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Thursday July 31, 2003
The discussion about Pearly Gates Yahtzees motivated me to draw
this cartoon, about today's demise of the VW Bug.
Tuesday's rant by Graeme MacKay,
about matching Bob Hope cartoons,
inspired this rant by Mike DeAdder. See
Mike's work here. E-mail
Mike. And here's Mike's rant ...
Most cartoonists in the business
have been drawing for umpteen number of years, and have drawn
thousands of concepts. There are only a dozen different types
of cartoon gags, and several dozen different types of jokes.
This leaves a lot of room for duplication.
Cartoonists sometimes know
when they have come up with an obvious joke and that it will
be drawn over and over in the days to come. The cartoonist either
races to be first or ignores the concept all together. It's the
"Crying Statue of Liberty" syndrome. There
were some 32 different "Crying Statue of Liberty" cartoons
on Sept 12, 2001 by 32 different cartoonists. Who owns the
copyright on that idea? (We
saw more than 100 ed.)
Every cartoonist, bar none,
in this country and in the rest of the world can be taken to
task for...
Hindenburg jokes
Uncle Sam Jokes
Pearly Gates Jokes (Look at Bob Hope)
Anybody at the Pearly Gates Jokes
Tax Payer's up-side-down Jokes
Jokes with politicians fighting
Jokes with politicians dancing
Jokes with politicians boxing
Jokes with politicians in bed together
Cars being steered by politicians Jokes
Boats being steered by politicians Jokes
Airplanes being steered by politicians Jokes
Airplanes being steered by airplanes Jokes
Cow jokes
SARS mask jokes
Dog Jokes
Dog begging jokes
Elephant/Donkey Jokes
Newspaper jokes
Fairy tale jokes
Iron ball strapped to the leg Jokes
Band-aid Jokes
Race Jokes
Starter Pistol Jokes
Puppet Jokes
Fat jokes
Titanic Jokes
In/Out jokes
Out/in Jokes
In the closet jokes
Out of the closet jokes
Etc
Let cartoonists who hath not
used these clichéd concepts cast the first
stone.
Michael De Adder
President of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists
Wednesday July 30, 2003
Here's a quick response from Graeme MacKay, yesterday's guest
ranter,
Hi Daryl,
Thanks for allowing me the space to rant. It's funny, the people
who posted on the forum have nothing good to say. (Don't people
know that we Canadians never put an apostrophe in the word its?)
Those who emailed had nothing but good stuff to say. But boy
oh boy, there were a lot of pearly gates out there. There are
Yahtzees, and there are sextuple Yahtzees. I'd say Bob Hope in
heaven was a definite sextuple Yahtzee.
Cheers,
Graeme
Tuesday July 29,2003
Today we have a guest rant from
Graeme MacKay, the brilliant cartoonist for the Hamilton Spectator,
in Canada. Email
Graeme. See
Graeme's cartoons. Click
here to comment in the Fray Click
here to see our new collection of Bob Hope memorial cartoons.
Graeme drew the Bob Hope caricature at the right, and here's
his rant ...
 It's Monday morning. It's the middle
of the summer. The wheels of another newsweek are very slowly
starting to turn. And then WHAM! A well known personality has
just kicked the bucket. We should have seen it coming. Some of
us were prepared for it. For others, in newsrooms across the
nation, there could be heard the faint sounds of pencil on paper
as editorial cartoonists everywhere go to work on their rendition
of personality X entering the pearly gates of heaven. That's
right, we're all familliar with it, the old pearly gates gag.
Who was the first dead person to get a pearly gates cartoon anyway?
I'm sure there's a few ancient petroglyphs out there that are
real head scratchers. Did the copyright records burn with Pompeii?
Does anyone know?
