|
  Previous Threads: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007-2008 Welcome to the Political Cartoons Thread! This is where we post, discuss, and mock political cartoons and the cartoonists that make them. It's Year Two in the Age of Trump, and we await what horrors the year has in store. So more than ever, edits and parodies are welcome in this den of hacks, shills, and has-beens, with weekends being a good opportunity to share any older cartoons you've dug up. Check out your local library for older archives and don't be afraid to share. So familiarize yourself with the thread rules, and dive into what's been called "D&D's worst thread" by critics!  This is the stuff that can get you probated or banned, so listen up.
  THESE ARE NOT HARD RULES This is just a list of recommendations to make the thread go more smoothly. Don't yell at people or report them for violating poo poo here unless it actually violates a forum rule!
 Q: This guy got paid for this? A: Maybe! Political Cartoonists are generally paid in two ways--as a staff position or on a per-cartoon basis by a syndicate. If a cartoonist is a staff cartoonist, they'll list their employer by their name. These cartoonists are paid a living wage and just about all of their cartoons are actually approved by an editor, printed, and seen by human beings. If a cartoonist is a member of a syndicate, they'll list their syndicate by their name, usually Cagle or U-Click. These syndicates act as a market for editors. We have no idea whether a particular cartoon posted by a syndicate is actually sold. Reportedly, they are sold for around $10 a cartoon, which is then split by the cartoonist and the syndicate. As you can imagine, this means a cartoonist can make very little or very much in syndication. There's also the rare exception of cartoonists who are paid by donation, but this is becoming more common through sites such as Patreon and Kickstarter. Q: How obscure is this guy? Is anyone ever actually going to see this? A: For most, there's no way to tell. Unless they're a staff cartoonist, the cartoon may never be printed or seen by anyone. Most of the cartoonists here are published to a fairly large audience but, as the internet offers easier ways to get your work out there, this thread has seen an increasing amount of obscure or fringe cartoonists. Just assume they're read by a non-trivial amount of people unless there's proof otherwise. Q: Is everyone posted here an evil, stupid, conservative rear end in a top hat? A: No, we post all kinds. Sometimes a cartoon will present an evil idea sarcastically, sometimes they're just evil. If you can't tell just by looking at it, just look them up in the index for a very general idea. Q: Did this cartoonist get a Pulitzer for one cartoon or what? A: Apparently Pulitzers many decades ago were given out for a particular cartoon or two, but as time goes on it seems to have shifted to the artist's work for the year. So while we make mock someone like Ramirez for obvious "Pulitzer Bait", technically all of his cartoons are judged for the award. Yeah...we don't hold the Pulitzer in high regard. Q: Is this just for American/Canadian cartoonists, or...? A: We allow cartoons of all stripes, and we adore stuff from foreign cartoonists as a break from the usual suspects. There is a thread for UK cartoons, but we've felt that there haven't been enough UK cartoons posted in this thread and would encourage people to start posting them in here again. However it would be nice, if you have the time, to explain some of the stuff that harder to decipher. Q: What about funny page cartoons? Webcomics? A: A cartoon with regular political content, such as Doonesbury or Prickly City, can be posted here no problem. Your Garfield and Family Circus stuff should go to the Comic Strip Megathread in BSS, although feel free to share the rare individual strips that are political in nature. Webcomics follow the same procedure: it's fair game if there's overt contemporary political themes, otherwise take it elsewhere. Remember that Day by Day, a political webcomic, is banned from this thread. Take it to the Bad Webcomic Thread or whatever place allows such garbage. Q: Can I share this crazy email from my mom? How about this image macro I saw on Facebook? A: This thread is strictly for political cartoons. Check out this thread for sharing political emails from your family, and this thread for political pictures. If you wish to further go down the rabbit hole, check out the Right Wing Media and Freep threads. Q:Can I see more from X? A: We'd really like to see more people consistently posting the same cartoonist(s) so they don't get missed. If you want to step up to the plate for a particular person, then by all means. You can post them as they come, or do weekly dumps if that's