Caption Contest Commentary

In Maddie Dai’s drawing, a couple is sitting together having tea while surrounded by barrels of oil. The man is checking his phone and saying something to his wife. I first assumed this was a reference to the reduced demand for oil (a consequence of the pandemic) that has forced companies like Exxon and Mobil…
Continue Reading…

This week’s contest has a prize, and it’s a great one: the featured cartoon, signed by the artist (Michael Shaw), with the winning caption. If I were competing for this prize, I’d be very upset with whoever decided I didn’t deserve it. More than 1,000 people entered this contest, and now I have to disappoint…
Continue Reading…

In Lars Kenseth’s drawing, a cyborg is sitting on what appears to be an examining table, while a woman who’s wearing a lab coat and writing on a clip board addresses him. I first imagined the cyborg suffering from and seeking treatment for oxidation: “You need less fresh air.” “It’s not arthritis. It’s rust.” I…
Continue Reading…

Evan Lian has drawn a bald Superman putting his toupee on (or taking it off) a wig stand. Next to him is a woman—Lois, I assume—who’s wearing a bathrobe and holding a cup of coffee. Superman is speaking to her. I immediately thought of Lex Luthor, Superman’s bald adversary, and imagined Superman admiring his archrival’s…
Continue Reading…

Robert Leighton’s cartoon is set in an office, where all but one of the employees is carrying his or her own ventriloquist’s dummy. One of these employees is saying something to a co-worker who does not have a dummy. I first thought about ventriloquists who use their dummies to make insulting or vulgar comments, a…
Continue Reading…

Brooke Bourgeois’s cartoon is set under the sea, where a disgruntled octopus has been put in a pillory with nine holes, one for each of his eight tentacles and one for his head. Swimming around the octopus are several fish, one of whom, in the lower-left corner of the drawing, is speaking. Here’s a pun…
Continue Reading…