2021… Weren’t we supposed to be back to normal by now?

But with Covid-19 variants raging, political unrest taking over the country, and extreme weather patterns slamming our planet, 2021 is anything but normal. BB BluesBird has survived all of it and continues to tweet his opinions through Ron Hill’s editorial cartoons. 

Hill created BB BluesBird in 2004, as a newspaper comic strip feature. The plucky little avian with big dreams of taking the stage as a blues musician was shopped around to the remaining four or five comic syndicates, to no avail. BB began to appear in Hill’s paintings, personal comics and drawings. The bluesy bird’s journey was continued in a weekly web comic scripted by legendary underground comic artist Gary Dumm that lasted for two years, until life intervened and BB was put on the back burner.

In January 2020, BB BluesBird made his reappearance in print when Hill began drawing him into every one of his editorial cartoons. True to form, in 2021 BB continued vocalizing his opinions on the pandemic, climate change, social justice, and local, regional and world politics.

This book features every single editorial cartoon that Hill published in 2021, including some unpublished cartoons. And, as an added bonus, the book includes 26 never-before-published pages of Hill’s Dr. Seuss-inspired verse and art.

Ron Hill is a a cartoonist, illustrator, caricature artist, creative director, author, editor and educator. He creates weekly editorial cartoons for four award-winning Cleveland-area, weekly newspapers since 1999. In 2008, his work earned a Cleveland Press Club award for Best Editorial Cartoon in Ohio. He is a member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists.

Mike Polk, Jr. is an American broadcast news anchor, comedian, actor, humorist and columnist. He slyly weathered the pandemic in his basement, broadcasting live segments to Cleveland’s WKYC from his homey couch. His go-to garb? His signature maroon blazer on top, his comfiest PJs on the bottom. In 2010, Polk was named one of Cleveland Magazine’s Most Interesting People of 2010. Author Polk won multiple awards for his cheeky book, Damn Right I’m From Cleveland.

Dave Coverly is the creator of the cartoon panel Speed Bump, which runs internationally in hundreds of newspapers. In 2009 the National Cartoonists Society gave him its highest honor, the prestigious Reuben Award, for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. His cartoons are published by American Greetings, and have appeared in The New Yorker, USA Today, The New York Times, and Newsweek.

Watch a 1-minute video about Ron’s work as a cartoonist.