Caption Contest Commentary

Liam Walsh’s cartoon is set in a bar, where a bespectacled man—presumably the father of the toddler who’s strapped to his back—is about to have a fistfight with another man. The father’s left hand is balled into a fist, and he’s pointing his right index finger at the other man, who’s assumed the fighting stance….
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In Drew Dernavich’s cartoon, a young couple stands over a crib. Someone, presumably their baby, has been drawing tally marks on the wall next to the crib. The father is speaking. Convicts mark the passage of time by scratching tally marks on the walls of their prison cells, so all my captions draw a connection…
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Liam Walsh’s cartoon is set in the Arctic, where one polar bear is standing in judgment of another who’s sitting on the edge of a melting ice floe and dangling his feet in the water while trying to enjoy a cigarette. The smoking bear, who looks annoyed, has turned his head to say something to…
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In Shannon Wheeler’s cartoon, a woman who’s standing in an office doorway is addressing a man seated behind a desk that’s floating several feet in the air. Her mouth is open pretty wide, so I won’t come down too hard on anyone who submits an entry that ends with an exclamation point. I will, however,…
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Jon Adams’ cartoon is set at an author event in a bookstore. The author sits on the shoulders of a woman. He’s wearing a long trench coat that reaches the woman’s knees and is, I imagine, supposed to conceal the woman. But she’s destroying the illusion by peeking out of the coat at the audience….
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In Dan Misdea’s cartoon, a young boy is sitting at the base of a palm tree in a sandbox and addressing an adult woman who’s standing just outside the box. The desert island trope has inspired many New Yorker cartoons, some of which feature a shipwreck survivor who resorts to desperate means to stay alive….
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