Caption Contest Commentary

In Bob Eckstein’s cartoon, a doctor who’s bandaging a patient from head to toe is pushing his foot against the patient’s back for leverage, and delivering the line that will serve as the caption. Focusing on the tape, I first made an insurance joke: “If you had Medicaid, I’d have to use red tape.” I…
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Drew Dernavich has drawn a man standing at an ATM and speaking to the guy behind him. Standing inside the machine is another man whom we see only from the shins down. I have a lot of affection for this cartoon, as it brings me back to 1965, when my older sister, Barb, and her…
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Kim Warp has drawn two thugs on the roof of a building. One of them is holding a man upside down by his ankles and, it would seem, threatening to let him fall to his death. The man who’s hanging upside down is talking. He looks annoyed (his arms are crossed) but remarkably calm given…
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In Mick Stevens’ drawing of a prehistoric couple sitting in a modern-day living room, the man is saying something to the woman. Seeing the large framed paintings in the background made me think of cave paintings, so I had the man asking, “Why do they frame their paintings?” I then imagined the man struggling to…
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In Charles Barsotti’s drawing, a large bag of money relaxes on a tropical island with a drink in one hand and a cellphone in the other. He’s wearing sunglasses, smiling, and saying something into the phone. My first idea—“Money talking”—completely ignored the setting, and the setting’s always important. Tropical resorts like the Cayman Islands are…
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Tom Toro has drawn two kids in a tree house. On the opposite side of the tree is a branch supporting a cubicle where a man is sitting at his desk and conducting business on the telephone. One of the kids is looking at this man, and the other is speaking and presumably explaining why…
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