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MAY 19, 2004
FISCHETTI AWARD
Our own John
Cole of the Durham Herald-Sun won this year's Fischetti Award
with the cartoon below. He sent us these comments. E-mail John
at jcole@heraldsun.com.
Here's the Fischetti winner,
about Thurmond's dalliance with a household servant in light
of his segregationist politics. I nearly didn't submit the cartoon
for judging because it concerned something that was done
70-odd years ago by a guy who's now dead. There were other cartoons
I was equally fond of that addressed issues and individuals still
fresh and current. But the reaction I got to this particular
'toon was sufficient for its inclusion in the contest portfolio.
That's the thing to remember when entering contests: It's the
readers, stupid.
BTW, a writer
for a right-wing website called the Washington Dispatch
used my and Steve Sack's winning cartoons to make the case
that conservative cartoonists are being black-balled by the craft
at large and contests in particular. The fact that he called me
a liberal proves he didn't do any homework for the piece;
but then, the thing is so devoid of critical thought that this
laziness isn't surprising.
--John Cole
 MAY 15, 2004
On Saturday May 29, the National Cartoonists Society (NCS)
will hold their annual, gala, black tie celebration in Kansas
City, hosted by Universal Press Syndicate and Hallmark.
The Reuben Award will be bestowed upon the cartoonist
who was voted the best of the year, by his professional colleagues.
The nominees are Pat Brady, who draws the comic strip, Rose
is Rose; Greg Evans, who draws the comic strip, Luann;
and Dan Piraro, who draws the cartoon panel, Bizarro.
I'll be at the convention and I'll give a report on the festivities
here in the blog.
At the right is the original
drawing for the bronze, Reuben Award trophy, by cartoonist Rube
Goldberg, the founder of the NCS; the award is named after him.
The statue features a "pyramid" of naked, male Arabs,
forced into a homoerotic pose. Clearly, Goldberg would not have
chosen to force the characters into such a horrible, disgusting,
degrading pose. The decision to depict the Arabs in such ghastly,
sick, sexual depravity must come from someone higher up in the
NCS chain of command. It simply isn't possible that one cartoonist
could come up with this perversion on his own. This homosexual,
Arab pyramid thing is sick, sick, sick. It makes me so angry!
It is worse than torture.
The NCS is better than that and
the world should know it. We will punish those responsible.
MAY 8, 2004
MAIL BAG!
Most of our recent mail has been
in response to my cartoon contrasting the different reactions
to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners and the murders of American civilian
workers in Iraq.
 As usual, readers
either love or hate the cartoon. Many of those who were outraged
by the cartoon wrote long emails condemning American aggression
in Iraq, without reference to the cartoon. Here is a sampling
from the Cagle mail bag ...
Subject: today's cartoon
Good to see that someone sees the big picture.
Don Huebsch
From: Shad Loftus
News flash for Daryl:
The U.S. is the aggressor in Iraq. We're the invaders, the occupiers.
We're the ones who are purportedly teaching the world about human
dignity, civility and democracy.
We're the ones who are supposedly setting the standards by which
others should live - which is why we should punish the soldiers
responsible for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Even our dimwitted
president grasps that.
It's a pity you don't. Humor is much stronger when it is based
on truth. You're cute little drawings don't compensate for your
a lack of understanding.
From: Hotham, Eileen
Subject: 5/4/04 Cartoon
Dear Mr. Cagle:
I am writing in response to the above referenced cartoon.
I can only infer that you believe that the torture of Iraqi
prisoners is not that big a deal because a mob in Fallujah
got away with heinous acts towards four private contractors.
According to Al-Jezeera:
In Baghdad an aide to a member of the interim Governing Council
said on Friday more than 400 Iraqis had been killed and
1000 wounded in a six-day US offensive against insurgents in Falluja.
"To this day, more than 400 Iraqis have been killed and
more than 1,000 others wounded in Falluja," said Hatim al-Husayni,
an aide to council member Muhsin Abd Al-Hamid from the Iraqi
Islamic Party.
Hardly an unbiased source, but how many people in Fallujah *were*
killed or maimed or displaced by coalition forces in retaliation
for the mob's heinous acts? Also, exactly how many Iraqis
should we sodomize with broom handles before the scales are balanced?
Sincerely,
Eileen Hotham
From: Scott, Iain S
Subject: re Consequences
So what your saying is that if you randomly encarcerate a
bunch of Republicans, blidfold them, wire them up, and tell them
that your going to cook them, then that's OK? How about if you
stick them in ovens?
From: lindsay
Subject: Cartoon Consequences
Daryl, why aren't more people
speaking out about the burning and dragging of bodies in Iraq?