easier on you. Q:What happened to the cartoonist index? A: The index was an artifact from when old poster XyloJW made the thread, and I kept it updated for the sake of new people. However, the list took a decent chunk of time to update each year, and very few people used it so it didn't solve the problem of people asking the same questions about cartoonists. Xander77 made a few profiles about the more infamous cartoonists posted here, in case you need a primer: Payne: http://imgur.com/gallery/C2ysj Garrison: http://imgur.com/gallery/ZdFwM Tinsley: http://imgur.com/gallery/hFGWV Gorrell: http://imgur.com/gallery/rnrPT Ramirez: http://imgur.com/gallery/QrEjj Rall: http://imgur.com/gallery/xDjKV  The thread has developed a few inside jokes and terms: AGC: Shorthand for "A Good Cartoon." Basically, you intentionally interpret a comic with a fairly obvious bad message as having a good message. The original point of this was to poke fun at some of the really poor metaphors that some cartoonists were crafting, but the concept of AGC has been run into the ground. If you want to see some quality ones, Saint Sputnik has a blog dedicated to these. Benghazi: While I think everyone is familiar with the Benghazi attacks, newer users might be unaware that one of the victims was Sean "vilerat" Smith, who was a long-time member and moderator of D&D. Seeing cartoonists use the death of a sincerely missed member of the community as a desperate attempt to smear Obama has made Benghazi a rather sore issue for everyone in this thread. Can't Handle: The thread is known for getting into spats over ridiculous subjects. However, this phrase was used waaaaay too much, and you're not being witty by yelling "Can't Handle!" when people arguing over actual political stuff as opposed to goofy poo poo like weathervanes. Yes, we have actually argued over weathervanes. DASGC: Stands for "Dumb and so Goddamn Crazy." A cartoon that portrays the opposing side as screaming, ignorant children, and their own side as patient, knowledgeable adults. Based on a Shmorky cartoon. Don't Be Willfully Dense: A line from cartoonist Eric Allie when someone pointed out how stupid his cartoon was. Has become a thread motto of sorts to not be an idiot when interpreting the message of any given cartoon. The Gay Abortions: Our annual awards for the worst cartoons of the year (and the best edits or parodies). Named after a hilarious parody cartoon, you should try to keep the really awful cartoons that crop up this year in the back of your mind so you'll have nominees ready by next December. Gerald: A name given to a stock character used in many conservative cartoons. Typically a standard middle-aged white guy with glasses and little hair. Exists only to wryly point out how bad and dumb the strawman of the day is. It's a Powerful Symbol: Phrase made popular during the short-lived Kelly commentaries. When describing the crying Statue of Liberty, Kelly said "it's a powerful symbol...you don't want to overuse it" when of course the joke is that Liberty is in nearly every Kelly cartoon. Used sarcastically for overused symbolism, especially Liberty but can be anything such as bald eagles or uncle sam. Nonsense...This Is An Election Year: This phrase comes from a cartoon that was the subject of an Onion article mocking nonsensical political cartoons. Sometimes a person may post this phrase in response to a political cartoon, and that's basically a way of saying "this makes no loving sense." Pants Donkey: The nickname for a donkey from an old Mike Luckovich cartoon, and is essentially the mascot of the thread at this point. We have no idea why. PBF: The Perry Bible Fellowship was a webcomic that people frequently over-analyzed, so much to the point that to "PBF" something is to dig way deeper than you were supposed to for a cartoon's meaning. Wormbama: It was common for Michael Ramirez to draw former President Obama with a weird squished face that resembled a worm. The thread game up with this nickname for the phenomenon. You Gotta Give Me the Fangs: Another joke from the brief Kelly video series, it references Kelly begging his editor to keep fangs on a Chinese person. Used to describe when a cartoonist is being especially racist with their caricature. Zionism: Okay, not really unique to this thread, but enough people have asked about it to merit being in here. Zionism, in a very simple definition, is just far-right nationalism for Israel. However, if you are hearing Zionism used in the same context as the Rothschilds or the Illuminati or basically any Dees cartoon, then you're just dealing with antisemitic conspiracy stuff.  Some edits, parodies, and cartoons become quite memorable and frequently requested. Please check out the Politoon Archive first before asking for stuff in the thread. I'll be using the OP to collect memorable stuff from this year, and then archive it at the end of the year.  