There'll be a few Bob Hope entering
heaven cartoons today, but HOPEfully, not many. Cartoonists have
been dying (excuse the pun) to get their Bob Hope at the pearly
gate renditions printed for years. (It's in that secret folder
with the Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul, Gerald Ford entering
the pearly gates which we have yet to see). Oneliner jokes, golf,
the White House connections, the ski slope nose...oh there's
a hundred years of knee slapping fodder possibilites to greet
the almighty Saint Peter. There hasn't been a moment like this
since Nixon died when practically every cartoonist put out their
own witty version of Tricky Dickie entering the pearly gates.
Only recently, there are examples of Kathryn Hepburn, Gregory
Peck, Strom Thurmond, and even funnyman Buddy Hackett entering
the you-know-where. Think of anyone who has died who was remotely
known to the national media, and you can bet, that somewhere
out there, some wretch with a pen has portrayed them in such
a original way...of entering...the pearly gates...of heaven.
Everytime its done, the eyes of folks in newspaper-land well
up with grief for our dearly departed.
Then there will be those cartoonists
who go against the tidal wave of pearly gates cartoons. There
is a question before us: will there be any cartoons of the Statue
of Liberty crying with news of Bob Hope's death? Will there be
a cartoonist who'll portray a statue of Bob Hope being toppled
by jubilent Iraqis? Will anyone be so daring as to show Bob Hope
entering hell and being welcomed by the Hussein boys?
It all sound silly, doesn't it?
But there should be limit to what cartoonists can get away with.
It was discussed recently at an AAEC convention that a cartoonist
ought to hold a licence to draw only six pearly gates cartoons
in a professional lifetime. That's six , not 600. Let
it be agreed that if a cartoonist has used up his licence and
can't think of a better idea to memorialize a deceased personality's
life other than the old pearly gates gag, then they should take
the day off. Call in sick. Some cartoon gags are as old and tired
as jokes being read off of cue cards by worn out comedians. Oops,
I didn't say that, did I?
Monday July 28,2003
I am often asked if I would consider drawing up a great cartoon
idea that someone wants to pitch to me. I'm happy to listen,
but I don't remember ever taking someone up on their idea pitch
--until today! Thanks to Julie Mealo for a great idea and e-mail.
Dear Mr. Cagle,
I liked your last cartoon, but the thing that really strikes
me about these gruesome pictures of Saddam's sons, and how proud
the Bush administration is about this, is that it reminds me
of how barbarians liked to display the spoils of their victories
in public places. Perhaps (you could draw) a cartoon of the White
House with Saddam's sons heads stuck on stakes outside the Rose
Garden ... It's shocking to me how barbaric our country has become.
How can anyone say this war is not personal for Bush? Can you
imagine any other country happily gloating over the mutilated
bodies of it's vanquished enemies?
Julie Mealo
We've been getting more dead
sons cartoons posted! Click
here for another visit to our DEAD EVIL SONS collection!
And
click here to complain!
Thursday July 24, 2003
It's up! Click here to visit
our DEAD EVIL SONS collection. As expected, we have a YAHTZEE
of cartoons showing Saddam's boys arriving in Hell. Regular visitors
to our site know that we declare a "Yahtzee" when five
or more cartoonists draw the same gag. So far, we have seven
"sons in Hell" cartoons, and one more showing the boys
in heaven by Bill Leak of the Australian in Sydney. I'm
guessing we'll receive about ten more "boys in Hell"
cartoons in the next week or so.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003, 2:00pm
We got the news that Saddam's
sons were killed yesterday, after most cartoonists had already
turned in their cartoons for the next day. The first cartoon
we received on the topic was this one by Larry Wright of the
Detroit News, at about 5:00pm Pacific time. Therefore, our first
annual Quick, Dead, Evil Sons Cartoon Award goes to Larry Wright!
The dead, evil sons cartoons
have been driibbling in all day long I hope to have enough
for a special dead, evil sons collection tomorrow. Keep watching
that front page.
Monday,
July 21,2003, 6:00pm
I finally heard back from Michael, who tells me just what I expected
... that he thinks this controversy is ridiculous, that cartoonists
are supposed to push the envelope in what they do, that he intentionally
chose a disturbing image to convey the point that the president
is the subject of a political assassination and that the cartoon
was obviously not intended to encourage violence, that there
is a parallel between the politicization of the Vietnam war and
the current deconstructions of the success and politicization
of the Iraq war. I think we've said enough on this one.