The Administration must keep a low profile,but listen to some
of our own politicians calling for resignations. Ask them which
would they prefer burned & dead or naked with a full belly.They
are a sickening embarrassment to fellow Americans.
Lindsay
Augusta,GA
From: Université
Subject: the cartoon
yes happy iraqis in falloujah who didnt suffer 20 days of
gunship bombardement and 1000 deaths for the death of 4 us contractors...
and poor poor american soldiers who got released from the army
with a dishonorable discharge and blame, and will probably never
face criminal charges because of the murkiness of military tribunals
, but will instead live happily back home, without any gunships...
whats that...its the tought that counts? I would really
hate your presents...
nick hajjar
From: Dan Gilkison
Subject: Thanks for the even-handed view in your cartoons.
Mr. Cagle -
I just wanted to say thank you
for reminding everyone of the horrible murder and mutilation
of our citizens while they're all so distracted with the "torture"
of "innocent" prisoners in Iraq. As an American soldier
myself who recently served in the Middle East, I am disgusted
and angry at the handful of my fellow soldiers who committed
these abuses at Abu Ghraib. But when I see the hundreds of cartoons
showing how "utterly horrible" these abuses are and
listen to countless discussions about the US losing it's moral
high ground and comparing us with Saddam and his injustices,
I try to remind people of the relatively small ripple the murders
and mutilations made a few weeks ago in the world community.
Thanks once again for continuing
to depict a common-sense, grounded point of view. I, for one,
am grateful.
Dan Gilkison, US Army
Subject: Consequences
From: meadow
Once again Daryl Cagle completely misses the point.
The "consequences"
for the people of Fallujah for the actions of a few was that
their city was closed off by the Americans and bombed. Half the
people killed were women and children. Approx. 300 women and
children blown to bits and buried in the rubble of their homes.
Isn't that consequences enough for ya??
What is going to happen to the
American war criminals? They're going to lose their jobs? waaaaaah!
Get a slap on the wrist? waaaaaaah!
Daryl, taking pictures is not
torture. Sexual abuse, humiliation, degredation and mock executions
constitutes torture in any civilized society. And if you are
not civilized enough to agree, then there is plenty of evidence
of physical brutality, sleep deprivation of prisoners and deaths
in custody being perpetrated by your boys in Iraq.
 MAY 7, 2004
STEVE KELLEY ON THE TONIGHT SHOW
When I listen to comedians on
TV I often notice that they seem to be lifting their jokes from
the cartoons on our site --or at least there are a lot of coincidences.
Steve
Kelley, of the New Orleans Times Picayune, sent me this note
for the blog ...
I had an interesting little
incident take place.
Walt Handelsman told me that Jay Leno had pinched one
of my cartoons and used it as a joke on one of his monologues,
several days after the cartoon had appeared in print and on your
site. It was a cartoon about the high price of gasoline. I thought
the point of the cartoon was far too specific to have generated
parallel thought with any of Jay's writers.
Having seen such cartoon-jacking
before, I decided to call the producers of The Tonight Show and
let them have a piece of my mind. The woman to whom I spoke asked
that I send the cartoon and that she would review the situation.
She called back within five minutes of my emailing it to let
me know that Jay had indeed used the joke on the night in question.
He had also used it on a show two years ago, and on another night
five years ago, and on another night eight years ago.
She promised not to prosecute
me for "ripping off" one of The Tonight Show's jokes.
Steve Kelley
COLLEGE CARTOON CONTROVERSY
At the recent editorial cartoonists convention it was my pleasure
to meet Deana Sobel, the political cartoonist for the student
newspaper at the University of California at Berkeley. A controversy
about one of Deana's cartoons made national news. I asked her
to write a few paragraphs about her experience for the blog.
E-mail Deanna at deanas@sbcglobal.net
Editorial cartoons by their
very nature invite controversy. My career as editorial cartoonist
at UC Berkeley's Daily Californian is evidence of that. Students
here are passionate about their beliefs and eager to engage in
political debate. Unfortunately, not everyone at Berkeley agrees
to disagree.
Last May, my cartoon about
Kim Jong-Il, autocratic leader of North Korea, drew fire from
a number of students and faculty at several California universities.
A petition was written accusing me and our student newspaper,
The Daily Cal, of perpetuating anti-Asian stereotypes. The petition
demanded an apology and a revised standard of publication for
our newspaper. It claimed that my cartoon harkened back to racist
anti-Japanese caricatures of World War II. Emails agreeing with
the accusations flooded our inboxes.
