Michael Edward Luckovich ( ; born January 28, 1960) is an

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

who has worked for ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' since 1989. He is the 2005 winner of the Reuben, the

National Cartoonists 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 ...

's top award for cartoonist of the year, and is the recipient of two

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

Early life

Luckovich was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, attended

Bishop Kelly High School Bishop Kelly High School is a private Roman Catholic secondary school in Boise, Idaho, operated by the Diocese of Boise. One of two Catholic high schools in the state of Idaho, its school colors are black and gold and the mascot is a knight. Hi ...

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

, before transferring to Sheldon High School in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, and graduated in 1982 from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

with a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. While a student at UW, he was "one of two non-Jewish members of ZBT frat" on the campus. For two years after graduation, he sold cartoons on a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

basis to the

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

while working as an insurance salesman.

Career

Luckovich began his career with ''

The Greenville News ''The Greenville News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Greenville, South Carolina. After ''The State (newspaper), The State'' in Columbia and Charleston's ''The Post and Courier'', it is the third largest paper in South Carolina. Hi ...

'' (

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

) in 1984 and moved to the ''

New Orleans Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' later that year. In 1989 he began his career with the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'', which continues to today. In 2000, Luckovich started his comic strip "SuperZeros" about a pair of dim-witted superheroes. It was distributed by Tribune Media Service and lasted a year. In a September 2001 interview, Luckovich commented on his style of cartooning and how it changed after the

9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

: :Normally with my cartoons I try to use humor to get across my point. After Sept. 11th, you just couldn't use humor. The tragedy was so enormous, you couldn't be funny. It's almost like you have to come up with cartoons using a different part of your brain. I was just trying to come up with images that expressed the emotions that I was feeling and tried to focus in on different aspects of the tragedy that I thought were important. In the same interview Luckovich cited

Jeff MacNelly Jeffrey Kenneth MacNelly (September 17, 1947 – June 8, 2000) was an American editorial cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Shoe (comic strip), Shoe''. After ''Shoe'' had been established in papers, MacNelly created the single-panel ...

as his "biggest editorial cartoonist role model" and

Mort Drucker Morris "Mort" Drucker (March 22, 1929 – April 9, 2020) was an American caricaturist and comics artist best known as a contributor for over five decades in ''Mad (magazine), Mad'', where he specialized in satires on the leading feature film ...

as his "first hero".

Awards

While at the ''

'', Mike Luckovich won several awards. He won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize and

2006 Pulitzer Prize The 2006 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on April 17, 2006. The board announced in December 2005, that they will consider more online material in all 14 journalism categories. For the first time since 1997, the Pulitzer board declined to award a P ...

for Editorial Cartooning. He received the

Editorial Cartoon Award for 2001, with additional nominations for 1998 and 2002. He won the 2008

National Journalism Awards The Scripps Howard Awards, formerly the National Journalism Awards, are $10,000 awards in American journalism given by the Scripps Howard Foundation. Awardees receive "cash prizes, citations and plaques." As of 2023, the categories are: * Exc ...

, for Editorial Cartooning. In 2018, he received the Advancing American Democracy Award by the

Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, previously known as the Benjamin Harrison Home, is the former home of the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison. It is in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana. Harr ...

Controversy

Luckovich attracted a great deal of backlash when the newspaper cartoonist drew a cartoon depicting Michael Jackson's death one day after his death. The comic strip illustrated the leaders

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

flipping a coin to see what would be the late King of Pop's final destination would be after his death. Many people, including Jackson's family, friends, and fans deemed the cartoon offensive.

Books

* ''Lotsa Luckovich'' (Pocket, 1996) * ''Four More Wars!'' (ECW Press, 2006) * ''A Very Stable Genius!'' (ECW Press, 2018)

References

External links

Mike Luckovich blog
at the

website *
2006 biography
from the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

website
Drawing Attention
a September 1995 article from ''Columns Magazine'', hosted on the

website
Bio in New Georgia Encyclopedia

2001 interview
from JournalismJobs.com, a website "operated in partnership with ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

''"
NCS Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luckovich, Mike American editorial cartoonists Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni The Atlanta Journal-Constitution people 1960 births Living people Artists from Seattle Reuben Award winners Sheldon High School (Eugene, Oregon) alumni Bishop Kelly High School alumni