Diving into Break of Day

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December 6th, 2023

Nadya Martinez

Are you in the mood for some tongue-in-cheek humor and a good laugh? Then, get cozy and dive into the best comic strips, political cartoons, and puzzles around. Every strip has a story, and the syndicated comic Break of Day will keep you captivated with its hilarious selection of dad jokes, occasional deadpan silly puns, and quick-witted one-liners.

_{The short and clever one-panel strips consist of adorable illustrations that match the tone of the random humorous and ludicrous looks at everyday situations such as dating, parenting, work, technology, and health. The funnies with feelings strip comes from the creative mind of Nate Fakes, a Southern California cartoonist, author, and illustrator.}

Break of Day arrived on the Comics Kingdom roster when it relocated to its new home last Spring. However, the online strip goes back to August 29, 2011, when it was picked up for syndication. Its origin dates back even further to 2003 in the college newspaper, The Wright State Guardian, at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where cartoonist Nate Fakes attended. While attending, batches of the cartoons were sent to MAD Magazine in New York City, which eventually landed Nate an internship with the publication. The cartoon strip had a brief hiatus before becoming self-syndicated in newspapers and then featured on online webcomic platforms. Now, Break of Day appears worldwide in greeting cards, magazines, advertisements, viral comics on social media, and just about anywhere. Even pop-culture icon and author George Takei has liked Nate’s enthusiastic and light-hearted funnies.

Nate shared the exciting news on his blog with the following comments and his deep appreciation of the share and what it does for comic creators. “Not every day, you get Mr. Sulu himself from Star Trek sharing my cartoons on Facebook. So when he did last Friday, I was pleasantly surprised. I feel bad for not being a big Trekkie now (sorry about that, George). It’s humbling that he would share such a commodity as my material with his 2,386,262 Facebook followers. So, what does such a share do for a comic? Typically, I get several “likes” when I post my work. However, when they are exposed to the masses, that number can go up slightly.”

Nate has always had a concise attention span, so the goal of the strip has always been to feature a very short, quick, and fun cartoon that only takes a few seconds to read. And that’s why it’s called Break of Day. Because it can deliver you a fun break from your day. Which Break of Day absolutely accomplishes; Nate has a natural aptitude for storytelling through quick-witted and amusing means of delivery. Nate has built a promising career, from selling his first cartoon at five years old to working as a graphic artist/cartoonist for the school newspaper (The Guardian, where he created weekly political and gag cartoons) to eventually working for MAD TV for over a decade.

Since then, he’s been in The New York Times, Parade Magazine, major greeting card companies, and many other publications. After spending hours and hours at the drawing board, he developed the syndicated series Break of Day, which appears in both newspapers and online daily. Some of Nate’s clients include 21st Century Fox, Costco, and many other companies that enjoy his off-the-wall cartoons. Nate Fake is also a member of the National Cartoonists Society and ASIFA Hollywood.

Now, Nate is venturing into graphic memoirs and novels, with his first graphic memoir, A Fade of Light, recently published by West Margin Press/Turner Publishing.

Let’s take a closer look at the strip in this exciting collection of cartoons. The funnies take a humorous look at animals, humans, and random objects like iPhones and credit cards in everyday human situations. It also turns food into humanoids and makes for some hilarious tongue-in-cheek jokes like cats gossiping about their romantic lives or mermaids obtaining healthcare insurance. Nate’s gags are influenced by observations in real life and also pop-culture references like what if Superman had to clock in for his saves or Batman got pulled over by the police.