In J.B. Handlesman’s cartoon, a bartender is addressing Ulysses S. Grant, whose face appears on a huge $50 bill. Ron Chernow, who wrote the Alexander Hamilton biography that Lin-Manuel Miranda turned into a smash Broadway musical, recently wrote a biography of Ulysses Grant, so I initially imagined the bartender speculating about Grant’s chances of becoming…
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Anatomy of a Cartoon: The Eccentric Cartoonists
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at the more eccentric among us. Single-panel cartoons are executed in an astonishing range of styles; however, most share artistic conventions—such as perspective—that render the image intelligible to the reader….
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“Robber and Therapist” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Charles Barsotti has drawn a robber on a therapist’s couch. Next to him is a huge bag of stolen money, and the therapist is sitting in a chair. The robber/patient is talking happily. There’s always a temptation when captioning a Barsotti cartoon to reference his classic drawing of a piece of pasta saying into the…
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“Cowboy” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Kim Warp’s drawing, a cowboy on a horse is consulting a book and addressing a fallen cowboy he’s lassoed around the ankles. I first thought about the trope—common in old westerns—of dragging a cowboy behind a horse. In Warp’s drawing, of course, the lassoed cowboy is in front of the horse. Maybe, then, the…
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Anatomy of a Cartoon: From Staid to Steed
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at how cartoons (and comedy) have changed. The generational upheaval in the late 1960s affected more than morals and politics. Stand-up comedy metamorphosed from snappy one-liners to the observational humor…
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