Monday, July 21,2003, 9:00am
Today's controversy surrounds a cartoon by Michael Ramirez that
ran in the Los Angeles Times yesterday. Michael drew a cartoon
based on a Pulitzer
Prize winning Vietnam war photo that appeared to depict the
president being assasinated. There is no more conservative cartoonist
on our site than Michael Ramirez. Michael was simply bashing
the Democrats, as he always does. His cartoon depicts a monsterous,
corrupt left, trying to "kill" the president, pushing
the image of Iraq as our new Vietnam.
The intent of the cartoon doesn't
matter much to the Secret Service, which doesn't like to see
depictions of the president being assasinated, even from the
president's supporters.
The Drudge Report quotes an anonymous,
"top Secret Service source" as saying, "We take
all images such as this very seriously, regardless of the politics
behind any speech, images of the president, such as this, raise
concern."
Drudge quotes an anonymous White
House reporter saying, "The world's first political 'snuff'
cartoon... there's a viciousness to this, that's just not funny."
I couldn't reach Michael on the
phone this morning, but Michael's lovely girlfriend, Susan, tells
me that Mike had a police escort on his way in to work this morning
and that he spent the morning doing radio interviews about the
cartoon. I suspect that Michael will spend quite a bit of time
dealing with the fallout from this.
I should give a prize for the
most absurd, worthless, political cartoon controversies. This
could be our first winner.
Click here to comment.
Thursday, July 17, 2003, 9:00am
Somebody should tell the president that he mispronounces the
word "nuclear." Instead, all of his supporters mimic
the error. Like the Spaniards in Barcelona mimicking the Kings
lisp to make the King's speech sound correct. (Please don't write
to me to tell me the Spanish thing is a myth.)
I've noticed recently that the
"nu-cu-ler" pronunciation is repeated on Fox News.
Repeat it enough and it will become the correct pronunciation.
Another one that annoys me, which
I haven't yet twisted into a cartoon, is "if you will."
That wretched "if you will"
is pervasive on CNN and has also crept into Fox News and MSNBC.
Some CNNers, like Wolf Blitzer, sometimes get into an "if
you will" frenzy, plugging it into almost every sentence.
As far as I can tell, "if you will" is synonymous with
"ummm," "like" and "you know,"
but is more insidious, because it sounds more polite.
Some examples, if you will:
"The suspect was shot in
the buttocks." (Correct)
"The suspect was shot in
the, you know, buttocks." (White Trash)
"The suspect was shot in
the, ummm, buttocks." (Mental Deficiency)
"The suspect was shot in
the, like, buttocks." (Valley Speak)
The suspect was shot in the buttocks,
if you will." (CNN)
It is also helpful when the speaker
doesn't know what to say for an instant, if you will.
What can I do to make this "if
you will" thing into a cartoon? That is the issue, if you
will. If you have any good ideas for how to make this into a
cartoon, click
here and let me know.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003, 9:00am
We got quite a lively reaction to Dennis Draughon's killed "Bring
'em On" cartoon last week so we put up a whole new "Bring
'em On" section. Today's cartoon by Steve Benson ran in
the Arizona Republic with no problem. Click
here to see the "Bring 'em On" cartoons.
Click here to:
1.) Express your outrage at liberal cartoonists, the liberal
media in general, and that liberal rag, Slate.
2.) Inform us that our cartoons are not "Fair and Balanced."
3.) Inform us that serious issues, like the deaths of our soldiers
in Iraq, are nothing to joke about.
4.) Threaten never to look at our cartoons again because the
cartoons are so offensive.
Friday, July 11, 2003, 9:00am
The editor at the Scranton Times refused to publish today's cartoon
by Dennis Draughon. Most political cartoonists are given broad
editorial freedom in drawing their cartoons but not all.