Sometimes stuff that starts here gets collected on its own site. Note that several of these sites have stopped updating, but the archives are always fun for a spin. A Good Cartoon: Saint Sputnik collects the best AGCs here. Ye Fowl Herald: You know that old medieval tapestry maker thing that was popular on the internet several years ago? Well, Saint Sputnik is using it to recreate Mallard Fillmore strips. Iran Will Have Nukes Any Day Now: I have collected cartoons that predict the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. Some of these cartoons are over a decade old. If Global Warming Is Real, Then Why Is It Cold: A depressing collection of cartoons that display people's complete lack of climate education. Political PBF: Some unknown genius took old PBF strips and turning them into political cartoons. It's a lot better than it sounds. Pants Donkey fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jun 24, 2018 |
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:28
|
|
warning next to it.
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 22:36 |
|
|
 Here's a short list of thread headliners. These people put out content at a regular rate and drive most of the thread's conversations.  Ramirez is, depressingly, the face of American political cartooning. Part of this is because his career has effectively been astroturfed by Fox News and other right wing outlets, who invite him on to tell him how genius his scrawlings are. The other part is how hilariously bad he is at his job: he cannot draw to the point where even people he likes look like flesh monsters. He also is terrible at visual metaphor, using crosshatching excessively as a crutch. He has a fondness for DEBT cartoons, and largely parrots the establishment Republican talking points. Ramirez is particularly known for his god-awful caricatures, turning people both friend and foe into grotesque horrors better suited for some cheap Lovecraft knockoff comic. His Obama was so bad it was given the nickname "Wormbama" since he turned Obama's head in a weird tube. Somehow he has won the Pulitzer Prize twice, rendering the award meaningless for all winners both past, present, and future.  This thread originally spawned from an old mock thread dedicated to solely making fun of Mallard Fillmore. It is technically a comic strip, as it occupies the funny pages daily as opposed to being randomly chosen to end up on the editorial page. While originally having a full cast with stories, Tinsley decided he didn’t need to put in effort and, for about a decade, the strip has consisted of a duck on a white background giving either conservative talking points or ranting about something laughably trivial in Tinsley’s life (he seriously spent a week whining that he got scented candles for Christmas). Ironically, Tinsley may only have a regular career because papers want to appear “balanced” so they can run Doonesbury without getting letters from angry old people.  A bigoted rear end in a top hat if there ever was one, Mike Lester will be your tea party host for this thread. He's never found a racist cause he can't jump on, and is always quick to side with the police when a black person dies. He's also profoundly homophobic, as evidenced by this photo of him smugly eating Chick-fil-A when the company was against gay marriage. His art isn't terrible, but it does come off as extremely meanspirited and stupid whenever he's on the attack. If that weren't enough, Lester was also visited by the police some years ago for beating his wife. As a result, he tends to be a tad sensitive when people accuse men of misconduct against women...unless they're democrats, of course.  A celebrated cartoonist, both here and in his career, Bennett is a veteran of the craft and it shows. His artstyle is simple, and he uses it to great effect to draft up excellent visual metaphors that get the point across. Recently, however, Bennett has been in something of a slump. Instead of coming up with funny cartoons that make you go "drat!", he has opted for lower-hanging fruit, tending to sit back and call Republicans crazy and stupid. Basically, his opinions are correct, but they don't really discuss the issues, and they are just different ways of saying "conservatism bad." Which is fine once in a while, but it'd be nice to see something with a bit more substance and relevance to current news as opposed to cartoons you can put out literally any time of the year. Nonetheless, Bennett is a considerable cut above the rest, and every so often you do see that spark that made him a thread favorite.  