Smith’s World: The ‘06 Collection

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006 | 7:04 a.m.

Some of our most interesting moments here at the Las Vegas Sun are those spent looking through the sketches that Mike Smith shows us as he develops what ultimately will be that day's editorial cartoon. He never fails to impress us with his original perspectives on the day's news.

Often his finished cartoon moves us to laughter. Quite frequently we're moved to reflect on the serious point that his cartoon has made. And occasionally we just hand the drawing back while nodding our heads and grimacing, struck by the sad reality of world and national affairs that his artistic temperament has uniquely revealed.

We know that readers, too, will react much as we did. While our stories, editorials and opinion columns inform readers, Mike Smith's daily cartoon offers them a way to interpret the news.

And it's not just our Nevada readers who benefit from Mike's talent. His syndicated cartoons are regularly published in Newsweek and Time magazines and in The New York Times, USA Today and dozens of other newspapers all over the country.

Today we present a sampling of how Mike interpreted some of the bigger stories of 2006. We know you will spend time with this page, laughing or reflecting, just as we do each day when his first sketches begin landing on our desks.

A look back at 2006

For even more Mike Smith editorial cartoons, check out the archives for more than nine years of cartoons.