin with weird sunglasses.”

Those that back the project will receive various awards, include:

• PDF Copy of the Book: $30
• Actual Book: $70
• Signed and Stamped Edition: $85
• Various editions: $110- $10,000

Since its launch, the campaign has secured nearly $130,000. It is set to close on August 4th.

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