One of the more loathed persons here, Rall is what happens when you give a person with no talent a platform. I don’t think anyone in this thread is more egotistical than Rall, who sees himself as the champion of far-left causes. His art is horrendous (he defends it with the tired “style” argument), his arguments tend to be contrarian, and he cannot help but make everything about him. Even movements such as Black Lives Matters, where he went on a personal crusade against the LAPD when he got a ticket. He lost, but to this day still rails about it. Rall will typically attack both sides and us, the people, for not rising up against them…until we do, in which case he criticizes the protests (see OWS, various Trump protests). Rall just genuinely sucks.  Matt Bors is a protege of Rall, and therefore the only good thing I can think off that Rall has produced. A younger cartoonist, Bors tends to come at humor from more of our angle: he goes for meta humor over visual metaphors, multiple panels over single images, and dipping his toes into memes every so often. Unlike a lot of cartoonists, Bors also knows that art is kinda important to the humor, and thus a lot of laughs come from both the facial expressions and the jokes he sets up with them. Bors is also trying to get political cartooning as an actual career you can do without being a legacy cartoonist from 30 years ago. He ran the Nib on Medium for a few years, which hosted up-and-coming political works, tries to run books on Kickstarter, and works on collabs with others. Bors is good people.  The cartoonist for the Onion, Kelly is without a doubt the most beloved and cherished cartoonist in the thread. Defying the political spectrum, Kelly operates solely within the boundaries of the original political party: common sense. Once a week, you can rest a bit easier knowing that Kelly knows your pain, be it nagging wives or confusing gizmos. A winner of the Thurston Bronze Quill Award, Kelly is a veteran artist in the industry, employing a more classical style of art that employs old-fashioned materials and know-how. There have been rumors that Kelly is actually just a satire of political cartoons from known has-been and hack, Ward Sutton, but it's safe to assume these are nothing more than jealous lies spread by Sutton and his tasteless followers. So put that out of your mind, pour yourself a whiskey sour (or three), and enjoy the finest political cartoonist of a generation. Pants Donkey fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Jan 1, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:28
|
|
|
Yet another year of poo poo to waller in and yet another year to make the same loving post! Happy New Years! Will have Gaybies up in a few days.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:31
|
|
|
Are you ready to see barrels and barrels of ink wasted on pure incompetent dreck? Hell yes!
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:35
|
|
|
Preemptively gently caress this year, let's ride.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:36
|
|
|
Maybe we can keep a running tally of StantisAllie's hand-wringing vs. actual cartooning.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:38
|
|
|
Quorum posted:Preemptively gently caress this year, let's ride. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:39
|
|
|
Eagerly awaiting another year of cartoonists slowly realizing that Trump is an extension, rather than an aberration, of what they do for a living.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:40
|
|
|
Pants Donkey posted:Q:What happened to the cartoonist index? And here I was anticipating Zelda's entry to that hallowed hall. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:40
|
|
|
It begins
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:40
|
|
|
Thank god I can just delete the bookmarked 4000 post backlog of the old thread and start here
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:43
|
|
|
Dees seemed to have stopped making new stuff roughly halfway through last year but his site has changed so the Illuminati didn't get him. Maybe the whiplash from "Trump will save America" to "Trump is a zionist agent" got to him. I think this is the only new art from him since then.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:44
|
|
|
Who's ready for another great year in the fine art of political cartooning? 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:49
|
|
|
 I will probably upload all the edits later. Imgur is messing with me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:52
|
|
|
CampingCarl posted:Dees seemed to have stopped making new stuff roughly halfway through last year but his site has changed so the Illuminati didn't get him. Maybe the whiplash from "Trump will save America" to "Trump is a zionist agent" got to him. I think this is the only new art from him since then. good on plucky lil' 2nd amendment, he sure showed... all those kids... at sandy hook?