I asked Dennis about this "killed cartoon" and got
this response,
"I have been under strict
orders since January 2001 not to do any cartoons about Bush that
are derogatory. My cartoons can be neutral in tone or praiseworthy,
but I cannot take him to task in a strong fashion."
Most cartoonists are more liberal
than their conservative publishers. Ultimately, freedom of the
press belongs to the guy who owns the press.
Click here to comment.
Thursday, July 10, 2003,
9:00am
With all the news coming out of California you might think that
we would have a lot of California cartoons. Not so.
Although California accounts
for more than 20% of the nation's population, and an even higher
percentage of the nation's newspapers, California has only a
handfull of editorial cartoonists. Calfornia politicians get
off easy, compared to politicians in other states.
On our site we have Steve Breen
of the San Diego Union Tribune, Rex Babin of the Sacramento Bee
and Michael Ramirez of the Los Angeles Times (who draws three
cartoons a week, typically on world and national issues) there
are no other syndicated editorial cartoonists in California.
There are just a few local, unsyndicated cartoonists in the state,
notably Steve Greenberg for the Ventura County Star. Most of
California's largest papers, like the San Jose Mercury News and
the Oakland Tribune, which used to employ excellent staff cartoonists,
now run no local or state issue cartoons at all.
With a budget deficit larger
than the entire budget of almost every other state, a governor
soon to be recalled, and a possible Governor Swarzenegger, it
is troubling to see how little attention California gets from
editorial cartoonists.
Tuesday, July 8, 2003, 9:00am
Obituary cartoons are probably the most popular cartoons an editorial
cartoonist draws and they are usually the worst cartoons
he draws. Staff cartoonists are obligated to draw a cartoon each
day on the topic of the day, and when a celebrity dies, that
news demands a cartoon. The first idea that comes to mind is
... "what would the celebrity say in a conversation at the
Pearly Gates with Saint Peter?"
Cartoonists suffer through drawing
these trite cartoons and complain about the obligation to draw
them. Ironically, obituary cartoons are probably the most popular
cartoons we draw. Cartoonists usually receive a steady trickle
of hate mail, but when we draw an obit cartoon, there is always
a flood of mail with heart felt compliments about how touched
the reader was by that Pearly Gate cartoon, or that "Stars
in the sky" toon, or the "flags at half-mast"
cartoon.
On our web site we received the
most complimentary mail ever when we posted obituary "tribute"
cartoons about children's TV show host, Mr. Rogers. It doesn't
matter if the cartoonists all draw the same cartoon a sweater
in an empty closet for Mr. Rogers or "Guess Who's Coming
to Dinner?" at the Pearly Gates for Katharine Hepburn,the
readers love it. The cartoonists grit their teeth, and draw what
they have to draw.
Even so, I thought this Katharine
Hepburn obituary cartoon by Mike Lane of the Baltimore Sun was
particularly good. Mike manages to be edgy and critical at the
same time that he is complimentary to Hepburn no small feat
in an obit cartoon!
Click
here to visit our collection of cartoon "Tributes"
to Katharine Hepburn.
Monday, July 7, 2003, 9:00am
This one is nasty, but it made me laugh. And it is a great excuse
to plug our abortion cartoons click
here to see the abortion cartoons!
Our France bashing cartoons have been a wildly popular feature
on our site a fact that is perplexing to the French. American
attitudes about the French simply make no sense to the French.
This cartoon is by a French cartoonist
named Jiho (regular readers of our site know that foreign cartoonists
like to go by one name, like "Cher" or "Flipper").
Jiho was flummoxed by the reaction to his cartoons on our site
and put up a page of American email.
Click
here to take a look at Jiho's angry, American email.
Click
here to send Jiho another angry American e-mail, and as long as you're complaining,
you might mention that it has been quite a while since he has
sent us a new cartoon.
Click here to see more cartoons by Jiho.
Click
here to see our France bashing cartoons.
| Artwork
© each artist. The Professional Cartoonists Index is ©Daryl
Cagle. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. |
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