How Mick and Tina had a hand in Tobin’s 40 years at the Tely

By Mark Squibb

You may not know his face, but you’ve likely guffawed at his work in the pages of The Telegram from time to time.

Kevin Tobin of Conception Bay South has been publishing editorial cartoons in the newspaper since 1985. This past summer Breakwater Books published “Fly on The Wall: The Best of Kevin Tobin,” a collection of his very best cartoons.

“There’s about 170 cartoons in this book, ranging from Joey to Peckford, to Danny Williams, right up till Furey, and I was even able to get a few Hogan cartoons in,” said Tobin.

Tobin said he’s been drawing since he was in diapers, and that his mother encouraged him early on. In grade school, he would draw superheroes and hockey players, much to the delight of his classmates.

“I hate to use the word ‘superpower,’ but it was my superpower,” said Tobin. “One of my teachers noticed my cartoons and said, ‘You should do editorial cartoons.’ I was only 16 years old, so I didn’t even know what editorial cartoons were… but that stayed in the back of my mind.”

Just a couple of years later, Tobin wound up working as a layout artist with The Telegram (then The Evening Telegram.)

“They saw that I could draw, and they said, ‘How about you do some editorial cartoons for us?’” said Tobin. And so, he would draw the occasional cartoon, but didn’t begin publishing regularly until 1985.

“I used to say, I could draw cartoons, but I couldn’t think cartoon,” said Tobin. “I didn’t have the maturity to form an opinion. And I didn’t trust my gut. I would think, ‘Am I going to say that? What if people don’t like it?’ There was no maturity. So, I was 27 or 28, something like that, and all of a sudden, I was like, ‘This is what I’m going to say, I trust it. I can draw. And I need to make a statement.’”

His first controversial cartoon would have been published in about 1985, not long after he began publishing cartoons full-time.

“I didn’t know if my cartooning career was going to be over right off the bat,” joked Tobin.

Tina Turner, you may recall, had played Memorial Stadium in 1985. The following week, Turner performed at the milestone benefit concert Live Aid in Philadelphia.

In Tobin’s cartoon, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger asks Turner if she knows how bad conditions are in third world countries, to which Turner replies, “Why yes Mick, I just came back from Newfoundland.”

“You couldn’t do that cartoon today,” said Tobin. “That cartoon wouldn’t get in the newspaper today, in my humble opinion. Even back then, people started calling into VOCM’s Open Line, complaining…. Most people were unhappy with that cartoon. But I kept doing it and I’ve been at it ever since… Mick and Tina shook things up. And that’s my job.”

The controversy speaks to the challenge of editorial cartooning – striking a balance between being satirical and possibly offensive, and realizing such a balance might not exist.

Whether a cartoon was offensive or not was a decision Tobin left up to the editorial staff.

“I’ve had a really good batting average over the last 40 years,” said Tobin. “Most cartoons I’ve drawn have gotten in the paper, and that’s sort of the test. But if you have something to say, you’ve got to say it, and you got to draw it. And if it makes it in the paper, it passed the test… if it doesn’t get in, at least I’ve said what I need to say. But drawing the line is difficult. But what I do is stay informed. If it’s in poor taste, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said… poor taste is a personal interpretation.”

Another challenge is drawing the character so well that readers can recognise who it is without Tobin having to give them a name, a feat which he takes great pride in.

Buzzing alongside the famous faces populating Tobin’s cartoons are the eponymous “flies on the wall,” who act as a sort of stand-in for Tobin, himself a fly on the wall of sorts.

Tobin had initially hoped to publish the collection while The Telegram was still printing daily, although the delay in publication until 2025 meant that the work coincided with his 40th anniversary.

Since The Telegram shifted from a daily to a weekly publication, Tobin said he receives less feedback, since he is drawing fewer cartoons. He added, however that the new print schedule forces him to try his best to hit it out of the park every time, as he only gets one shot a week.

Despite changes at The Telegram, 2025 was a busy year for Tobin. He had a hand in illustrating Bizzie Tizzie’s Soggy Dog, the fourth in the Bizzie Tizzie book series for children. The books are written by Yvonne Bryant and illustrated by father and daughter duo Kevin and Jessica Tobin. And one for his cartoons, that of St. Mark (Carney) doing the miraculous and raising the Liberal Party from the dead, appeared in the national Walrus magazine.

Tobin also shaved his beard this last year. He was asked to grow the beard for his daughter Jessica’s wedding in 2017, and has been sporting it ever since.

“I wanted a change,” said Tobin. “So, I just shaved it off.”

Oddly enough, he said he’s had more people recognise him since shaving.

“Obviously I haven’t aged that much if they still recognise me,” he quipped.

“Fly on The Wall: The Best of Kevin Tobin” is available at both Chapters and Breakwater Books.