News Cartoons

Welcome to the world of award-winning Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight, who opens up each week about the stories behind the cartoons in our exclusive Kids News explainer series

Mark Knight cartoon
Sat 6 Sep 2025
AFL finals Collingwood bus
Pies
Collingwood Express

Pies fans board party bus to finals

Collingwood’s victory over Adelaide had cartoonist Mark Knight imagining the wild celebrations on the supporters’ long journey home as last week’s upset keeps Magpie fans’ finals hopes alive

Mark Knight cartoon on Dan Andrews in China

Citizen Dan in curious company

Former Vic Premier Daniel Andrews’ surprise appearance with Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin inspired Mark Knight to resurrect his ‘Dictator Dan’ caricature in Communist crowd

Mark Knight cartoon on the long tentacles of Iranian terrorism

Slippery tentacles of terror snipped

Australia’s security agency ASIO prefers operating under the radar but this week’s big reveal that Iran’s reach extends to our shores put Mark Knight in mind of one many-tentacled creature

Mark Knight toon August 17

Putin rides away from Alaska talks

Cartoonist Mark Knight had a lot more fun than Trump with the much-hyped Alaska summit with President Putin – but days later it was the sharp suit on Ukraine’s President Zelensky for the win

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, August 11, 2025

From Colliwobbles to Crows woes

Saturday’s battle of the birds dealt a further blow to the ‘Pies and their supporters as Mark Knight’s cartoon foreshadowed, as the Adelaide Crows broke the back of their own Collingwood hoodoo

Mark Knight's parody of the coveted Gold Logie sees a number of dubious contenders vying for the leadership award. Picture: Mark Knight

Gold leadership Logie goes to …

Award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight delivers a classic slow clap to world leaders in his satirical spin on the coveted Gold Logie, with nominees noteworthy for woes created in their wake

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, July 29, 2025

Blue Lib leader’s St Kilda lament

Cartoonist Mark Knight imagines St Kilda’s recent 46-point comeback inspiring Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley to find a way out of the political wilderness after their crushing election defeat

Mark Knight cartoon Ozzy Osbourne leaving us - Herald Sun July 24th 2025

Ozzy knocking on Heaven’s door?

Devotion to family defined heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne perhaps even more than rock ‘n’ roll, as cartoonist Mark Knight asks what awaits flawed but loving souls when the music stops

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, June 25, 2025

‘Peace in our time’ blast from past

The US President claiming a total ceasefire as hostilities continued in the Middle East recalled a cautionary quote nearly a century old that reminded Mark Knight of the fragility of peace in war

Mark Knight's 'Are we still on, Donald?' cartoon on the G7 date night disaster. Picture: Mark Knight

Date night a bust at the ‘G7 Bistro’

First dates are a nerve-racking affair and Albo’s long-awaited meeting with the erratic US President Donald Trump turned into a modern ‘ghost’ story leaving Australia’s PM at a table for one

mark Knight cartoon on riots in California

LA unrest fuels US President’s fire

If inflaming every situation seems to be US President Donald Trump’s signature move, then immigration protests in Los Angeles struck the match in Mark Knight’s ‘Flaming Trump’ cartoon

KIDS NEWS 2025: June 05 Mark Knight's Tassie Devils toon shows the AFL team is on the brink of extinction like the Apple Isle's other famous native species, the Tasmanian tiger. Picture: Mark Knight

Tassie AFL deal’s devilish dilemma

Political turmoil in Tasmania has put AFL’s newest team on the endangered species list as Mark Knight considers the fate of the state’s extinct thylacine as the Tassie Devils fight for their survival

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, May 26, 2025

Romance reborn in Knight cartoon

It was love at second sight in Part Two of cartoonist Mark Knight’s Coalition saga, as the Liberal and National Party leaders decide they’re better together just a week after breaking up

mark Knight cartoon on the coalition split

Country romance over for Coalition

Political life imitated reality TV this week after new Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley’s speed date with the National Party ended in a bad break up in Mark Knight’s homage to Farmer Wants a Wife

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, May 13, 2025

Pioneer wins Libs’ leadership duel

Cartoonist Mark Knight draws on the classic western plot of cowboys pulling pistols at dawn to capture the Liberal Party’s leadership vote – but is the female pioneer now on clean up duty?

