Caption Contest Commentary

In Drew Panckeri’s cartoon, a man who’s sitting on his front step as if it were a throne is holding an icicle as if it were a scepter. He’s flanked by five vaguely threatening snowmen, and they’re all looking at a postal worker who’s delivering the mail. The man who would be king is addressing…
Continue Reading…

In Chris Weyant’s drawing, a man is showing off to his friend or neighbor an upright vacuum cleaner that’s on the mantle above the fireplace. After a loved one is cremated, some people put the ashes in an urn and display it on the mantle. Because vacuum cleaners also hold ashes, I thought of the…
Continue Reading…

In Bob Eckstein’s Halloween-themed cartoon, a woman dressed as a witch is holding a bowl of candy and saying something to a child dressed as the Capitol. A couple pieces of candy have fallen out of the bowl, perhaps to indicate that the woman was truly startled. To the left of the kid dressed as…
Continue Reading…

I was twelve years old in 1974, when I first saw a paperback copy of “Jaws.”  On the front cover a great white shark rose from the depths toward a naked woman swimming on the surface.  And there, together, were my two greatest fears: sharks and naked women. My fear of naked women was complicated—it…
Continue Reading…

In Pat Byrnes’ crime scene, a detective is looking at the chalk outline of a dismembered body and saying something to a uniformed officer. My first idea was to have the detective state the obvious: “I suspect foul play.” “I’m ruling out suicide.” Then, because the six body parts look like puzzle pieces, I considered…
Continue Reading…