Caricature Books

This book is a must for all cat lovers. I don't even have a cat and I thought it was very funny. The drawings are great and the text is so true.

WWII award-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin did not age well. This collection of his political cartoons spans the years from 1978 to 1985. The toons are artistically well done and use a wide range of visual metaphors. Mauldin adds a bit of text to most pages, providing a little historical context to his targets. But I have two complaints: some of his visuals don't make sense, and (perhaps not unrelatedly) neither does his political viewpoint.

Mauldin dislikes women's lib, unions and Jimmy Carter. He idolizes Ronald Reagan, at least until deficits started to grow. Mauldin is anti-Israel, though perhaps anti-Menachem Begin is closer. He is anti-Ayatollah Khomeini, but loses points by implying that Iranians had no grievances against the US (how about using the CIA to topple their democratically elected government, for starters?). Surprisingly, Mauldin shows himself to be a libertarian on some issues. Several of his pieces lampoon the government's equation of marijuana with cocaine and heroin. This is positively progressive compared to most of his other material,

Mauldin's greatest sin is artistic: presenting images that are hard to decipher, regardless of his politics. What does it means when a coffee pot labeled "Reaganomics" is being heated by a wood fire fed by crutches, dentures and prostheses? How about a be-robed Arab holding a huge gas nozzle perplexed by an American car's tiny gas intake receptacle? And what to make of an angry, bald-pated magnate fuming at his TV and saying, "I want to see the roads out of Washington choked with refugees"?

At other times, Mauldin hits home. A shot of Ayatollah Khomeini offering a "last lollipop" to a 9-year-old about to face a firing squad is both relevant, clear and right-headed. A man is shown crawling into an endless oil pipeline at the end of which is a sun labeled "Solar Energy." The caption, which reads "The light at the end of the tunnel" puts the artist on the right side of some environmental issues.

But alas, much of Mauldin's work is what you would expect to see in a small-town newspaper in a conservative rural burg -- good-hearted, but ultimately uninformed, lacking nuance and often plain wrong. It's clear, however, that the opinions are Mauldin's and not that of some propaganda team trying to sway public opinion with misinformation. For this, regardless of his shortcomings, we should all be grateful. And nostalgic.

If you've seen Paul Coker Jr.'s "Horrifying Clishes" in Mad magazine, you know how great they are. Paul Coker is one of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived, and the concept behind this series really gives him a chance to show off his unique talent.

BUT...
Somebody thought they'd get fancy and add some color to the drawings, and they MESSED THEM UP! The color is done on a computer, and it adds very dark areas that throw the beautiful compositions off badly. Coker himself was obviously not involved in this; it was probably done by some flunky fresh out of a 2nd rate art school working for minimum wage. It ruins the drawings in many bitterely disappointing instances. Coker himself has been known to add watercolor or ink wash to some of his work, and he does so with the delicacy and unerring judgement of a master. Why didn't they consult him, instead of printing blocks of opaque dark green over his exquisite line work? The color is mechanical and flat, with no sensitivity to form; it gradates from dark to light mathematically, just like a lifeless computer program. It adds nothing and in some cases obscures much. Shameful.

This is still the best collection of Coker's art for Mad, though. Too bad.

The flavor of McPherson is something akin to Larson's The Far Side strips, with the caveat that the animals are fall less likely to speak and behave sentiently. Always good for a chuckle, and great to pass the time, McPherson Goes to Church pokes fun at all the wacky and zany situations that can daily occur within the holy walls of our sanctuaries, but never does he criticize or denigrate his subjects. On the contrary, this is good family fun for everyone, and quite clever.

Originally published under the title 'Anti-Nuclear Handbook' by Pantheon Books, this book is set out to raise awareness to the issue of nuclear power as it posed a threat in the eighties (and most likely today as well). While it begins quite simply explaining how nuclear power came about with the advent of Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb in which it was used in WW2, from then on it was harnassed as a tool. It seems to have caused more destruction and problems than the bomb itself has manifested. At this point in the book, it seems to trail into political stances and other world problems. The author Stephen Croall is also the author of 'Ecology for Beginners,' which is evident that the author is somewhat self righteous in his own stance, regardless of his points. The book eventually becomes bogged down with too much information that it transcends comic book beginners status and into intermediary positions. So in essence, it was not an altogether enjoyable read. While I dont know much about nuclear power in general, I would imagine this being an ideal place to begin as I would guess its a thorough and tough subject to ascertain comfortably.

For those new to McPherson, his flavor is something akin to Larson's The Far Side strips, with the caveat that the animals are fall less likely to speak and behave sentiently. Always good for a chuckle, and great to pass the time, One Step Closer to Home starts with one of McPherson's crazy-cat-lady ordering her beleaguered husband to put a few more cats on the bed for warmth, and it only gets better from there. Quite clever, as always.

Ken Muse's book on cartooning offers quite a few pointers on what it takes to become a professional cartoonist, but as this book is around thirty years old, a lot of things have changed. For example, the rub-on tone screen sheets commonly used years ago are no longer available, and the book pre-dates the use of computers in cartooning. Still, you'll find a wealth of methods for coming up with ideas for gags, and the interviews with established professional cartoonists are quite informative.

The flavor of McPherson is something akin to Larson's The Far Side strips, with the caveat that the animals are fall less likely to speak and behave sentiently. Always good for a chuckle, and great to pass the time, the Silence of the Lamberts starts with a couple who has re-discovered pleasant dinner conversation by means of two connected sound-proof bubbles while their children rage around them wildly, and it only gets better from there. Quite clever.

I bought a copy of Star Jaws sometime after I'd seen the movie Star Wars. I was in full blown SW frenzy at the time and anything even remotely connected to space caught my eye. The single page comics in the book are parodies of either Star Wars or Jaws or often (and oddly) both. I was 10 or 11 when I first saw the book and even then the jokes were mostly lame and silly. It wasn't until years later when I learned about Will Eisner that I was rather shocked that HE was the author behind this. All in all, it's a silly book that young kids might like.

Pretty dumb, bought this as a gag present for my boss's b-day, as she has 6 dogs and was pretty anti-marriage....