In an industry substantially built on Hearst’s The Yellow Kid and Little Orphan Annie, it’s a cruel irony that struggling newspapers are dropping cartoon strips left and right to cut their costs. Also being axed are the children of Thomas Nast—editorial cartoonists like the P-I.com’s Pulitzer-winning David Horsey. He and his brethren, including Ted Rall (of the Village Voice) and Mark Fiore, appear tonight at Cartoonapalooza, a public sidebar to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention being held in Seattle this week. They’ll show slides of their work, discuss their satiric inspirations, and maybe analyze why Bush’s ears were fair for exaggeration, while Obama’s are more problematic. A benefit auction and reception are also part of the evening, where you can also purchase and have signed the cartoonists’ latest collections. And that’s the format—in books, not newsprint—in which their work may increasingly be found. Unless, of course, you’re willing to pay by the iPhone or Kindle download. BRIAN MILLER

Thu., July 2, 7:30 p.m., 2009