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A Gallant attempt

As every cartoonist knows, once you create a character, if they’re successful, they just start doing what they want.

Credit: Yaakov (DryBones) Kirschen.
Credit: Yaakov (DryBones) Kirschen.

“Mr. Shuldig trying to explain Israel to his dog Doobie” has been a favorite format of mine since the very start of Dry Bones way back in the 1970s.

It’s simple.

I use Shuldig to express my views, and then a comeback through Doobie’s response. In the beginning Doobie was much more of a dog, walking on all fours and thinking rather than talking.

But as every cartoonist knows, once you create a character, if they’re successful, they just start doing what they want.

Political cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., made aliyah to Israel in 1971 and began drawing “Dry Bones” in January 1973. The internationally syndicated, award-winning cartoons ran in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years. They were reprinted in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME and other mainstream media publications. The “Dry Bones” story has been covered by CBS, CNN and Forbes, among other outlets. He was a member of America’s National Cartoonists Society and the Israeli Cartoonists Society. Kirschen died at 87 on April 14, 2025.
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