Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind the gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at literary cartoons. Well-meaning English teachers have assigned classic plays and novels to teenaged students for generations. The archaic language and stilted social conventions, however, alienate all but the…
Continue Reading
First, today is my twin-daughters’ 16th birthday. Happy birthday, girls! Now, on to the commentary. In the late Charles Barsotti’s cartoon, a businessman has just been knocked off his feet by a ball-shaped doppelganger who’s happily rolling along the ground. The man who’s been knocked off his feet is speaking. This contest highlights the difference…
Continue Reading
Carolita Johnson’s cartoon is set in a psychiatrist’s office, where the patient is being levitated above the couch by a magician. The magician is passing a hoop over the patient to show that there are no invisible strings. The psychiatrist is speaking. I first tried to reconcile the disparate elements—magic and psychiatry—by referring to a…
Continue Reading
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind the gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics take a look at covid vaccines. They’re coming, they’re coming! No, not redcoats or Russians—vaccines, and not a moment too soon. Many Americans have already rolled up their sleeves to do their…
Continue Reading
