Comic strips | The July 27 installment of "Pearls Before Swine" was pulled from national syndication because of a joking reference to ISIS, according to creator Stephan Pastis. (While he doesn't specifically say so, it seems likely his syndicate, Universal Uclick, removed the strip, as it doesn't appear on the GoComics website.) Pastis attempted to publish the strip on Facebook but kept getting a black rectangle; however, he and others successfully posted it on Twitter and in the comments on Facebook and Go Comics. "As you will see, it is not offensive at all," he wrote. "At least not to me. I think that with recent events, it's just a sensitive issue." [CBLDF]

Political cartoons | Political cartoonists Signe Wilkinson, Ann Telnaes and Jen Sorenson discuss drawing Hillary Clinton. [The Huffington Post]

Political cartoons | In a video interview, the Pakistani cartoonist Feica talks about his work and what keeps him going. [Deutsche Welle]

Creators | Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker declared July 28, 2016, to be Vernon E. Grant Day, recognizing the Cambridge, Massachusetts, cartoonist. Grant, who was African-American, lived in Cambridge for his entire life, except when he was serving in the military. He is believed to be the first American cartoonist whose work was influenced by manga, which he saw while doing three tours of duty in Japan. His specialty was military comics, and he was the author of two "Point-Man Palmer" graphic novels as well as a book of cartoons about the Vietnam War. [Wicked Local Cambridge]

Creators | Parker Jacobs discusses redesigning the classic children's character Ranger Rick. The article includes a gallery of Ranger Rick's incarnations over the years. [Parade]

Comics | Michael Cavna investigates why Ohio has produced so many cartoonists, including "Yellow Kid" creator Richard Outcault and the Superman team of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. [Comic Riffs]

Conventions | While Comic-Con International was going on in San Diego, Black Forest Comics of Seguin, Texas, was holding its own comics expo, featuring local creators. [Seguin Gazette]

Conventions | Last weekend's Colorado Springs Comic and Toy Con was an opportunity for Eli Shayotovich to sell off part of his collection of 10,000 comics; the convention focused on vendors of comics and handcrafted items rather than entertainment guests.[Colorado Springs Gazette]