Sometime yesterday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. a nasty allergen hit my right eye. By 6 p.m., it was itching and watering. By 7 p.m., despite eye drops, diphenhydramine HCL, and flushing with water, the whites of my eyes were red and swollen. I don’t mean swelling around the eyes; my eyeballs themselves were swollen. A most unpleasant experience. This has happened to me once before, when I was maybe twelve years old. At that time, the eyeball got so large I couldn’t close my eyes. Not wanting to sleep with my eyes open, I took a trip to the emergency room in Bellingham.
What’s all that have to do with Charles Brooks’ Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year? Knowing I would likely be in the waiting room for some time, but not wanting to try to read small print with a swollen and irritated eye, I brought this. Last week I found a stack of this series in the free pile at Michael’s Books, covering 1988 through 1994.
What strikes me quite a bit about a lot of the cartoons is that they didn’t last. I don’t expect editorial cartoons on issues from 1988 to have much relevance today. But a lot of the issues are things I wouldn’t remember 1988 for. For instance, quite a number espoused the view that Nancy Reagan was the brains behind the Reagan presidency. (Remember the flap about her consulting an astrologer?) Even then we all knew that despite Ronald being a dim-bulb, that Nancy didn’t hold any real power. Contrast that with the Clinton years, when we know Hillary had quite a bit of influence on Bill.
The other thing that struck me was how utterly non-subtle many of them are. By that I mean that they don’t make use of the visual element much at all. For instance, one included cartoon by Wiley from the San Francisco Examiner has all the punch in the text. It would be just as effective if there were no drawing in it at all. Or another from Lou Bloss of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk. It includes three drawing of places. Auschwitz is labeled fascism’s atrocity. Siberian Prion No. 13 is labeled Communism’s atrocity. And Bloss labels the West Side Abortion Clinic as democracy’s atrocity. Again, all the commentary is in the words, with the artwork illustrative but superfluous.
On the other hand, there are some really great cartoons as well. The 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to Berke Breathed for Bloom County. I don’t know if that prize goes for the body of work during the year, a subset of that, or a single cartoon. The single cartoon included shows Rosebud the basselope high-centered on a fence. Milo and Opus make several attempts to get Rosebud off but fail, then walk away saying it’s all a metaphor for U.S. power. While there is a certain amount of commentary in that description right there, there’s also some pointed commentary in the drawing as well. Which you’d have to look at to get. Which I can’t include because of copyright issues.
A good way to pass the time in the E.R. waiting room.
Title: Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 1988 Edition
Editor: Charles Brooks
Cover artist: David Horsey
Series: Best Editorial Cartoon of the Year
Imprint / publisher: Pelican Publishing
Format: Paperback
Length: 160 p. (includes index)
ISBN-10: 0-88289-687-3
Subject: United States — Politics and Government — Caricatures and Cartoons — Periodicals
LC classification: E839.5B45