Mark Knight cartoon on Adam Bandt losing his seat

Bandt’s parliamentary party over

Cartoonist Mark Knight transforms outgoing Greens leader Adam Bandt into a DJ whose dance party is abruptly unplugged as the 15 year veteran concedes defeat to Labor in the seat of Melbourne

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, April 28, 2025

Unholy show as leaders lock horns

Cartoonist Mark Knight’s four-letter wordplay speaks a thousand words as the humble casket of Pope Francis sat in stark contrast to two feuding presidents facing off in St Peter’s Square

Mark Knight cartoon
Fri 4 April 2025
Trump tariffs
Liberation day

Mark Knight does ‘Liberation Day’

The iconic Statue of Liberty is America’s great symbol of freedom and opportunity but Mark Knight’s cartoon imagines the US and Lady Liberty transformed by Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation’ tariffs

KIDS NEWS 2025: Mark Knight's Federal Budget lock up cartoon featuring Dr Jim Chalmers'

Little to celebrate in Budget break

With the next federal election coming hot on the heels of the Budget, cartoonist Mark Knight wonders what voters will make of the Treasurer’s tiny $5 tax break during a cost of living crisis

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, March 17, 2025

Anthem found for wild Grand Prix

You know that feeling when a song gets stuck in your head? So does cartoonist and Formula One fan Mark Knight, whose Melbourne Grand Prix called up an old Crowded House favourite

Mark Knight cartoon 12/03/2025

Melb Grand Prix or criminal spree

Excitement in Melbourne is at fever pitch for the Grand Prix but a darker current is stripping the sheen off life in the capital as Mark Knight’s cartoon reimagines youth crime as an F1 pit heist

Mark Knight evokes the UFC ring in his cartoon capturing the mood in the Oval Office during the now infamous meeting between the Ukraine's President Zelenskyy and American duo of President Trump and Vice President Vance. Picture: Mark Knight

Trump’s ‘Octagon Office’ diplomacy

US President Donald Trump’s second term has been full of hair-raising moments, but none as shocking as the aggressive meeting with Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, says cartoonist Mark Knight

Mark Knight cartoon
Thu 6 Feb 2025
Donald Trump
Gaza

Trump touts Gaza MAGA makeover

Donald Trump’s ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ vision for war-ravaged Gaza left the world spinning, but the US President’s past life as a property developer gave cartoonist Mark Knight an idea

Mark Knight toon Nov 24

Farewell tribute to forever friends

The tragic loss of Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles this past week was felt around the nation, as captured in cartoonist Mark Knight’s poignant picture of youth and beauty

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, November 11, 2024

Rural America puts pitchfork in DC

Rural and working voters in the US presidential election popped the bubble of Washington DC’s political establishment with the prod of a pitchfork in Mark Knight’s take on American Gothic

mark Knight cartoon on Us election and melbourne cup

Two races that stopped the nation

The outcome of the US presidential election wasn’t known when an outsider won Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup against the odds but Mark Knight’s prophetic cartoon proved to be right on the money

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, October 29, 2024

High-flying PM hits turbulence

From working class man to Chairman’s Lounge king, Anthony Albanese’s ‘man of the people’ pitch might not pass muster with the public amid the cost of living crisis in Mark Knight’s cartoon

Mark Knight cartoon for Herald Sun, October 22, 2024

Why royal welcome went rogue

The pomp and ceremony greeting Charles and Camilla in Canberra was no match for the not-so-warm welcome Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe threw down in Mark Knight cartoon

Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight with his 2024 AFL Premiership Posters of the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions. Picture: Ian Currie

Footy fever in Knight’s AFL posters

Herald Sun cartoonist and Kids News favourite Mark Knight has unveiled his AFL premierships posters for 2024 ahead of Saturday’s blockbuster match between the Lions and the Swans

mark Knight toon on death of James Earl Jones

Social media Australia’s Death Star

Parents battling social media harm is like the Rebellion fighting the Death Star as Mark Knight channels Darth Vader’s much-needed voice of authority in tribute to the actor who voiced him