Coincidentally, that same
week, the Daily Cal faced additional controversy. A news report
about a student athlete's recent arrest at a frat party led to
allegations of racism. In response, the Daily Cal published an
editorial refusing to apologize for either my cartoon or its
reporting. Protestors attempted to storm the Daily Cal office
and about 2,400 newspapers were stolen from the stands.
Some of the feedback for my
cartoon was positive and very supportive, particularly from Asian
American students. A USC student wrote, "As an Asian student,
I was not in any way offended. . . . To give a public apology
is to say that you will limit the artistic ability of artists
working for your newspaper. Such limitation means that the artists
will have to be unnecessarily and excessively careful not to
offend the unnecessarily and extraordinarily racially sensitive
people."
I still stand by my cartoon.
As anyone who's ever taken a look at the guy can imagine, Kim
Jong-Il's caricature really just draws itself.
--Deana Sobel
Copyright 2004,
The Daily Californian, Reprinted with permission
May 6, 2004
Here's an interesting interview with our own Lalo
Alcaraz whose editorial cartoons appear in the LA Weekly
and are nationally syndicated. Lalo also draws a comic strip
called La Cucaracha. Lalo was presented with a Latino
Spirit Award at the California state capitol, given by the
legislature's Latino Caucus. E-mail
Lalo. Visit
Lalo's cartoons.
Latino Editorial Cartoonist Takes His Message Mainstream With
'La Cucaracha'
Q&A, Marcelo Ballve,
Pacific News Service, May 05, 2004
Q: During California's recall
last year, your cartoons were very critical of Gov. Schwarzenegger.
How do you think he feels about you receiving the award?
A: I asked, has he read my cartoons,
does he know who I am? And they said: "Oh yes, he does!
But this is meant to be a fun day ... a fun, nonpartisan day."
I'm just a little fly, so I think he's taking it all in stride.
 Your "Mexterminator" cartoon
showed Schwarzenegger in "Terminator" gear, armed to
the teeth, as Latinos run scared. The caption was "Hasta
la vista, Latinos!" Did your recall cartoons generate hate
mail?
Actually, no. Except for one
in particular. The character in "La Cucaracha" said
he was surprised that the Republican Party was embracing immigrants
like Arnold ... but that it didn't hurt that his daddy was a
Nazi. Oh man, I got into a lot of trouble! A couple of papers
apologized and said it was a mistake and all this B.S. But it's
not like I made that up! His father was a Nazi. So maybe it was
rude of me to bring it up, but I wasn't making stuff up.
Another recall issue was Proposition
187. Former Gov. Pete Wilson, one of Schwarzenegger's election
advisors, was the main proponent of that 1994 ballot initiative
to deny public services to undocumented immigrants. Are California
Latinos still intimidated by 187's legacy, even though the courts
scrapped it?
I think it's the opposite. Whatever
small power we have, we have Pete Wilson and 187 to thank. I
sort of became known for those cartoons that I would do against
Wilson. Some of my satire was born because of 187 and all that
hatred. We created media hoaxes, like a group called "Hispanics
for Wilson," which was a fake self-deportationist group
of Republican Latinos who were going to deport themselves once
Pete Wilson won. We made it fun; we flipped it over. But we are
still in the shadow of that anti-immigrant kind of hysteria that
pops up its ugly head all the time.
Has the media done an adequate
job covering post-9/11 anti-immigrant feelings and racial profiling?
Spanish-language media does a
great job, but how much does that affect the mainstream -- sometimes
not a lot. I try to put that pro-immigrant message and the interests
of immigrants and non-white people in the center. My battle is
with the mainstream society, to make that message acceptable
and not have people roll their eyes when they hear we're complaining
about this or that.
During the lead-up to the
Iraq war you penned a cartoon in which Bush was running around
with a missile between his legs. Did you imagine editors might
have problems running that?
(Laughs) I drew that for the L.A. weekly. I can't get away
with it anywhere else. I can't get away with it in my syndicated
editorial cartoon. But I still think it's funny.
You're not worried about the
FCC or someone coming after you for obscenity?
No, no. I'd like to see them
write that law.
Harvard University's Samuel
P. Huntington argues in new book that Latino immigration is a
threat to the nation. Why is he setting the agenda for discussions
of Latino identity?
That's the privilege of the white
mainstream -- setting the agenda. We're constantly in reactionary
mode. That's why art is important. It's not exactly public policy
but it's all we've got to strike out with, like President Bush's
pre-emptive strategy.
A lot of coverage now seems
to focus on the demographic aspect, on how the Latino population
seems to be growing everywhere.
We're coming out of the trees...
(laughs)
Is that bad or good?
I guess if one falls on your
head, that's not too good!