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 06:57
|
|
|
I can't wait to see what horrifying new wonders 2018 will bring to us
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:01
|
|
|
Can someone post the Yugioh fossil record comic? I was looking in the past OPs the other day and couldn't find it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:09
|
|
|
itskage posted:Can someone post the Yugioh fossil record comic? I was looking in the past OPs the other day and couldn't find it.  One of the first google image search results, fwiw.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:10
|
|
MissEchelon posted:good on plucky lil' 2nd amendment, he sure showed... all those kids... at sandy hook? In this case the term you are looking for is "Crisis Child Actors".
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:11
|
|
|
Here we go again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:12
|
|
|
2017 can go to hell.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:12
|
|
|
Starting 2018 with a fever, choosing to take it as a good omen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:13
|
|
|
ratbert90 posted:2017 can go to hell. Yet
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:20
|
|
|
I went ahead and added a short-list of popular cartoonists to the second post. Consider it my gift to you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:21
|
|
|
quote:(from the end of the last thread) I like this, can we portray the new year as a young woman ready to take on the world from now on? Though that makes her always growing into an old man kinda unusual, but whatever.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:21
|
|
|
Post poste posted:
Eh, I googled it at work and got nothing but pics of cards. Here at home it is my 4th result. Thanks though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:22
|
|
|
2018 predictions: -Trump shits himself while golfing, Ben Garrison makes a cartoon showing Hillary Clinton making GBS threads herself instead while Adonis Trump looks on. -Kirschen will finally retire and/or die. -Mike Lester will continue to beat his wife, and thus provide the answer to the question "are you still beating your wife?"
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:28
|
|
|
Another year, let's hope we get some change for the better for once.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:30
|
|
|
Has anyone been able to see the My Friend Dahmer movie made out of Derf's book? It is getting good reviews.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:32
|
|
|
You know what comic we haven't seen in a while? The one that's about half-and-half really good and really tepid. Here's some of the better ones from the past month or so:  
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:33
|
|
|
I don't post here often but I wanted to wish everyone here a Happy New Year. This thread rarely disappoints and I'm glad to see it carry over once again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:34
|
|
|
Post poste posted:
That is the goddamned stupidest take on evolution ive ever seen and ive seen the "banana fits hand" one
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:38
|
|
|
I like that "They used to say that about Reagan, too." in the first panel. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:42
|
|
|
Zivilyn Bane posted:I like that "They used to say that about Reagan, too." in the first panel. Yeah its like these idiots dont even know the difference between being a retard and being a cowardly quisling for business interests with early onset Alzheimer's
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:46
|
|
|
Poor Mountain and Western thread-goers had their 2017 thread ripped out from under them
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 07:57
|
|
|
I think Branco should have a headliner profile because he's easily as or more hateful than Lester and noteworthy for how undisguised his attempts to make people he dislikes look evil are. And Garrison should also have a profile for being a complete maniac who loves nazis and Daddy Trump. Also there's a bunch of grammatical errors in the second post and I really want to fix them.
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 08:19
|
|
|
Happy 2018 from Bruce Tinsley! This year's Prickly City is already boring. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 08:24
|
|
|
GoutPatrol posted:Has anyone been able to see the My Friend Dahmer movie made out of Derf's book? It is getting good reviews. Yeah. I would definitely recommend it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 08:26
|
|
|
Post poste posted:
If this argument made any sense at all, it would apply to living organisms, which also have many instances per species, therefore plant and animal life must not exist, and if being able to confuse the person you're debating counts as "winning", I'll say that creationism is like Pokemon and how could Noah have caught them all in seven days
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 08:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 22:36 |
|
|
https://twitter.com/turing_police/status/946106786754437120
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2018 08:28
|
|