The past seven days haven't been very kind to former Tulsa Urban Weekly cartoonist David Simpson.
Last week, The Daily Cartoonist revealed that Simpson plagiarized a classic political cartoon from the 1970s. This was a big deal because, a) plagiarists are assholes, and b) Simpson was fired from the Tulsa World in 2005 for plagiarism. Here's the evidence. The Tulsa Urban Weekly cartoon is at the top. The cartoon he blatantly plagiarized is at the bottom.
Geeze, I'd say that's pretty blatant. My only thought is if you're going to plagiarize a cartoon, make sure that either your cartoon or the cartoon you plagiarize is funny. Those cartoons are so bad they could appear in the New Yorker.
Anyway, once the word got out that Simpson was back to plagiarizing cartoons, the investigators at This Land went on red alert. A few days ago, they uncovered several more examples of Simpson's plagiaristic ways. However, This Land is not the only independent media outlet in the state with a top-notch investigative staff. We've uncovered even more Simpson cartoons that appear to be "inspired" by the work of others. Here they are:
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Yeah, that's some pretty bad stuff. Thankfully, Simpson has announced he is retiring from blatantly stealing other people's work and then passing it off as his own. Or as he likes to call it, "cartooning." He also has apologized to the widow of one of the cartoonists he plagiarized. I haven't checked yet, but he probably ripped off the apology letter, too.