I mean the belated media attention
on Latinos, and particularly their population growth.
I've detected evidence of this
as early as the 1970s. National Geographic did this Mexican American
issue. It's like they went to the Amazon and discovered Chicanos.
It's really exotic. It kind of started back then. Then pretty
soon they started with the old cliché of the Decade of
the Hispanic, which was every decade. They keep trotting it out.
It's ridiculous. They still act like they're in "Leave it
to Beaver" days.
Is it any different on the
comics pages?
There's a glaring lack of diversity
on the comics page. Even though Aaron McGruder (creator of "The
Boondocks," an African American comic strip) gets a lot
of attention and I'm starting to get a little bit, it's still
pretty bad. There are a lot of ancient strips.
Alcaraz was interviewed by
Marcelo Ballvé, a PNS editor.
May 5, 2004
I'm happy to recommend a new contest for editorial cartoonists!
National Population Cartoon
Contest
Grand Prize $7,000
Population Media Center is holding
its first annual National Population Cartoon Contest. The organization
will give away $10,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of
$7,000, to those cartoonists who can best portray the relationship
between human population growth and issues affecting the quality
of life. These issues can include environmental degradation,
poverty, biodiversity, urban migration, food and water supply,
energy, maternal and child health, status of women, and national
conflicts. The grand prize winner will also receive an all-expense
paid trip to New York City to attend the awards event!
ß Entries must have been published in a reputable publication
in the United States by September 10, 2004.
ß Entries must have been published after January 1, 2000.
ß Applicants must be U.S. residents.
ß Entries must be received by Friday, September 10, 2004.
Send to:
Cartoon Contest
Population Media Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 547
Shelburne, VT 05482-0547 - USA
Late entries will not be accepted.
PMC is not responsible for entries lost in the mail.
ß Limit entry to 12 cartoons. Please mount cartoon(s) securely
in a folder or binder. Please, no entries larger than 11"
x 14".
ß A copy of the official entry form must accompany each
item. Photocopied entry forms are acceptable. Find the form at:
http://www.populationmedia.org/cartooncontest/entryform.html
ß One clean photocopy of each cartoon is required, along
with a tearsheet of each cartoon as it appeared in the publication.
ß Internet entries must include one hard copy of the cartoon
and a copy of the web layout as it appears on the Internet. This
should include the name of the website, the publication date,
your name and the cartoon. The URL address should be available
for judges viewing at the time of award selection (September
- October 2004). Entries will not be returned.
Questions regarding eligibility should be directed to: cartooncontest@populationmedia.org
For more information, visit: http://www.populationmedia.org/cartooncontest/index.html
 DOONESBURY AND IRAQ
Thanks to Dr. Chris Lamb, for giving us permission to post this
article that he wrote for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Chris is a professor at the College of Charleston; he
specializes in the study of editorial cartoons and is the author
of Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons
in the United States, which will be published by Columbia
University Press this fall. His e-mail is lambc@cofc.edu.
Doonesbury is my neighbor on Slate, visit
Doonesbury here.
B.D., one of the main characters
in the long-running "Doonesbury" strip, lost his leg
last week while fighting as an Army soldier in Iraq, bringing
a sense of reality to newspapers that made both editors and readers
squirm. As a satirist, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau
understands that his job is to hold a mirror to society and show
us not as we want to be but as we are. He reveals truths that
we prefer not to think about it.
Trudeau explained that he wanted to illustrate the sacrifices
that American soldiers are making. "We are at war, and we
can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individual
lives," he said, adding that B.D. would deal with his injury
"probably the same way so many wounded vets seem to
with gratitude for having had one's life spared, empathy and
respect for those who have suffered worse, and a grim sense of
humor indispensable to fending off despair."
When B.D.'s doctor told him that amputees often go through a
grieving process that starts with denial and is then followed
by anger, B.D skips the denial phase and proceeds directly to
anger, screaming out an obscenity. "I wanted to show the
process of rehabilitation and recovery . . . and the impact on
family and friends. B.D.'s life will never be the same,"
Trudeau said at American Association of Editorial Cartoonists
convention last week. "That's why I took his helmet off
after 34 years. He's moving on to a different part of his life."
Ralph Waldo Emerson once called caricatures "the truest
history of our times." No American satirist has captured
our society as truthfully as Trudeau, in part because he has
remarkably succeeded at something as ephemeral as satire since
1970. His success lies in his sense of observation and his ability
to create distinct characters, adapt to a changing America, and
capture its headlines, zeitgeist, and idioms.
