Guide to the Planet

Hello – some cartooning news. As of today my diagrams are back in the Church Times, but with a somewhat different emphasis to those you may have seen from approx 2005 until 2022 (early). I’m starting a new series, entitled ‘The Dave Walker Guide to the Planet’, in which I will explore various themes relating to the environment.

You can see the first one, which is of an introductory nature, here, on the Church Times website. My understanding is, and I’m no longer an authority on the subject, that you can view four articles per month if you register, which is free. Church Times subscribers can of course see them unlimited times, day or night, in the paper, app or online.

A series of cartoons on environmental topics, including, but not limited to climate, is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time (I have the defunct website domain names to prove it), so I’m very happy to have the chance at last. And it’s great to be back in the Church Times, which was the first paper to publish my work, is somewhere I’ve made many friends, and is (in my unbiased opinion, having had drawings in it for however-many years), an excellent newspaper. And I hope this will reward the patience of the kind readers who have been in touch to say they’ve missed my work, which has been appreciated.

Drawing cartoons about these kinds of themes isn’t without its challenges, of course. As a cartoonist I rely upon humour, or my diagrams risk turning into not-particularly-interesting infographics, but equally it’s crucial not to trivialise important topics. So there’s a balance there, which I will do my best to tread. And we all hear a lot about ‘being green’, and no doubt some will be thinking ‘we have quite enough about that sort of thing as it is, thank you very much’. But I’m hoping that my drawings might provide a different and interesting way to consider subjects that I think it’s important we keep talking about.

As I say, not everyone will like what I do, of course, which is fine. And, as always, I welcome feedback. Though if you’re getting in touch to dispute widely-accepted science that probably won’t be a good use of anyone’s time. Questions as to whether I’m qualified, a hypocrite, and intend to ‘preach’ (in the less positive sense of the word) have been comprehensively covered in the first diagram…

I’m always pleased when people take the time to send suggestions for topics or, if you feel in the mood, fully formed cartoon ideas – I have a special form you can use to send them to me.

And for clarification, my Diagram Club (club with lots of fun benefits you can join to support my work in general, including the cycling / sustainable transport side of my work) and CartoonChurch (site that has my church-themed work for reuse in church publications) will both continue alongside this new series.