Unlike other comic strips, where characters live forever as 7
year olds or as one-dimensional adults, their lines continually
recycled, Trudeau's characters change with the times and stay
true to character. They grow up, go to college, find jobs, lose
jobs, get married, get divorced, struggle with middle and older
age, and even suffer, like Congresswomen Lacey Davenport, from
Alzheimer's Disease. When Andy Lippincott developed AIDS, readers
complained and a number of newspapers dropped the strip. But
other readers those who had the disease or knew someone
who did welcomed it. "The epidemic does have a funny
side," one AIDS sufferer said. In one of the most poignant
"Doonesbury" strips, Lippincott succumbs to AIDS while
the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice" plays in the
background.
Trudeau has thus far shunted mean-spiritness, the occupational
hazard that has been the downfall of other satirists, including
other comic strip artists like Walt Kelly of "Pogo"
and Al Capp of "Lil' Abner," who lost their way after
they became swallowed up by their own pretense or indignation.
Aaron McGruder, who draws "Boondocks," appears to be
falling into this trap.
In addition, Trudeau may be shaped by his liberal politics he
is not blinded by them. After a promising beginning, Bruce Tinsley's
"Mallard Fillmore," the conservative "Doonesbury"
as it's marketed, has become a one-trick pony who nips at the
same standard liberal issues over and over, causing some readers
to laugh because, while it lacks surprise, if offers the comfort
of an old joke between friends.
As a satirist, Trudeau is truer to his satire than to his politics.
He also doesn't take himself too seriously, preferring to respond
to his critics with nothing more than a bemused smile and a shrug.
His influence can be measured, in some part, by the reactions
of his critics. Nothing incenses them more than Trudeau using
their own words to reduce them to the foolish mortals they are.
Writer Clark Hendley compared the satire of Trudeau with the
Greek Horace, "who wanted to tell the truth laughing."
Hendley wrote that "just as Horace minutely examined the
society of his own day, Trudeau forces us to look at ourselves
not as we would like to be but as are."
May 4, 2004
Here is Matt
Davies' response to Jimmy
Margulies' commentary below.
Jimmy raises a good point.
Although I'll make it clear that I did accept the role as a judge,
rather than the judge. The Herblock Foundation felt strongly
that a cartoonist on the judging panel would keep the other non-cartooning
judges in line as far as what actually constitutes a proper editorial
cartoon. I think the ultimate fear was that say, "Garfield"
might win a Herblock Prize.
As far as putting me in an uncomfortable position with regard
to other cartoonists -other than the usual discomfort associated
with being around them - let me just say that, to the best of
my knowledge, I've never gone duck hunting with any cartoonists
and as such, I am (mostly) beyond reproach ethically on this
matter.
Hope this alleviates any lingering fears on the part of all aspiring
cartoon contest participants.
Thanks,
-Matt
May 1, 2004
CARTOONISTS AS CONTEST JUDGES
Today we have a commentary by New Jersey Record cartoonist, Jimmy Margulies.
In recent years , editorial
cartoonists have served as judges for The Pulitzer Prize, and
this year it was announced that the winner of the Herblock Award
would be one of the judges for next year's competition.
On the surface this sounds pretty reasonable. Who better to judge
the cartoon entries than those who do the job daily and are intimately
familiar with what it takes. Additionally, cartoonists want to
be taken seriously as journalists, and including them among the
editors and columnists who make up the bulk of prestigious contest
judges is definitely a mark of respect.
But I believe the reasons for editorial cartoonists not to be
judges far outweigh the positives.
Just as a panel of jurors in a courtroom are vetted for anything
in their background which might prevent them from being totally
open minded, contest judges should also be free of any sort of
bias or conflict.
Among editorial cartoonists this is impossible. The field is
so small that most of us know one another either very well, or
at least a bit.
In addition, cartoonists are not only opiniated about the public
officials and issues we cover, but also about the work of our
colleagues. We know whose work we admire, and whose we may not
think as highly of.
Having strong feelings and being passionate about what we think
is good work makes for lively discussion when cartoonists get
together, but such views cannot be easily left behind when it
becomes time to judge the work of others.
I have had the experience of judging smaller scale contests than
the Pulitzer, and I recently spoke with another cartoonist who
also judged something on this order. We both agreed how awkward
it was to have to judge the work of people with whom we are friendly.
Particularly unfortunate in my view was the announcement in advance
of next year's contest that Matt
Davies, winner of the Herblock Award, will be a judge for
next year. That puts Matt in a very uncomfortable postion amidst
his peers.
While a panel of editors judging cartoons may not be the absolute
ideal, I still feel it is superior to the possibility of cartoonists
who are not totally free of complications doing the judging.
Jimmy Margulies
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